PVLF 2025

Interview with Anurag Tripathi Author of The Goa Gambit

Anurag Tripathi, acclaimed author, delves into Goa's casino underbelly in The Goa Gambit, blending thrill, human nature, and moral ambiguities.
on Dec 26, 2024

Anurag Tripathi is an accomplished professional and author with a diverse background. He is an alumnus of the Indian School of Business and has completed a course in Advanced Creative Writing from The University of Oxford, Department for Continuing Education. Anurag is known for his keen observation of people and is a skilled storyteller, drawing inspiration from his extensive life experiences. In his earlier career, Anurag Tripathi served as an Investment Banker, where he led the retail equity business for a financial company in India. Despite his transition to writing, he has continued to actively invest in the Indian stock markets for the past 20 years. Anurag's debut novel focused on the art market in India and received a nomination for the Raymond Crossword Book Awards in 2017. He is a member of the Singapore Writer's Group and currently resides in the vibrant city of Singapore with his wife. Both share a passion for scuba diving, travel, and exploring lesser-known parts of the world. His second novel offers a fictionalized, candid portrayal of the financial advisory business in India, providing readers with a behind-the-scenes look at this industry.

Frontlist: - This is your third novel, and you have a background in writing about diverse industries like the art market and the financial world. What inspired you to delve into the world of gambling and high-stakes casinos for The Goa Gambit?

Anurag: I was inspired to write about the Casinos in Goa based on a chanced encounter with a young compulsive gambler on one of my many visits to Goa. This person in his mid-twenties was sitting next to me on the flight, carrying a man purse full of thousand-rupee notes. Further discussion revealed that he was a farmer from the hinterland and there were another 40 people from his village on that flight. He told me a fascinating story involving sex, booze and gambling on the casinos in Goa. What were farmers from the hinterland doing in the casinos of Goa? I was hooked and thus began research into the murky world of Goa’s casinos.

Frontlist: In a fast-paced thriller like The Goa Gambit, pacing is key to keeping readers on the edge of their seats. How did you approach the structure of the story to ensure that the suspense and tension are consistent, while also giving depth to the plot?

Anurag: My plots are based on the Three Act Structure of drama, the setup, the Confrontation and the Resolution. Depth in plot is brought about by writing well fleshed out ambiguous characters which are highly motivated and knives drawn at each other. While writing the plot, one has to ensure that there is no information overdose that slows the pace of the plot. I tend to write short chapters with a cliff hanger at the end of each chapter. The next chapter is about a different character. The above methodology ensures that the novel is a page turner and fast paced.

Frontlist: How do you approach character development in The Goa Gambit, especially when creating characters who may not be purely good or evil but fall into grey areas?

Anurag: Flawed, dark characters are fascinating. They are intriguing. We like to explore facets of life that are outside our comfort zone. The Goa Gambit takes you on a thrilling ride into the underbelly of Goa’s gambling scene. The above characters are based on my own real-life experiences, stories told to me by people who are closely associated with the gambling world, and articles and books that I have read on the subject matter.

Frontlist: - Gambling can bring out the best and worst in people. How do you portray the moral ambiguities associated with high-stakes gambling, and how do these themes reflect broader questions about greed, power, and human nature?

Anurag: Risk and Reward are the two sides of a coin. Without risk, there is no reward. The world of gambling is about probabilities, it is about assessing risks while evaluating the corresponding rewards. Unknowingly, we make these choices in our everyday life. Life is also unpredictable, like a roll of dice on a craps table. As for greed and power, they are a basic human need. They are in our genes and are one of the reasons for survival of the human race. Human greed is the foundation of the economic system of capitalism which despite its shortcomings is the most successful in creating surplus for society.

Frontlist: - From Kalayug to The Goa Gambit, how has your approach to writing evolved? What lessons from your previous novels have influenced your style and storytelling in this latest book?

Anurag: I have evolved as a writer. My plots are tighter and more complex than before. The number of main characters has increased with every subsequent novel adding to the complexity of the plot. The characters themselves are grey, ambiguous and better fleshed out. The novels are better balanced with the right amount of information about the background, without slowing the pace of the plot.

Frontlist: - In The Goa Gambit, you explore ambition, risk, and the lengths people will go to for wealth and power. Do you see this story as a reflection of broader societal issues, and if so, what do you hope readers will take away in terms of understanding human nature and ambition?

Anurag: While a work of fiction, The Goa Gambit finds inspiration from the real world around us when greed and ambition collide to create power struggles, betrayal and bring forth the basic human instinct of survival. Both greed and power are deficiency needs, as represented by the first 4 stages of the Maslow’s Theory of Hierarchy of Needs. One can never hope to reach stage 5 of the pyramid representing ‘Self-actualization’ unless these deficiency needs are fulfilled. Greed helps protect us from existential anxiety that plagues stage 5 of the pyramid.

Frontlist: - What’s next for you? Can we expect more thrillers set in different industries, or are you exploring new themes and genres for your upcoming work?

Anurag: I am contemplating writing a literary fiction for my next work. I have already written three thrillers, Kalayug, Dalal’s Street and The Goa Gambit. It is time to evaluate a different genre.