AUTHORSPEAK: SARAYU AHUJA
Path Finder

After a book on streets, the academic is into thrillers.

By Anupama Chopra

When architect-editor-teacher-writer Sarayu Ahuja's mother read the manuscript of her daughter's first book, she asked, "If I were to look for the book in a bookshop or a library, in which section would I find it?" "Honestly," Ahuja says, "I had no answer."

Where the Streets Lead, published recently by Penguin, is a quasi-autobiographical, quasi-fictional travelogue devoted to the streets of India. It is perhaps India's first in-depth study of streets -- examining what spaces mean and how they structure culture and lifestyles. It is an unusual, esoteric subject. "Streets are never given much importance," says Ahuja. "It's always buildings and the form of a city. But India is street-oriented. Streets are one linear element which fuse all people and all aspects of life." The book took eight years to complete. Ahuja, a Mumbai resident who has studied town planning and community development patterns in Chennai and Tokyo, was half-way through a doctorate in sociology when she decided to turn it into a book. The manuscript was ready after two years of travelling and two years of writing, but it was heavy on jargon and low on readability. Dom Moraes, her literary adviser who now lives with her, and Penguin editor David Davidar advised her to "write as you talk". Recalls Ahuja: "David suggested, fib a little, and I was appalled. But once I started, I realised I could make up stories, so it became semi-fictional."

When she realised she could make a facile crossing from the portals of academia, she ventured into fiction and is already writing the last chapter of her first novel. She describes it as a "thriller written in prose" set against the backdrop of the construction business. "It's a vast canvas and all the characters are bits and pieces of people I know." Where The Streets Lead has got flattering reviews. In Biblio, Partho Dutta commented that Ahuja's "witty reportage acquires the quality of fable". But Ahuja, who edits the monthly, Indian Architect and Builder, says she still has no right to call herself a writer. "In my mind, a writer is someone who has read hundreds of books. Sometimes when I meet writers who are struggling to get a publisher, I feel almost apologetic for encroaching." The encroacher, it seems, is here to stay.

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