Udayan talks with Rakesh Satyal, author of ‘The Blue Boy’.
Pink Pages: How autobiographical is ‘The Blue Boy’? How difficult were things for you during your early teens, and does that have a bearing on the plot?
Rakesh Satyal: The book is roughly autobiographical towards the beginning but becomes less so as the story progresses. As I work in publishing, when writing the book, I was very conscious of what I could keep and what I had to change about my own life to create Kiran’s story. Once I could think of the character and not envision him as myself, I knew that I had made the right transition. Things were very difficult for me in my early teens because I was rather flamboyant, but like Kiran, I was able to draw from a certain sense of creativity to ease the process. That experience certainly had some bearing on the plot, as it made me wish to stress Kiran’s resilience in the face of great obstacles, which pop up again and again in the book.
PP: The central character often creates a fantasy world of his own. Is that more common with gay kids? ‘Kiran’ has a complex relationship with his Indian roots. Do gay American-Indian kids have a slightly different take on this front?
RS: I do think that gay kids – the ones that are able to endure, that is, as so many succumb to the hardships and difficulties of being gay, and understandably so – have a sense of being resilient and seeing the world in a way that is at once subversive and progressive. And I do think that immigrant children have a tendency to handle these challenges more smoothly, or at least more poignantly, because they are very conscious of being caught between two worlds and adapting to each differently depending on the circumstances.
PP: Is the Indian-American community finally coming to terms with its queer members?
RS: It seems that, little by little, progress is being made. Not everything will change overnight, but I do see more and more Indian people being accepting of different orientations and proclivities. Perhaps the best thing about writing this book is being pleasantly surprised at how accepting so many people have been. We can underestimate sometimes just how compassionate certain cultures and people can be.
PP: How has your book been received so far in the US and India?
RS: The book has had a wonderful response in both places; it’s been very heartening. Not a week goes by that I don’t get some lovely message from a young reader or an old reader or a reader who would have virtually nothing in common with Kiran telling me how much he or she enjoyed the story and found it relatable. That is a wonderful and very inspiring thing to hear.
PP: What are you working on right now?
RS: I am currently working on a new novel about two Indian immigrants in the States – a man and a woman – who fall in love but have very little idea of how to date because they’re, well, Indian!
