Journalist and writer Pallavi Aiyar has spent close to seven years reporting for leading dailies in China, but it was two adopted kittens who managed to show her a different side to Chinese society, inspiring her to write her second novel, Chinese Whiskers.
Journalist and writer Pallavi Aiyar has spent close to seven years reporting for leading dailies in China, but it was two adopted kittens who managed to show her a different side to Chinese society, inspiring her to write her second novel, Chinese Whiskers. 
"I came to meet dedicated cat protection activists, disillusioned veterinarians and wise grandmothers, some of whom ended up as characters in the novel," say Aiyer. Her book sums up the achievements, disillusionment and the pushing over of traditional values to make way for modernisation in China. But instead of a dull monotonous drone that laments the fate of China, you have two lively cats doing the job in their own inimitable style.
The plot is based in the old and imperial quarters of Beijing, about life in the hutongs or narrow streets lined with traditional courtyard houses. Aiyar's style is simple yet evocative. She spins a magic realism about the way she describes the way of life in hutongs, and how the cats view their world. But it's the whimsical paintings by Belgian painter and comic maker Gerolf Van de Perre that are the highlights. They capture the chaos, lending a slightly fantastical element to the narrative.
In town for the launch of Chinese Whispers, Brussels-based Aiyar tells MiD DAY why she chose cats to voice the story of China in an email interview:
Why did you choose to write about China from a cats' points of view?
I spent five years living in Beijing's hutongs. These were neighbourhoods that reflected the tensions generated by the intersection of China's almost remorseless embrace of modernity interlaced with a more traditional, communal way of life. And this was the geography I wanted to set my novel in.
Animals were an intrinsic part of the hutongscape. Regardless of the season, old men in patched-up Mao suits would sit around corner stores on low stools, their caged song birds proudly on display next to them. Stray cats slinking up and down trees were a common sight, as were chickens and Pekinese dogs. This was an environment where people and animals lived cheek to jowl; the cramped spaces of the living quarters forcing everyone out on the street.u00a0
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Why the fascination with China?u00a0u00a0
I lived in and reported from China for six years between 2002 and 2009. This was a fascinating juncture in Chinese history since that's the time it evolved into a major global power. China is also little understood in India despite the fact that Indians have somewhat of a China "pathology". By this I mean, a constant obsession and rivalry with China. There is however a lack of a well informed discourse on the country. I hoped to change this with my books.
What kind of similarities do India and China share culturally?u00a0
There are several. You have salesmen selling everything from vegetables to knife sharpening services to you, the knock on the door of the local kabadiwalla means he's there to buy your rubbish for a nominal fee, the nosiness and kindness of neighbours, the lack of a culture of political correctness, the high degree of comfort with large crowds and noiseu00a0-- these are the similarities that struck me. India and China also share the clash created by the embrace of consumerism on the one hand and holding onto traditional values on the other.
But there are important differences. China has always been more of a territorial empire where the idea of a unified territory has played an important role in underpinning a sense of Chineseness. India on the other hand has had au00a0 more civilizational idea, with territory playing a less central role than metaphysics. The absence of caste from Chinese cosmology is another important facet.
Chinese Whiskers by Pallavi Aiyar is published by HarperCollins India and available at all major bookstores for R 399. The book will be launched today at Reliance TimeOut, Cunningham Road at 6.30 pm.
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