Interview with Ruchir Joshi, Editor-Electric Feather:The Tranquebar Book of Erotic Stories

Some could argue that Ruchir Joshi had an enviable job there for a while, editing a book of erotic stories. Enviable maybe, but certainly not easy. To start with there isn’t much Indian work in the past to go by and set the bar to. Ye Olde Kamasutra would hardly qualify as erotica and there isn’t much ( or none?) in the way of a collection of modern Indian erotic stories. Ruchir Joshi faced  a “Wall of Rejections”, he got turned down, tuned out and “smiled” at. He stayed put to ask “How do you know what will emerge if you put your mind, memory and imagination to thinking about desire and sex?” The answer is a collection of stories by some well known writers of the subcontinent.

Here’s a Q&A with Ruchir Joshi, Editor, Electric Feather:The Tranquebar Book of Erotic Stories

FoB: Erotica, Porn…what’s the difference and what criteria did you use for selection?

Ruchir Joshi: Porn is a `one-time use’ thing, erotica you get new meanings new pleasures each time you read, just like any other serious literature.

FoB: What were some of the best and worst responses you got when you sent out your request to authors.

Ruchir Joshi: Worst: `I’m not writing smut for you, pal!’ Best: `Oh, me too! Can I please write for you?’

FoB: What was the most challenging part of editing the collection?

Ruchir Joshi: Waiting to get all the stories.

FoB: Did you reject any stories. What were the reasons?

Ruchir Joshi: A few. They didn’t work as fiction or literature or erotica.

FoB: Clearly publishers are willing to take more “risks” now than ever before? And yet the social political climate of our times is tinged with regressive, almost victorian overtones. What gives?

Ruchir Joshi: I think there will be a growing split between people who yearn for sexual freedom and people who are threatened by that yearning. Hopefully, the overwhelming majority will be wanting freedom from prudishness and repressive religiosities and the Victorian-Stalinist-Jihadi-Chaddis will slowly but surely have to give up the battle.

FoB: How has the response been and is there going to be a volume 2?

Ruchir Joshi: The response has been great. No plans yet, for a volume two.