When I first met Gurcharan Das a few months back, he welcomed me to his home in Kathmandu. We walked to the terrace, basked under the sun, and chatted for an hour about his life and writing. During the talk, the eighty-one-year-old spoke passionately about literature and fondly looked back on his life. He sort of inspired me with the way he looked at things. “Take your work seriously, but don't take yourself seriously,” he said.

After that, we stayed in touch through texts. One day, he told me he was coming to Kathmandu for the Kalinga Literary Festival. So I went to Hotel Himalaya in Lalitpur to chat about books and to receive a signed copy of his memoir, ‘Another Sort of Freedom’, as he had promised me. After navigating the crowd and shooing them away, I finally pulled Das into a corner and bombarded him with many questions.

Known for his analysis of Indian society, economy, and history, Das is an Indian author, commentator, and former CEO of Procter & Gamble India. A graduate of Harvard University, he has also written plays and essays, blending his corporate experience with philosophy.

Anish Ghimire of the Post sat down with Das to discuss his business life, how he stumbled into writing and books about the many puruṣārthas.

What is writing to you?

Well, it’s my whole life now. Sometimes, I dream I am completing a sentence, but it’s not coming out right, so I keep editing it. Then I wake up, and as early as six o’clock in the morning, I sit down to write for hours. When it’s going well, I forget myself. Hours go by like minutes.

Is that what pulls you towards writing? The act of being in a bubble? A zone where you remain undisturbed?

Yeah, that’s it. The thing is, if you love what you do, half the battle is over, and it can be anything, from a business executive to an actor. When people ask me about finding contentment, I always tell them two things: love your work and the person you live with. In my memoir, I talk about a chap named Kamble who worked as a night security guard for our company. He loved his job so much that he kept getting promoted.

As for me, I stumbled into being a writer. I didn't want to become an academician and found the business world less satisfying. While working as a business executive, I wore a business hat Monday through Friday and a writing hat on the weekends. It's been thirty years, and I haven't taken off the writing hat.

At what point in your business life did you realise that writing was an escape from everything?

Well, I wouldn't call it an escape. I studied philosophy and Sanskrit at Harvard, and when I began working, I was thrown into the Indian Bazaars selling Vicks Vaporub. At one point, I got tired of it, and I missed the intellectual life. My mother talked about making a living, but my father talked about making a life. So, I was making a living Monday to Friday and on weekends, I was making a life. But Kamble made his life seven days a week.

You studied philosophy and Sanskrit at Harvard University. How did you go from there to being a business executive?

That was an accident. After Harvard, I got a scholarship from Oxford to continue my studies. That is when I asked myself, did I want to spend the rest of my life in that stratosphere of abstract thought? I wanted a life of action. Now, what is a life of action? Two hundred years ago, a life of action would mean becoming a warrior or a farmer. But today, we live in a commercial age, and the life of action is business.

I also couldn't face the embarrassment on my mum’s face when I sat at home as an unemployed philosophy major. So, I turned the newspaper pages and applied for a job at a company. The company later became Procter and Gamble. I worked with them for decades, and when I approached fifty, I realised there is more to life. So, I retired early and have been a writer for thirty years.

You held a high position in a big company for a long time. You were obviously good at your job. But were you happy?

I liked the rough and tumble of business life, but it gave me limited pleasure. So, it made sense to combine two hats (business and writing). When office work wasn't going well, I would plunge into my writing, and if I had writer’s block, I would dive into my work again. So it worked for me. But at some point, I decided to be a full-time writer. My part-time writing was doing well, giving me the confidence to pursue it full-time.

Tell me about your favourite book.

My favourite book is ‘Mahabharata’ because it is very ‘human’. The book has good people doing bad things and bad people doing good things. I prefer it over ‘Ramayana’ because the latter is perfect. The hero is perfect, the hero’s brother is perfect, the hero’s wife is perfect, and even the villain is perfect. Whereas ‘Mahabharata’ is shaded. I like it because of its depiction of actuality and complex human traits. Maybe that explains why my book ‘The Difficulty of Being Good’, about similar subjects, has sold the most copies out of my other books.

In your recent writings, have you noticed a shift in the themes or ideas that engage your readers?

Each of my books is different as I discuss the different types of puruṣārthas. There are four types; Dharma (righteousness, moral values), Artha (prosperity, economic values), Kama (pleasure, love, psychological values) and Moksha (liberation, spiritual values, self-actualisation).

I have written about Artha, ‘India Unbound’, Dharma, ‘The Difficulty of Being Good’ and Kama, ‘The Riddle of Desire’. My latest book ‘Another Sort of Freedom’ is on Moksha. In this writing evolution, I have also learned to write lightly. Reading my memoir, you will see how I structure my sentences. I don't use ‘and’. I call that a killer. I try to connect sentences using commas. Using a few words to say more is what I call writing lightly.

Your work often touches on the moral and philosophical aspects of Indian epics. Do you see these ancient texts as relevant in addressing modern-day ethical dilemmas?

‘Difficulty of Being Good’ has sold over a quarter million copies because I brought the ‘Mahabharata’ into the 21st century and did not return to the fifth century. I have discussed how the moral dilemmas in the ‘Mahabharata’ affect our lives today. We can learn from the problems faced by Yudhisthira, Draupadi, and others. That was my writing, and it seems people agree with me.

Gurcharan Das’s book recommendations

Madame Bovary

Author: Gustave Flaubert

Publisher: Revue de Paris

Year: 1857

Flaubert’s tale of a woman trapped by societal expectations and desires is a masterpiece of realism. The book explores the consequences of living beyond one's means.

Anna Karenina

Author: Leo Tolstoy

Publisher: The Russian Messenger

Year: 1878

The book shows love, infidelity, and the complexities of human emotions. Tolstoy writes about the turmoil and societal issues in the Russian aristocracy.

War and Peace

Author: Leo Tolstoy

Publisher: The Russian Messenger
Year: 1867

This novel blends history, philosophy, and romance. It reflects on human destiny and Russia’s transformation during the Napoleonic Wars.

The Plays of Anton Chekhov

Author: Anton Chekhov

Publisher: Harper Perennial
Year: 1998

Chekhov’s plays are about the lives of ordinary people, revealing their struggles, hopes, and quiet despair. His writings leave a deep emotional impact on audiences.

In Search of Lost Time

Author: Marcel Proust
Publisher: Grasset and Gallimard
Year: 1913

Proust’s magnum opus blends memory, time, and identity, reflecting on life’s fleeting moments. The novel also discusses how the past shapes our present.