The only thing that can keep Ramachandra Guha away from writing

New Delhi: Whether it is a leisurely Sunday or a busy Monday, it makes no difference to historian Ramachandra Guha, who has a habit of writing reams of pages daily, but come a test match and the writer cannot help but put down his pen -- even if it means "2-3 days" at a stretch. 

An acclaimed cricket aficionado, Guha has written extensively on cricket and was also a former member of the CoA -- Committee of Administrators -- appointed by the Supreme Court to run the BCCI. "I write everyday... I never take time off, Mondays and Sundays make no difference.

Except when there is a test match, then I might take two days off or for that matter, a match in Bangalore -- a particulary exciting test match -- and I might decide 'Ok 2-3 days I am not going to work'," Guha told PTI.

And, for Guha the test match need not to have India playing in it necessarily, in fact, on the contrary; he enjoys it more if India is not playing at all.  "When India is not playing I find I enjoy it more because then I am not emotionally involved.

For example, a really good competition between Australia and South Africa is always a treat to watch," he added. The author of best-selling "India After Gandhi", Guha, well-known for his penchant for writing non-fiction tomes, follows a very "sturdy routine" which includes writing from "9 am to 1 pm" everyday and "2-3 hours in the afternoon" also. Of course, all this is done with no distraction either from mobile phone or internet. 

He recently came up with a new book, "Gandhi: The Years That Changed The World, 1914-1948", published by Penguin (Allen Lane). The book is a sequel to his earlier book "Gandhi Before India" (2014). 

Throwing light on his writing style further, the 60-year-old writer said his professional life is composed of two parts: "research on the road" and "writing in Bangalore". "If I am out of Bangalore, I am doing research in the archives. So I will be in Teen Murti, National Archives (New Delhi), British Library (London) or Sabarmati Ashram looking at old files and letters from 9 am to 6 pm taking notes.

That is one part -- the research and travel. "Then I go back to Bangalore with all those notes, and classify them, categorise them, make sense of them and start writing," said the Bangalore-based author. 

Guha, who otherwise rued the fact that Bangalore has no archives or "materials library", said it is a place well-suited for him to write. "It is a very good place to write because I am with my family, have that comfort zone, the weather is always very nice.

"And also because you are distant from the clutter and the noise, far from Delhi. This way you don't get distracted, so essentially when I am in Bangalore I am reflecting, writing and re-writing, and when I am in Delhi I am doing my research," he said. 

By Manik Gupta