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'The most important work of my life is over'
Updated On: 16 August, 2011 07:58 AM IST | | Prachi Sibal
Is what journalist and author Tarun J Tejpal says shortly after the launch of his third book, The Valley of Masks
Is what journalist and author Tarun J Tejpal says shortly after the launch of his third book, The Valley of Masks
The launch of Tarun J Tejpal's third novel brought along two fears. One, of the opening up the pages of a title the author himself describes as having the power to disturb you, and the other, of questioning him. Our first interaction led him to send me an email with the first published review of the title, by Shashi Tharoor as a conversation starter. 
If throwing questions at a man who set off journalistic aspirations in an entire generation wasn't enough, I now stood close to the additional burden of merely brushing past the shoes of the celebrity reviewer. Some courage and a few caffeine doses later, I encountered a rather humble man who picked up calls before I heard the phone ring and seemed more concerned about my deadline than I could be.
A true blue journalist, he goes beyond the intricacies of writing and delves into more practical matters, measuring his words and ensuring your questions aren't lost to an ongoing monologue.Political psychologist Ashis Nandy describes The Valley of Masks asu00a0 putdownable because it has to be punctuated with intervals in order to comprehend the depth of the thought and writing. Set in an imagined valley in the Himalyas is a parallel world that lives on an idea and is driven by a messiah called Aum, rightfully named after the first sound of the universe.
An idea of purity surrounds this world and the dominance of equality and discipline are established above all. Inhabitants of the valley are forced to take names after the six brothers in the Mahabharata (Karna inclusive). A Karna is the narrator of the story. The names don't matter so much anyway, individualism is not important.u00a0 The children are collectively brought up by the mothers and there are no fathers.
The valley is far removed from contact and the inhabitants live by the books of principles put down by Aum, guilt stricken and overwhelmingly devoted. After a certain age, their faces are covered with masks to drive away the last remaining signs of individualism.
The imaginary world is one bereft with a clan of people called wafadars and pathfinders. There is no place for digression, none for love or betrayal. Besides delving into a futuristic parallel universe and its functioning, the novel explores the tyranny of an idea representing a community, The Valley of Masks subtly points at the existing world, its ways and comes out as a novel crafted with an intensity that will make you cringe, cry and fear. In an interview with The Guide, Tejpal talks about being a journalist turned writer, inspirations and more.
What was the process involved in writing this book? How did it all begin?
It begins with the book fermenting in your head. It is initially the process of arriving at an idea and a narrative. Then comes the day when the first sentence of the book comes to you and it follows from there on. In this case, the idea came to me somewhere towards the end of The Story of My Assassins. By the time I
finished The Story of My Assassins, I was already deeply drawn into the idea.
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