THE CZAR OF SCARS

Arjun Raj Gaind’s The Anatomy of Scars is written in the first person. It starts just as the tumultuous events of 1984 roll out—Operation Blue Star, Indira Gandhi’s assassination and the mindless horror of the anti-Sikh riots. The protagonist is a young Sikh boy. We witness those heart-searing events through his eyes, then follow him through the years of his own personal tumult. The author speaks to India today:

- Manjula Padmanabhan

Q. US-based Poisoned Pen Press calls you “one of India’s best-known comic-book writers”. You’ve published science fiction-horror comics such as The Kalki Project and The Reincarnation Man, as well as your Raj-era murder mysteries, A Very Pukka Murder and Death at the Durbar. What led you to semi-autobiographical fiction?

I wrote the original version of this book when I was 26. I thought I had an insight into homesick Indians living abroad. I called it “Beginnings and Endings”. I showed it around and had any number of doors slammed in my face. Then it was accepted by Penguin (India), where it languished for many years. Writing comic books and the Maharaja Sikander Singh mysteries was a detour that turned out to be a very successful one.