Thread by @ThePrintIndia

We don't allow our kids to talk to a stranger from the balcony...but do you know who's talking to your child on the internet or on the phone?: author and columnist @chetan_bhagat tells @ShekharGupta at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta Every child has a device in their pocket which is a gateway to their mind. Anybody with mala fide intentions can reach them...I feel we are not discussing it enough, says author and columnist @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta I don't compete with other writers. I compete for the attention of young people and how to take their attention away from apps like YouTube, Instagram, says author and columnist @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta If there's a genre I believe in, it's the Chetan Bhagat genre...[which is] fun, light, Indian, gripping, contemporary, simple, humorous: author and columnist @chetan_bhagat tells @ShekharGupta at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta If you say a million times "Chetan Bhagat doesn't count", you've made him count: author and columnist @chetan_bhagat tells @ShekharGupta at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta I'm very thankful to corona[virus] for one thing — the lit fests have stopped, says author and columnist @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta I am not in the paper business. I'm not trying to promote paper or ink. The point is to read, says author and columnist @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta If you're reading e-Books — amazing. These are just mediums and I do think they are the future...Even audio books are good in a way: author and columnist @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta The stated purpose [of a lit fest] is to take reading to the people but what ends up happening is more exclusivity, more elite gatherings, more of the same thought processes being recycled, says author and columnist @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta They [lit fests] are not representative, they're not trying to go to the masses. There's a lot of judgments. It becomes one big party of the elite: author and columnist @chetan_bhagat tells @ShekharGupta at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta A few years ago, Delhi University had a course called 'Popular Indian Fiction' and one of the books was my book...108 professors wrote saying "why are his books being included?". Now, that is a sure-shot way to make students read my books, says @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta The politics we are in today — I think Vir Sanghvi said this in one of your interviews — is the people who are rejecting this colonial, elitist, holier than thou...attitude. This is what annoys Indians: @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta There is an art of taking any situation — whether it's a war, demonetisation or Kashmir — and breaking it down and saying these are the pros and these are the cons. You don't need an expert all the time to do that, says @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta I just write books for entertainment. I admit it...If you think I can write visionary stuff, thank you but I am not A P J [Abdul] Kalam, says author and columnist @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta Making people pick up a book, making it a number one bestseller is no joke today. It's really difficult, says author and columnist @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta I am a fiction writer but I thought, let me use my platform, my reach, my writing skills to contribute a little more...to public opinion shaping. But honestly, I never thought I'd become polarising. I only try to objectively understand an issue: @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta As you grow older, you realise that it's the centrists who change the world, author and columnist @chetan_bhagat tells @ShekharGupta at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta I have not shifted my opinion on Mr Modi or Mr Amit Shah because I think they are amazing politicians...They listen to the people and they understand India better than anybody can: @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta What has surprised me, Shekhar, is the way Indians have changed...For example, secularism wasn't a bad thing. Now, it's like saying "we don't like those people, so we will hate everything that they have said": @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta The one quality of [BJP] government is they react and fix things very fast when they realise people don't like something. They don't care about a little bit of embarrassment also. They will bring out a GST rule and in three days, roll back: @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta History has shown that whenever India was divided, India lost, author and columnist @chetan_bhagat tells @ShekharGupta at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta There is an acceptance of the school of thought that it is better to be divided...that's exactly what the British wanted, says author and columnist @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta Imagine the powerhouse we would have been if there was no Partition. Think about it. Bangladesh, Pakistan, India — where would we be? Without any fighting, so much of the defence budget would be saved on all sides and put into development, says @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta I don't think the people at the top are as divisive as the people on Twitter are, says author and columnist @chetan_bhagat at #ThePrintOTC

@chetan_bhagat @ShekharGupta That concludes this edition of #ThePrintOTC. Many thanks to our viewers for tuning in.

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