Author Interview - Maniissh Arora

Some waits to be an author while some just take the deep plunge.  Writer Maniissh Arora belongs to the second category. His first story titled ‘Purple Diary’ was published in a well-known transnational journal - Illuminati, a few months ago. His debut fiction ‘Sunshine Town’ is all scheduled for a launch on November 2017

Let's hear from him how he tackled the arduous journey of being a writer and also about his new book – Sunshine Town.


Tell us a bit about yourself?

I was born and brought up in a traditional Punjabi family, in Allahabad, a city located at the confluence (Sangam) of three rivers - Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati. Dad worked for state government and Mom was a home-maker. Soon after graduating from Allahabad University, I moved to Indore to pursue management studies.

In 2002, I began my corporate journey from Mumbai and since last fifteen years, I have had the opportunity to work with some of the finest global organizations. At present, I manage a leadership role with a well-respected Software organization.

Though, I inculcated reading habit quite late in life, I am now an avid reader. I love reading both fiction and non-fiction. My favorite authors are Dale Carnegie, Julia Cameron, Steven Pressfield, Robin Sharma, Louis Sachar, Agatha Christie and Stephen King.
Having been born and raised in North of India, I have a special interest in the people and culture of the region and my writing reflects the same.

Tell us about your short story - Purple Diary?

Purple Diary is a story of Shira - a young, plump, short and dusky girl. She aspires to be an Airhostess. The narrator in the story is a ward-boy, working in a government hospital, who accidentally finds Shira’s diary in the hospital. He is faced with a dilemma, to open and find out the rightful owner or not to venture into someone’s personal matter without permission. The purple colour is not just the colour of Shira’s diary, it also represents the presence of divinity and spirituality in Shira’s life.

What persuaded you to make it as the theme?

I wrote Purple Diary when I was in the middle of writing my second book. And in both the books, though female characters play critical roles, the protagonist is a male character.

For a very long time, I have been nurturing this thought of writing a book with a female character playing the central protagonist. I always wanted to explore female psyche in great depth, to understand how a girl would look at this world and react to various circumstances around her. Purple Diary gave me that opportunity, albeit, briefly. I have plans to write a book in future.

If I am not wrong, you are working on your two fiction projects besides your book called Sunshine Town which is going to be launched on November.

Yes, that is true. My debut fiction novel ‘Sunshine Town’ is scheduled for a launch in November 2017. Besides, I am working on two fiction projects, exploring family bonding a little further in them. Unlike Sunshine Town, which is written for teenagers and young adults, the other two projects would cater to mature audience who are dense readers.

What is ' Sunshine Town' all about? 

Sunshine Town is about Shlok, a lanky teenager, a serial day dreamer. He doesn’t want much from his life. A dream to make his parents happy and the affection of a neighborhood sweetheart, Natasha. Though, both are poles apart, their interest in nature and jogging bring them close in a bond. The rapids of life push Shlok and Natasha on an unexpected journey and they realize one can’t always be in control of circumstances.
Set in Varanasi, a city in North India, during the late 90s, before the pervasiveness of technology, the book is about the aspirations and emotional turmoil of being a teenager. This story deals with the themes of love, career and personal fulfilment.

Which are the other two fiction projects you are working on?

My second novel is about three characters and a train journey. It has a corporate scavenger who is struggling to save his Job in office, a monk who is a mind reader and a girl who is crazy about books and reading. All three of them are on the same train. The book is somewhere between fiction and non-fiction, focused on bringing meaning to life. The expected launch would be 2018 mid.

My third novel is still work in progress, I plan to finish it by mid of 2018. It is about a half-burnt book that plays God in the life of a protagonist - a teen who has lost his elder brother and is unable to cope with the loss.


Tell us about your struggle to get your first break? I mean how you approached the publishers and what was their response?

While writing my first book, I did extensive research on the publishing industry and its nuances. I observed three clear patterns - (a) Script must be of high quality and unless it goes through developmental or substantial editing phase, it would be hard for it to fly off the ground, this is applicable for budding authors since the quality of writing improves with time and with a lot of writing. (b) Irrespective of marketing and hype, if the story is good, the book will slowly pick up and do well and (c) Creativity is subjective in nature and one should be relentless in applying to publishers and literary agents across the globe, without giving up.

I applied to 100+ publishers and literary agents across the globe and after a year full of rejection letters, I finally got a break. It was also interesting that a few literary agents in the UK liked the book, but they were pretty tight in their publishing schedule hence they had put my script on hold and asked me to wait.

Lastly, I also must acknowledge the role of my mentor, who played a crucial role in guiding me on every step in my journey from writing to publishing.

You are working in a corporate sector. When did you feel that you also have a story to tell?

I think we all have a creative child inside us longing for coddling and nurturing. It doesn’t matter which profession we are in, we all are creative in some way or the other. The important thing is to nurture our child so that it matures with time. We all have stories in the form of experiences and imaginations, it has to be expressed.
Writing happened to me by some sort of accident and it was a book that gave me the courage and inspiration to embark on this journey. It is my way of unwinding from the cascades of life. I enjoy it.
All your themes are very different from each other and to come up with such threads is not an easy task. How do you do that?

For me, it has always been a combination of my own experiences and the kind of books I have read and continue to read. In these years of writing, I have realized that I am an intuitive writer and more than anything else, spending time with a self-plays fulcrum and helps in firming up the thoughts into stories.

by Shalet Jimmy

Belated Happy Birthday - Anita Desai

" Reality is merely one-tenth visible section of the iceberg that one sees above the surface of the ocean- art remaining nine-tenth of it that lies below the surface. That is why it is more near Truth that Reality itself. Art does not merely reflect Reflect - it enlarges it"

ANITA DESAI 

Anita Desai, the acclaimed writer from India was born on June 24, 1937. This is to wish her belated Happy birthday.

My personal favourite is Fire on the Mountain. But I am sure as I keep on her reading her books, the list would increase too.


“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.”
― Anita Desai

“Isn't it strange how life won't flow, like a river, but moves in jumps, as if it were held back by locks that are opened now and then to let it jump forwards in a kind of flood?”
― Anita Desai

Someone who wants to write should make an effort to write a little something every day. Writing in this sense is the same as athletes who practice a sport every day to keep their skills honed.
- Anita Desai


I aim to tell the truth about any subject, not a romance or fantasy, not avoid the truth.
- Anita Desai


My style of writing is to allow the story to unfold on its own. I try not to structure my work too rigidly.
-  Anita Desai

GREENLIGHT by Kalpana Swaminathan

It began when a six-year-old girl from Kandewadi, a small slum near Andheri in Mumbai goes missing. Pinky was the first to go, then Jamila followed by Mary, Sindhu and Tara.

Panic grips the slum when these children are returned as mutilated and raped corpses. Lalli takes charge of the investigation with police officers Savio and Shukla and her niece Sita who is also her accomplice. Written from Sita's point of view, Kalpana Swaminathan's latest book slowly opens to an unimaginable cruel world of crime and put forth several questions to ponder upon.

The book has dealt with issues like brutal child abuse, politics that can sell and buy anything, the helplessness of the officials who are not corrupt, pseudo feminism, etc. Though crime fiction written especially by Indian authors highlight several issues and makes the reader ask pertinent questions, there’s often a tendency to dismiss fiction noir as mere 'pulp fiction'. It is unfortunate.


If you put down a list of serious crime novels, Kalpana Swaminathan's ' Greenlight' will be the first in the category. It is her sixth book in the Lalli series.

Let's see who Lalli is? She is a retired police detective who has ace shooting skills. She is in her sixties and is ruling the roost in a world dominated by men. If there is a murder, Lalli is the last resort even for the police.

The book is unputdownable and a great relief that Indian writers can create novels in this genre that can compete with the west.

To speak further on the book, it throws light on the bizarre mindset of the people. On one side when the rich believes in committing horrendous crimes just for the sake having a thrill and also inflicting cruelties on children from slum purely, because they do not consider them worthy of living in this world, there are slum dwellers, on the other side,  who refuse to show any empathy to Tara's mother who is a sex worker even after Tara is abducted and killed. They even pray to take the life of Tara in exchange for their daughters' lives just because her mother is a sex- worker and they think she deserves it.

What I also like about the book is the innuendoes on pseudo- feminism. In a meeting called by Seema, the journalist who is following the Kandewadi story, women easily forget the atrocities and rape and easily shift their attention to take it as a platform to indulge in their own selfish interests – some writes articles, poem, etc. One has killed her feotus and has written a poem on it justifying her actions that she aborted it to save the fetus from the world. She has taken the decision after reading the Kandewadi incidents.

Sita who could not bear this hypocrisy comes out of the meeting and thinks to herself that “ I had lacked the courage I might have had five years ago to tell those women what a misogynystic bunch of voyeurs, they were, what pathetic human beings they were, if their only response to the pain of others was to trot out sorry tales of their own. I wondered what they would have said, or done, if they had seen Tara in her empty hut.”

Calling ' Lalli', a ' Desi Miss Marple' will not do any justification to the round character Kalpana Swaminathan has created. Even the author has clarified once that Lalli is not like Miss Marple. There are no similarities barring the fact that they love sleuthing. Like Miss Marple of Agatha Christie, Lalli has her own identity.

One thing that could have been avoided is the gory description of the brutalities committed to the children. It's horrendous. This reminds me of books written by a renowned Crime writer from the West, Tess Gerritsen. Perhaps it might be their background as medical doctors which enable them to write precise description though a bit gross.

When the story ends Swaminathan also puts across a question to ponder “ The Cry, How can I bear that someone should use my body like this? Is usually read as a woman's outrage. But isn't it equally a man's? It is men who should protest against rape, and not women.”

- Shalet Jimmy

Quotes - Jhumpa Lahiri

“That's the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake


“There were times Ruma felt closer to her mother in death than she had in life, an intimacy born simply of thinking of her so often, of missing her. But she knew that this was an illusion, a mirage, and that the distance between them was now infinite, unyielding. ”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, Unaccustomed Earth


“And yet he had loved her. A Bookish girl heedless of her beauty, unconscious of her effect. She'd been prepared to live her life alone but from the moment he'd known her he'd needed her.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland


“It was not in my nature to be an assertive person. I was used to looking to others for guidance, for influence, sometimes for the most basic cues of life. And yet writing stories is one of the most assertive things a person can do. Fiction is an act of willfulness, a deliberate effort to reconceive, to rearrange, to reconstitute nothing short of reality itself. Even among the most reluctant and doubtful of writers, this willfulness must emerge. Being a writer means taking the leap from listening to saying, “Listen to me.” 
― Jhumpa Lahiri



“Pack a pillow and blanket and see as much of the world as you can.You will not regret it.” 
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

Almost Single by Advaita Kala

Be it Bhatinda or Kerala, the mothers of single women nearing 30 speaks almost the same language. They want their daughters to get settled. But the daughters are not ready just because they fear that they will have to compromise their independence ( not making a generalisation here. I wrote it just because this is the point on which 'Almost Single' rotates)

To my surprise, ‘ Mama Bhatia ‘, the mother of Aisha Bhatia, the protagonist resembles my mother too strongly that there are times I had to pinch myself to make sure that it was not my mum speaking.
I chanced upon this book in a bookstore which I frequented just because it's a bookstore. I did not have the intention of buying anything. When I am a bit flurried, usually a library or a book shop calms my mind. The title ' Almost Single' was catchy.  and the price was so low that I thought I would give it a chance.

To speak about the book, I would definitely not call this a masterwork or great piece of art. It is a book which has been written in a simple language and absolutely apt for casual reading. There is no plot as such. It is the story of Aisha Bhatia from Bhatinda along with her two friends who are on a groom hunt, to be precise, it would not be wrong if I say ‘ NRI groom hunt’. ( One friend just got a divorce from her husband and the other is on a search ).

Unlike her friends, she did not want to flow with the age old tradition of groom hunting whether it be through social networking sites or by conventional methods. Her faith eventually triumphs at the end as she falls for Karan, an NRI. The story concludes with hero and heroine coming together just like a typical Bollywood movie.

It would definitely grab your attention till you end it. That's it. There's nothing to ruminate and not my kind of book. But you just can't ignore a book which has made you sit all through.

If you are somebody who needs food for thought after reading a book, Almost Single is just not for you. You won’t get anything serious out of it. Keeping all those seriousness aside, if you need a light reading while you are travelling or mired in depression, this could be a perfect remedy.

Ends

Minal Sarosh ( Indian Author ) Interview

It was in 2015, I read and reviewed Minal Sarosh's début novel ‘Soil for My Roots ’. She started her literary career as a poet writing in English. She won the commendation prize in the All India Poetry Competition 2005 organised by the Poetry Society (India) Delhi.  Her poems on the city of Ahmedabad was published in ' The Grand Indian Express, Poets' Travelogue.

Nevertheless, I began reading ' Soil for My Roots' with much trepidation. There was a time when most of the books written by new Indian authors in English failed to piqué my interest. Call me prejudiced, I would not deny it. At the same time, some books were a real turn off. To my pleasant surprise, Minal's book was an exception. It portrayed emotions so beautifully and with depth that I let go of my prejudice and enjoyed the book.

 Writing its review became an easy and joyous task because I could connect with the characters. I  love those writings which could paint a picture with words. Hers was one such book.

You can read the review of her book here Soil for My Roots

She is currently working on a novel which brings out the malaise of our society of the half-educated or the dropout students, who sometimes are not able to transform their lives and take unfair means of livelihood.
 
Thanks, Minal for this wonderful Interview...

 Minal, tell us about yourself?

Well, first and foremost, I am a poet, at heart, and by interest and of course writing! This is because even as I worked in a bank, and worked for many, many years, I did not give up reading and writing poetry, and finished my post graduation in English Literature, too.

Then, when I happen to leave my job, writing fiction which lay latent at the back of mind for so many years, happened! So, I have published one novel, so far.

How did you get into the world of writing?

     My writing started with poetry, the emotional outbursts kind, which I didn’t show anyone. But, one day, just on a whim, I sent a poem to a fashion magazine called ‘Flair’ and surprisingly they accepted, and I was overwhelmed and overjoyed on seeing my poem in print.  That was the trigger that made me take writing more seriously and intently and began sending out my poems to magazines, journals and newspapers.  

      And after I won an award in a poetry competition held by the local Times of India, newspaper, there was no looking back.

Tell Me about your book ‘Soil for My Roots’. Every meticulous detail has been taken care of in this book - emotions, details of the places etc. What made you write such an elaborate book? How long have you have taken to write this book? 

Well, ‘Soil for My Roots’ is my first book. It’s about living in a multicultural society like India. And it has many characters and situations which bring to fore the consequences of such a social fabric in terms of relationships and social adjustments.

          The book has turned out elaborate because I wanted it to be a mirror of our times, how everyday living and thinking has gradually changed. I did this, maybe, to preserve for posterity, hence the detailed descriptions of the way people live and the places.

        As I said, fiction also remained with me all through the years when I worked in a very different non-literary environment, so the theme and plot of the novel were always there. Hence, when I actually started writing, it took only 3 months to complete the first draft.


What are bottlenecks you had to face (if there’s any) while writing and publishing this book?

It took up almost 5 years to find a publisher, maybe because I hadn’t written any fiction before, not even a single short story. So, that was very frustrating and needed a lot of patience.

And while writing, apart from the physical stress, more so because I am a polio survivor, everything else fell into place smoothly.


 I have said this in my review of your book ‘Soil for My Roots’ that “Unraveling  Sarah would have offered the reader many a revelation.” Do you have any plan to come up with a sequel concentrating on Sarah? I would love to read it.


Yes, Sarah is quite intriguing at times and takes very bold decisions in the novel. This is because she is placed in very unusual circumstances. She is my favourite too, because the main theme of the novel being the effects and consequences of living in a multi cultural society is aptly revealed through her.  But no plans of exploring her future life, as of now!

 What was that ‘feeling’ when your work got published for the first time?

Yes, it was a very happy feeling, indeed! Thanks to my publisher who reposed faith in my work and gave me a break.

What do you think about current scenario of Indian writing in English?

      The current scenario is like a kaleidoscope, I think.   There are different colours and hues, I mean all types of work are being published, and each genre has its own readership.

Tell us a bit about your interest in poetry.

Well, as I said poetry is my first love, and will continue to be so. Maybe this is because the poetic inspiration can come from anywhere and everywhere. The creative impulse is all prevailing and gives such wonderful moments of joy and surprise as you write a poem. So, poetry gives me a lot of freedom, and I have written poems on various themes like nature, relationships, the urban ethos and poetry itself.

 Are you currently working on anything?

Yes, I have finished working on a novel which brings out the current malaise of our society of the half educated or the drop out students, who sometimes are not able to transform their lives and take unfair means of livelihood. There is a suspense hidden in the novel too. The novel is set in the city of Ahmedabad. 

Do you have a favourite genre? If yes, does your work belong to that genre?

No favourites, because now I read anything and everything which engages my interest and attention.

But, in my growing up years, I had a preference for detective and adventure stories of the Famous Five, Perry Mason and the likes.

Did you ever explore the Indian writing in English from other parts of the  country. I have noticed that writers belonging to the metros get a lot of attention though there are many good works from places especially like North East India etc. What is your take on this?

Of course, in a way every book has a distinct flavor of the place in which the story is set.

Absolutely true, more authors from metros are being published, maybe because the authors from non metro places are at a slight disadvantage since all publishing and literary activities take place in metros.

Yes, there is untapped potential especially from the NE region and am happy to see many authors from there being published now.

Who are your favourite authors and why? Any contemporary author/authors who caught your attention recently?


My current favourite authors as far as fiction is concerned, contemporary and non-contemporary together, are O Henry, Jhumpa Lahiri, Manu Joseph, Kushwant Singh and Arvind Adiga.

Do you have a library in your home? If yes, how many books are there?

Oh, my library at home is stocked by my husband and son as well, so it has all kinds of books!

 Your 10 favourite books and movie

Well I read more poetry and the  works of Emily Dickinson,  Robert Graves, A K Ramanujan , Imtiaz Dharkar  and Jeet Thayil are  my favourite to dip into again and again for those moments of revelation, joy and learning.

About movies, for some reason, I never tire of seeing the James Bond series.



- Shalet Jimmy

The Grandmother's Tale by R K Narayan

There was a time when grandiloquent writings gave me sleepless nights. How I wished I could use such words while writing. It was then I accidentally chanced upon R K Narayan's books which thankfully broke all my misconceptions. I knew at once that a story could be told beautifully with simple words too. My all time favourites are ' The Guide ' and ' The English Teacher'. But there are several more to explore.

Coming to Grandmother's tale, I did have a different picture before reading it. I was associating the title of the book with so many things such as pickles, Tairu saadam, the mischief of Swamy and many tales told by his grandmother. But it was not so. The book was about Bala and Vishwa, RK's great grandparents and their life from marriage until their death. Though I could read this book at a stretch, I could not relish it as I have done many of his other books.

RK's  grandparents tied the knot when they were little children. Unlike today, the husband and wife could not be together until the young wife Bala attains puberty. Once in a while, they were left alone only for a few minutes to talk to each other. Many of their such meetings went awry as they could not muster the courage to talk to themselves. But eventually, in one of such meeting, Bala somehow manages to talk to him. All she did was to point out to Vishwa, a dark patch under one of his ear. To this, he replies “ This is a lucky sign and my mother says I would be a king,” which became true.  He becomes rich but at the cost of Bala. 

 The story is all about how Bala manages to bring back his husband who left her and got married to another woman. As the story was completely told only from the point of Bala, there were many questions unanswered. Why did Vishwa become ready to desert his second wife though he loves her and come back to his first wife whom he hardly knows? What happened to Surma, his second wife when she was abandoned by Vishwa. Though he prospered after coming back to his village why didn't he make any effort to search Surma?

I grabbed this book as I was quite lured by the picture of the book where a small boy was seen sitting with his grandmother with inquisitive eyes on a swing.

- Shalet Jimmy

Riot by Shashi Tharoor

I read this book around 10 years ago. Ever since Lakshman and Priscilla Hart remained with me. Ten years after, I thought of re-reading it again. Just because I felt I can understand the emotions portrayed in the book much better.

When the story starts, Priscilla Hart, a 24-year-old American24-year-oldad. Why did she die? Was she murdered or was she at the wrong place at the wrong time?
Though there is the element of ‘ Who dunnit?’, the story is not said through the shrewd eyes of a sleuth but with a heart full of emotions.


Priscilla came to India when she was a little girl. Her dad was a Coco Cola executive. Though she had to leave India after some time, she left her heart and soul in the country only to return after a couple of years. She volunteered a population control programme in Zalilgarh in Uttar Pradesh, a place completely marred by the riots. She gets acquainted with the District Magistrate Lakshman and slowly the acquaintance blossoms to love. An abandoned ‘Kotli’ in the district is the witness of all their romantic trysts.

But Lakshman is married and could not leave his wife ( though he knew that he was not in love with her) and his little daughter. But he knew that Priscilla is the love of his life – with whom his life again bloomed. On top of that, he is in charge of a city marred by riots.

Putting an end to Lakshman’s dilemma, Priscillia was about to leave India when the fate struck its hardest blow. In the riots that broke out in Zalilgarh, there were eight people killed and her name was one among them. She is found dead in the same Kotli where she used to love Lakshman. The story slowly unravels the mystery of her death.

Tharoor has written a beautiful love -story in the backdrop of a riot-torn city.

- Shalet Jimmy