Why Bastard Exists

I am in love with Hugh Laurie (no sexual feelings). There might have been no book without him at all. For though Hari is the focal character who drives the book and represents my own anger, disenchantment and confusion during my MBA days, Bastard is the one character who made me enjoy writing the book. 

(For a background to this conversation, please read this http://www.vaibhavanand.com/2010/09/about-bastard.html)

Somehow writing the book was always a chore. Meenakshi was the worst- the most confusing character- whose tricks & dances frustrated me no end. I remember saying this to MG once- “Saalee ko maar hee dete hain.” She was bitching with the plot like hell.

Bastard was the one character I could completely relate to. While writing him, I always had that arrogant, self satisfied face of Hugh Laurie’s Dr. House in my head. Every scene, every dialogue, every sentence with Bastard in it scores (to me)- his bike entry, his vodka flask, his arrogant self satisfied awareness of the fact that he is two notches ahead of everyone in intelligence, his punch(es), his legend(s)… Hari is an everyman- a confused MBA that everyone today tends to be. Bastard transcends.

I had read Sherlock Holmes in entirety much before I saw House (Sherlock Holmes inspired the character of Dr. House). But Laurie was the reason Bastard came to exist and ultimately livened up the book. That cocky smile; those wicked twisted means… God I am so in love!

And if you ever thought Laurie was just a one dimensional actor, sample this- he has a wicked sense of humor in real life, he is a novelist and also a pianist. Below is a video of one of his hilarious performances.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAzBa3QSpUY

About Scooby

It’s probably hardly any surprise to most of you that Scooby’s character is based on Barney Stinson from HIMYM. Mani Ganesh defines him the best- “An Unlucky Barney”. But not for lack of trying.

In fact, HIMYM (among other things) is one of the few things that inspired me to write. It’s an incredible show with an incredible back story (read about it on Wikipedia). The best damn thing about the show is that the creators (Carter Bays & Craig Thomas) are also members of a band called “The Solids”- who have composed the song “Hey Beautiful”- a 12 second part of which you hear as the opening theme of HIMYM. (Hear it here… http://www.4shared.com/audio/6BxlCwNL/Hey_Beautiful_-_The_Solids.htm  The HIMYM theme is from the last 30 seconds.)

About Meenakshi

There are and there will continue to be several allegations about who Meenakshi is in real life. I have barely gone through any phase of life without being linked to one female or the other. I guess it’s a part of growing up.

The real beauty of Meenakshi (the “fish eyed” love interest) is that even I do not know who she is. But I see her sometimes on the street… a woman beautiful in an unusual way… perhaps tall with a nose too long or sometimes even straightforward pretty or perhaps unbeautiful, in the millions of ways we choose to describe beauty, yet beautiful in the way she smiles or looks at her kid or flicks her hair. Beautiful and beautifully flawed.

Meenakshi is simply a summation of every woman I have ever met. Or perhaps none.

I wish I knew.

About Hari

Hari Parmeshwar is a cool name. First, both the first and the second names mean God… which has been my intention all through:- take a guy, God-like but corrupted & confused and place him in a B-School, in a recession and then, enjoy his torture from the sidelines.

So that I would not be tempted to infuse too much of my own voice into Hari’s, I decided (took some convincing with Mani Ganesh, who thought I was going overboard, slightly, though Bastard is his favorite character too) to place Bastard in the book- who doesn’t really describe me to the “T” but whose voice is really my own. Hari too, like Meenakshi, is then uninspired (from real life), unreal and unique- a character of flesh & blood, who doesn’t really exist in flesh & blood.

And aah, the second reason why the names is cool? Coz his name abbreviates to HP; same as Harry Potter.

Magical.

About Bastard

Bastard is, by far, my favorite character in the book. In fact, Mani Ganesh alleges that I have been almost too partial to him- given him too much footage. That is quite true since (as previously established, colloquially) I am a narcissistic pig. And Bastard is half based on me.

For the other half (of who he is based on), read below.