Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001, Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad ‘VS’ Naipaul visited President APJ Kalam with his wife in 2003. He was born into a lineage of landless brahmins from eastern Uttar Pradesh, who were taken to Trinidad by the British as indentured labour to grow sugarcane there. I was not there when he met Dr. Kalam, but I had the chance to meet him two years later.

In 2005, Guiding Souls: Dialogues on the Purpose of Life, co-authored by Dr. Kalam and me, was published. Sir Naipaul was in Delhi for a short visit, staying at the Taj Mansingh Hotel. My publisher, Piyush Kumar, took me to meet him. I was stunned by his persona—tall, handsome and erudite. His voice was heavy, as if coming from a depth. It was the first time I had met a Nobel laureate, and I was overwhelmed.

He wrote a message for the book: “This book demonstrates a wise and much-loved President, two attributes which do not always go together.” He said that what is good for you is usually not what you like. This is the biggest problem with people— they dislike being told about their faults. Sir Naipaul affectionately held my hand and said, “Keep writing, young man. Like music, writing comes with practice.” I took his advice to heart.

When asked which book he felt was closest to his heart, Si Naipaul said, “I write all books from the heart.” However, he added that he considered his first book, The Milguel Street, as his best writing. I bought it on my way back to Hyderabad from the airport and finished reading this 190-page book before landing in Hyderabad. It was the best English prose I have ever read—flowing like a breeze. An excerpt from the book reads:

“A stranger could drive through Miguel Street and just say ‘Sum!’ because he could see no more. But we who lived there saw our street as a world, where everybody was quite different from everybody else. Man-man was mad; George was stupid; Big Foot was a bully; Hat was an adventurer; Popo was a philosopher; and Morgan was our comedian.” (Chapter 8, p. 59)

A collection of interconnected stories set in a poor, working-class neighbourhood in Port of Spain, Trinidad, Miguel Street is narrated from the perspective of a teenage onlooker. Each chapter focuses on a particular character, but with characters from previous chapters reappearing as minor characters in subsequent ones. These are the people the child grows up watching. They are all stuck in their small, limited lives. However, the narrator has a real opportunity to alter his life, and he does so by leaving the community and pursuing higher education.

Twenty years have passed, but I have not forgotten the characters: Bogart, Popo, B. Wordsworth, Big Foot, Man-man and Hat. They appear when I discuss life with others. If I had to gift one book to a teenager without hesitation, this would be the book. 

The themes of ambition, failure and adaptation, explored in classic books, are universal and relevant. I read this book to relax and enjoy my time alone. I have it by heart, remember who said what, and revisit it depending on my mood. Writing simple, flowing prose about ordinary people and their little problems is difficult—something only Sir Naipaul could do. He is peerless.