1.As the author of this book, it is obvious that every story is close to your heart. But name the one story which you think is the heart of your book?
I think its very difficult for me to choose one as all nine stories are very close to me. There is one story in the book named ‘An Hour of Truth’, It took me the longest time to pen it down and its personally my favorite story. This story is a mix of fiction and reality and it puts a question mark on the entire prostitution industry. ‘How this word ‘prostitute’ has demeaned the status of women in our society’ – story brings out this aspect in a subtle manner. For this story I interviewed a prostitute to know the real time insights which are being articulated in the form of fiction.
2.Why only 9 stories in your book? Is 9 your lucky number or something like that?
Well I too believe in occult sciences but as far as book is concerned it has nothing to do with numerology 🙂 It was just a matter of chance that nine stories seemed perfect for an anthology of short stories to begin with.
3.What is your purpose to write this book?
Initially my objective was never to write a book, I love writing, I love penning down my thoughts and certain things which I observe around me and happening in society. I started with blogging long time back then gradually my inclination towards fiction started gripping up. But in the hectic schedule of academics and other personal stuff life didn’t give me a good chance to pursue my passion. That’s how I started writing short stories, somehow stealing time and articulating few thoughts and ideas. And I think writing short stories is a difficult task as compared to writing a full novel, as in short stories you are dealing with different ideas, different plots and different narration style at the same time depending upon the big idea.
4.When did you started writing the first story and when did you end up with the last one?
I wrote my first story (The Guilt) during my post graduation in 2010. It was my first fiction piece. From there it started and it took me around two years to finalize the perfect nine stories to be the part of anthology.
5. According to you writing is the path that leads to…?
Well I think it varies from person to person, its hard to have a generalized opinion on this. For me writing is a kind of experience. It helps me to know myself better and as well as to understand the people around me. Most of my stories revolves around the ubiquitous emotions such as Love, Hate, Anger, Thrill, Guilt, Fear and so on, Also ‘humanity’ is as a subject is something which really influences my thoughts, so for me writing is a way to get transparency in my thoughts and an impetus to pen down something worth reading.
6.Your every story holds a message.What message you want to give to the youths of country?
As i told earlier all my stories captures some or the other emotion on which the story takes the lead. I think today we are breathing in the ‘evolved’ world where feelings and emotions are nowhere in the priority list. Knowingly or unknowingly we have become the part of a chase. Chase for money, ambitions, materialistic pleasure and other personal forms of happiness. But in this chase what we are ignoring is actually our roots from where we are coming, the elements which makes us humane are fading with the time and this is something very unfortunate. Youth of this country needs to revive those roots… All of us in the childhood have enjoyed nature, have seen people helping others, have played with our pets, have asked our wishes from the stars, have experienced the freshness of the morning. But now things are changing… kids are busy in gadgets, they feel good seeing ‘farm’ in games but they hate visiting them in real time, I have not seen much people younger to me talking about sachin or shewag so fanatically… so these are some of the small small things or examples that how we are losing our self or rather sacrificing something which we don’t need to. Maybe I am wrong, I see this world more driven by calculations rather than emotions.
7.Tell me about your next project.
As of now, I am working on my second book – ‘Meet The Strings’ 2 – collection of nine unique short stories.
Thank you so much for the wonderful answers. Wishing you a great future
Interviewed by Shweta Kesari
Keep writing for us… we’ll definately get back to our roots someday.. good luck 🙂