Anurag Mathur, whose earlier book The Inscrutable Americans was a critically acclaimed bestseller, started writing at the age of 10 for his school magazine and had his first short story published for
Anurag Mathur, whose earlier book The Inscrutable Americans was a critically acclaimed bestseller, started writing at the age of 10 for his school magazine and had his first short story published for the Illustrated Weekly when he was in college. “The response to that story was so good, that I began writing fiction and eventually went to the University of Tulsa to study creative writing,” he says. His latest book, The Country is Going to the Dogs, follows the exploits of a 74-year-old government pensioner Radhey Radhey, aka RR, who decides to play private investigator when Bollywood sex siren Miss Fiffoo goes missing.
And in the process of looking for clues to find the actress, RR ends up having adventures that throw him in the deep end of “Delhi’s sexual underbelly”. RR, a self-described Gandhian, provides a funny first-hand account as he is thrown in many situations where he is thrown out of his comfort zone.
The Country is Going to the Dogs, swiftly navigates through Delhi’s darker sides where RR is forced to rub shoulders with gangsters, eunuchs and attends partner-swapping parties. Mathur brings out the hypocrisy of RR very effectively and it leaves the reader perplexed about what to think of the former bureaucrat. There are times you will find yourself liking the protagonist, while at several other instances you will be wanting to scream at him for being a complete hypocrite.
“We are undergoing some very profound changes that we are barely able to comprehend, much less control. The older generation particularly has a very ambivalent attitude towards sex. As a society, we are over-sexed. No one has the Khajuraho or the Kama Sutra. And that is who we are. After the suppression of Indian sexuality over the last thousand or so years, society is finding its expression again as the older generation is being swept aside by liberality He (Radhe Radhey) is a man of the older generation and to me he is face of the enormous clash that is taking place between this generation and the last,” Mathur explains.
Mathur laughs when he is asked about his inspiration behind creating a character as peculiar as RR. “It was partly real, but mostly imaginary. I tend to have a writer’s disease, which is when I meet people, I like to imagine how they would react if they were thrown in different situations,” Mathur says. “RR is an amalgamation of a series of very confused characters I have met who are very attracted by this new wave of sexuality and yet are very reluctant to accept it because of the way they’ve been cultured and brought up.”
At times you feel the central plot of the story — the detective work — is lost as you are exploring RR’s sexual adventures. Mathur feels that it is primarily because of Miss Fifoo’s nature. “She is such a strong sexual character that you can’t separate her from the sexual underbelly of Delhi. That is the only way you have to take to find her,” he said.
On being asked why he chose sexuality as the prevailing theme across his new book, Mathur says: “We have seen more changes when it comes to sexuality in our society in the last 30 years than we have in the 200 years before that. We are facing the problem with a very old society trying to come in terms with a new world around them. And there is also a violent backlash to it with the rise in honour killings. But these changes are irresistible and irreversible That is what this book looks to address, the friction between the two worlds.”
“Over here, people see women as either Sita or a sister. And any woman who doesn’t fall into this category arouses this awful passion in these people. Which is what I have tried to show in this book,” he adds.
However the book does seem a bit too paced. At times, it gives the impression that Mathur is overwhelmed by his own plot. It appears to be slipping out a bit too fast for the reader to keep pace with the rapid series of events.
Although there is nothing wrong with a fast-paced book, The Country is Going to the Dogs feels like it needs to slow down a little bit to let you better grasp the many varied characters that are introduced. Within a span of minutes of reading, you will find yourself moving across several locations with very little time or space to absorb what has been happening. Which is a pity because in the novel, Mathur successfully introduces you to a series of very interesting characters ranging from head-strong, independent homosexual activists, to pimps who quote classic English poetry, and to the rather endearing and resourceful journalist Anwar who ends up being RR’s side-kick in the adventures.
Mathur is currently working on another novel that he says is nearly done. He says that elements of the current novel like Miss Fiffoo will find their way in his new book as well. He is also working on a collection of poetry.
