Vikram Seth

From Vikram Chandra to another famous Vikram; Vikram Seth. In my opinion, he is a delight to read and I think he is a genius at creating just the right setting for his characters. I have read two of his books; "A Suitable Boy" and "An Equal Music". These two books could not have been more different. "Suitable Boy" has a huge canvas, a long list of characters and the book is set in the early 60's (as far as I remember) in different cities in India. The story begins with a wedding and ends with another and has everything possible in between. On the other hand, "An Equal Music" is an intimate book about a handful of British musicians set mostly in London. It is a personal story about a love found, lost and found again and it is about music. And I feel Seth has done a great job in both the books.Indian politics in 60's, Hindu Muslim college romance, Zamindari act, concerts in Vienna, the decaying of life in a small British town, Indo-Pak partition, abuse, music, Bach, thumri; Seth paints a real good picture in both the books. Suitable Boy is a real long book but the flow is smooth and characters very realistic. Though the ending is a bit lame, ASB is a good read. And I think as this is more of slice-of-life kind of story, there could not have been a great ending to it anyways. "An Equal Music" has lots of detailed discussions about music and there are a lot of technicalities also in the book; but somehow it does matter much. I mean I know nothing at all about Bach or violins or tunings or scales and I read each and every word in the book and never felt that the writer is getting too technical. Vikram Seth has expressed his thanks to a lot of people including two musicians at the end and that set me thinking about the process of writing. I think it is very difficult to research for a book and I often wonder does it not in a way take away from the creative process.