Read below to see how a little angel helped us deliver a smile
Read below to see how a little angel helped us deliver a smile
An author of bestselling books like ‘A Wonderful Boss’, ‘Winning Instinct’, ‘Passion Quotient- How it matters more than IQ’ and ‘Rise and Rise of Jugaad’, Virender Kapoor says writing was never in his itinerary. Having written on diverse topics like human competence, work life balance, leadership, emotional intelligence , innovation and relationships; Virender stands out as a very versatile author in the self-help space. He has created a new genre of thematic motivational biographies like ‘Leadership the Gandhi way’ and ‘Innovation the Einstein way’, which reach out to the reader’s sensibilities in a different way. His schoolbooks series ‘I can and I will’ is the first of its kind to bring Emotional Intelligence to the grass root level. His books have been translated in eight languages including Vietnamese. Management practitioner and thought guru, Virender is all set to release his next two books ‘A Wonderful Wife’ coming November and ‘Twelve Mega abilities of Extraordinary People’ early next year.
We asked the author to tell us more about his writing journey and how he got drawn into the world of words. Excerpts from an interview:
When did you first think of becoming a writer?
It will surprise many, but writing was never on my itinerary. I was a good student in school and hence academic pursuits not literary was the obvious path for me to take. I took the usual path, did my engineering, and chose to do my Post Graduation in Computer Science from IIT Bombay. I feel I became an author by accident. For fun, I started writing ‘Middles’ for TOI and Hindustan Times and I was surprised I got published! It not only encouraged me to write but it also revealed ‘that I could write!’Writing for prestigious papers also gives you kind of a kick and therefore, I became a regular contributor to the edit page. Looking at my education, the best fit seemed to be technology writing. Therefore, I wrote my first book, ‘Telecom Today’ a work spanning more than 800 pages and 550 complex diagrams. Soon after, I realized that this kind of writing is very insipid and hardly allows any elbow space for creativity. Moreover, the target audience is very small as compared to fiction or self-help.
How did self-help books happen? Why did you decide on this genre?
As I mentioned earlier, technical writing was not making any sense and I really did not enjoy it.I got into teaching and was heading a a management institute under the Symbiosis Umbrella. At some point, I realized that I had so much of experience in terms of handling and training people that I must share it with the world. And that is how self-help books happened. This genre gives you tremendous freedom to use your creativity and you can leverage your experience to the fullest. This also gives you a different kind of satisfaction because you are influencing so many people positively.
I feel that a writer should think like an actor. Good actors try different roles and different subjects- they experiment. A seasoned actor can do romance and sing songs, do comedy and take on a negative role with equal ease. Look at Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan; they do it all the time. Then why can’t an author do the same? I don’t want to be ‘generised’!
How do you manage to write on so many different topics?
I feel that a writer should think like an actor. Good actors try different roles and different subjects- they experiment. A seasoned actor can do romance and sing songs, do comedy and take on a negative role with equal ease. Look at Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan; they do it all the time. Then why can’t an author do the same? I don’t want to be ‘generised’!
I look for ‘gaps’ on the shelf. I try to write on something that is being talked about but nothing exists about that topic. For instance, everyone talks about passion for work and loving your job but there was not a single book on this. That is how ‘Passion Quotient’ book happened. And so was ‘Jugaad’. These areas offer a challenge because there is nothing to go by; there is hardly any material on the subjects I choose. This is nothing but creating knowledge. I feel this is the way an author needs to do value addition .
Most self-help books are written by the western authors and our masses are not able relate to the mantras that the foreign authors prescribe. There aren’t many Indian authors who write in this area and my books fill that void.
Most self-help books are written by the western authors and our masses are not able relate to the mantras that the foreign authors prescribe. There aren’t many Indian authors who write in this area and my books fill that void.
Does marketing play a role in the success of a book?
One cannot deny the role of marketing in the success of a book especially today when there are multiple options available for entertainment; books being just one of them. The rules of the game have changed in recent times because of massive online market place and social media. Authors and publishers have to resort to ‘smart marketing’ as compared to the conventional, multiple book release functions. Digital marketing is the new mantra, which gives you a phenomenal reach and allows an author to remain connected with his readers.
Indian writing is gaining acceptance day by day and becoming popular too. Your thoughts on the same .
Indian authors have made a mark in Indian mythology because no one knows it better than them. We have lots of stories to tell and each one can be better than the other. We are also making headway in fiction and thrillers. India is also one of the fastest growing markets for authors because more and more people are trying to become proficient in English. I feel we should create a space for ourselves by focusing on product differentiation. Look at Hindi cinema; it has come of age and we have great films being churned out every year. I am sure we as authors will and possibly are creating original and meaningful stuff.
Self-help books are gaining acceptance and I am sure in a few years we will have more of these, that suit the Indian personality. Personally, for me I just want to write something that is worthwhile and I want to leave behind something that people can benefit from.
The much awaited film from the Rajshri production house ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’ - an Indian family drama film, directed by Sooraj Barjatya is all set for release on November 12. Starring Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Anupam Kher, the film's title track is out and you can listen to it here...
Anand Ranganathan's book For Love and Honour has recently been released. The scientist-author tells us more about his novel, why chose the Northeast and the insurgency there as the backdrop and also speaks about his next book. Read on...
A scientist, a consulting editor, active commentator on social media and a writer of love stories – now that’s called variety. As a student when you were looking through microscopes and immersed in pages of scientific research, did you think you’d be what is today described as “cool”?
Firstly, I am wary of being called “cool” – it puts enormous pressure on my crumbling bones, what with having to compete with youngsters who actually are cool. As for the answer to your question, not really – never thought about it. As a student of science there hardly was any free time to think of anything else apart from science and my own work. It is only now that I can spare time to think of other things beside science, now that I have my own students, who I deliberately deny any free time to think of anything else but science
Why love stories? Any particular reason? Because your profile would suggest that you veer towards scientific fiction, Robin Cook kind of novels…staying away from science in stories, is it by design or your plot has no place for them?
I like love stories, but those that are done without the effort of making them look like love stories. It is an extremely difficult thing, to pull off a love story. In my opinion very few have managed it. Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair, and Michael Ondaatje English Patient come to mind. Also Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago. Then there are those magnificent books – like Grossman’s Life and Fate – that have love stories in them but these don’t go on to define the book.
I confess I’m not much of a fan of science fiction. Unfortunate but true.
A setting of the North East in books is unusual. Do you choose it because of this factor? Or because (as you said in some earlier interviews) you had spent some of your childhood years in the NE?
The story of For Love and Honour was imagined by Bharat Solanky and I. Bharat – a friend from college who I have known now for 26 years – is a film director. It was his idea to have Northeast as a backdrop for our story. At first I was a little apprehensive, for like most Indians, I had little knowledge of Northeast. This of course wasn’t because of some design, but because the history of the Northeast is mostly absent from our school textbooks. The more we researched, the more we discovered how little we knew – about Mizoram, about the great famines, about the infamous Aizawl bombing of 1966 – when, for the first and the last time, our armed forces bombed their own people – and about the terrible hardships the Mizo people had to face in the aftermath of the Aizawl bombing.
The history of the Northeast is mostly absent from our school textbooks. The more we researched, the more we discovered how little we knew – about Mizoram, about the great famines, about the infamous Aizawl bombing of 1966
How easy or difficult is it to write against a familiar backdrop? In a familiar place you often know too much to get creative, as opposed to exploring a new terrain…
Indeed. This question is tied to the one previous. As a writer, one always looks for material one is familiar with. As Naipaul said, one is constantly striving for “material” – that then one can either “convert” into fiction or keep it as is. In fact, Naipaul’s one incredible book – perhaps his best work – The Enigma of Arrival – is entirely non-fiction material that he has cleverly made it look like fiction. So yes, unfamiliar terrain or backdrop requires a lot of research. Since the book interweaves real historical events with a fictional love story, it was important to get the historical facts right. The backdrop of the book – which, as I mentioned earlier, is the horrific and little-known Aizawl Bombing of 1966, and the subsequent armed struggle and insurgency in the whole of the Northeast – had to be researched extensively. The claustrophobic setting of the tea estate had to be just right as well. Here I was helped by my discussions with a friend who has spent much of his life on tea estates. The tea estate, suffice it to say, changes one’s personality. I am a big fan of Satyajit Ray and his astonishing film Kapurush-o-Mahapurush has haunted me ever since I first saw it. When writing FLAH, those scenes pushed and shoved and jumped the queue and came to front.
Land of the Wilted Rose, For Love and Honour , so have you already thought of your next book?
The new book is nearly done – it is being relooked at right now. This book is extremely dear to me. I have co-authored it with Chitra Subramaniam, who writes the kind of prose that can make you sweat in the deepest of winters. Not many know this, and I dare say it doesn’t come out - this unbelievable, multi-layered razor-sharp voice - it doesn’t come out often in her journalistic pieces, for quite obvious reasons – reports aren’t the right vehicle for such burning, all-consuming writing style.
Discipline is the enemy of free and wild thoughts.
You are not a full time author, so how do divide time between your day job and your passion in order that you can write? It must involve a whole of discipline...
Not really. I am intentionally undisciplined after the day has ended – by this I mean after the regular job of looking after my lab and research comes to an end in the evening. Discipline is the enemy of free and wild thoughts.
Developing scientific temper begins young…have you ever thought of writing science fiction for kids…so they develop an interest in Science from a young age?
I would love to. In fact, I have written half a dozen popular science articles for Newslaundry.com, the organisation for which I write weekly columns. It’s tough – trying to simplify scientific matter. But it is rewarding, too.
Finally, what will please you most – an exciting discovery or a novel that becomes a huge, huge best seller?
Both. In that order!
We saw the impact that the old melody Hungama ho gaya, sung by Asha Bholse, had on the film Queen, which starred Kangna Ranaut. Not only did the film do phenomenally well, this 70s song suddenly became a hit with today's generation. Looks like it is now the turn of another hit song from the 80s to leave its impact on an upcoming film "Main Aur Charles" starring Randeep Hooda. The song to be reprised is the 80s hit Jab Chaye Mera Jadoo from Dev Anand film Lootmar, music for which was composed by Rajesh Roshan and the song sung by Asha Bhosle.
The makers of Main Aur Charles have roped in singer Kanika Kapoor to sing this song. Explaining the reason for this decision producer Amit Kapoor says,”We needed a song that instantly transports you to the retro era of the 80s, a song which was high on melody as well as that which makes you instantly groove. We wanted a song that personified the flamboyance and the magic of the character of Charles….And Jab Chaye was that song."
A happy Kanika Kapoor says, "It was a challenge for me to re-sing an old song that was a rage of its time. It was not that we had to remix an old song for the modern day. The film is based in the 70s and 80s so we had to make sure that the song still had that retro vibe while still appealed to contemporary listeners today - that was a welcome challenge to recreate a number like Jab Chaye without losing its vintage charm."
Do you want to listen to this remixed version? Click below to listen in
Neetu Chandra has ventured into making a film that speaks about the reality of Bihar. Titled ‘Once Upon a Time in Bihar,’ the trailer looks to make people think about the current situation of our country. The film sheds light upon various serious issues prevalent in society today. The film revolves around three protagonists who fight the system with honest means and get tangled in the complex judicial, social and political issues. Speaking about the film producer Neetu Chandra says, "Once Upon a Time in Bihar is an honest and sincere film. It reflects upon certain issues like caste discrimination and regionalism that are dangerously common even today. The film raises important questions and we hope to create awareness along with entertainment among the audience with it”.
The film is set to release on 30th October, 2015. Catch a sneak peek here
The Grand Finale of the five day long fashion extravaganza, Amazon India Fashion Week culminated with a spectacular show put together by 16 of India’s most celebrated designers, who paid ode to popular indigenous Benarasi weave. Curated on the theme of ‘Born in Benaras’, all designers presented their interpretations in Benarasi weave; showcasing the weave’s journey from being used only in traditional wear to now finding a place in contemporary fashion.
The designers – Rohit Gandhi & Rahul Khanna, Namrata Joshipura, Ashish N Soni, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Abhishek Gupta, Gauri and Nainika, Alpana and Neeraj, Abraham and Thakore, Anupamaa Dayal, Malini Ramani, ATSU, Arjun Saluja, Manish Arora, JJ Vallaya, Sabyasachi and Tarun Tahilian, created mesmerising designs in Banarasi weave using a wide palette of colors like black, gold, red and blue; presenting the weave in creative and modern interpretations.
The Grand Finale showcased a fresh take on Benarasi weave across Western and Indian looks. Designers played with the Benarasi brocade on long jackets, A-line skirts, Boho chic resort wear, sarees as well as lehengas, giving the handcrafted weave a more western and edgier touch. The rich assortment of creativity and ideas in colourful threads started with a western collection in more of black and golden tones, followed by western collection with fusion of colors which was then concluded with the rich Indian garbs in turquoise, red and gold colors using the season’s fresh bridal hues.
“We are extremely thrilled to have a stunning and grand culmination promoting the Benarasi weaves. An impressive list of 16 designers presented their expert and unparallel creative benchmark, with the encouragement and belief instilled by Shaina NC to take this forward in alliance with our title sponsor Amazon.in. It was undoubtedly the most anticipated gala closing show ever seen. Our talented designers have successfully reflected the old world charm of Benaras on the contemporary canvas. We look forward to having such collaborations in future and evolving the fashion dynamics of India”, said Sunil Sethi, President, FDCI.
“I would like to thank and congratulate FDCI and all 16 designers for putting together a spectacular show. The outstanding reinvention of Benarasi weaves at the ramp today was magical. We are very pleased to partner with FDCI as this association has given us a great opportunity to liaise with the huge talent pool of designers. We want to work with them and help them leverage the power of technology to access and provide unique experiences for their new generation customers across India and the world.” said Susan Saideman, Head, Fashion, Amazon India.
Amazon.in forayed into fashion in September 2013 with the launch of the Fashion Jewellery & Watches selection. Since then the store has continually added selection to grow the portfolio including apparel for men, women and kids across ethnic wear and western wear, shoes, handbags and luggage among others. Today the store has over 5000 brands and over 5 lakh styles.
Check out more on Amazon India Fashion Week at www.stylediaries.in.
An alumnus of Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore), a career banker and financial services professional, Ravi Subramanian has written six best selling books. While If God was a Banker won him the Golden Quill readers choice award in 2008, he won the Economist Crossword Book Award for The Incredible Banker in 2012. The Bankster, released in 2012 won him the Crossword Book Award in 2013. As his latest book The Best Seller She Wrote is all set for release, we ask the author to speak about his writing journey, his career and more...
With awards in your kitty and many best sellers against your name – does the
burden of expectation weigh you down before a new release? And how dis/passionately do you look at awards?
I don't know of a single author who is not nervous before the launch of a book. Lack of paranoia is indicative of overconfidence. And the day an author becomes overconfident; it is the beginning of the end for him.
Whenever a new book of mine comes out, the only question that keeps me awake is how would a reader who has been waiting for my book react to the story. Reader acceptance is more important for me than awards. Awards are just an ego massage for authors. More important than awards is the love, affection and adulation that the readers shower on an author. I would love to win awards, but I don't unnecessarily fret over them.
You have used social media effectively in the past for promoting your books. How has social media influenced your writing/ promoting books in any way?
Social media, in itself, has not influenced my writing at all. Having said that social media has helped me connect with my readers and promote my books effectively. A big benefit of social media has been that readers have become a part of my daily life. Exchanging messages, responding to feedback, answering queries etc is something which I have come to enjoy. And when readers come back to you with negative feedback on social media, it forces you to think. It makes you introspect. And that process of introspection often leads to improvement in an authors writing style. I can claim with conviction that this open and honest approach to negative feedback on social media has helped me evolve as an author.
I just wanted to write one book. But success made me greedy. Adulation from readers made me write more. That said, I have never written for commercial gains. Writing has always been fun for me
You are a part-time author by choice. If you chose to be full time, would you approach your writing differently? When did the writing bug first bite you?
Yes you are right in saying that I am a part time writer by choice. I will remain a part time writer till such time that managing a career and writing becomes unmanageable. I had a well paying job when I started writing. (it was way back in 2006). I started writing because through writing I wanted to be remembered long after I am gone from this planet. I just wanted to write one book. But success made me greedy. Adulation from readers made me write more. That said, I have never written for commercial gains. Writing has always been fun for me. A means to get away from a routine corporate life. I am worried that the day I give up my career for writing, I will come to depend on the money that I make through writing, for my living. That day, writing will become a job. And eventually the fun element will go away. That’s why even though writing is at a commercially meaningful level for me, I will never take writing as a full time career.
Would you want one of your corporate thrillers to be made into a film or mini-series for TV?
I would love it. Wish some Film / TV/ Web episode producer takes note and approaches me. God is a Gamer and Bankster would lend themselves to excellent thrillers. If God was a Banker would make a tremendous serial on human relationships and ethics and moral values.
Indian authors are making their mark in a big way in the literary scene today as compared to a few years ago– what or who do you attribute the change to?
There are a few factors which contributed to this. Foremost was the success of Chetan Bhagat, which made the publishers sit up and take note of Indian writers writing in English. They started seeing a sustainable business model in publishing Indian authors. Second was the emergence of organised retail and proliferation of media. Media elevated the intellectual glamour quotient of Indian writers and organised retail provided Indian authors with a platform to display their books and be noticed. Finally, the demographics of the country turned in favour of the youth. A number of youth from rural, semi-urban areas started reading English books. They had the same aspiration levels (thanks to television) as the youth in urban India. This resulted in them picking up easy to read books written by Indian authors, thereby providing both publishers and bookstores with readymade customers.
There are a number of fabulous writers in vernacular writing, who don't ever see the popularity that a Chetan or an Amish have seen.
How do you view the vernacular writing space? Are we moving towards having most Indians who think in English rather than their mother tongues? What does that mean for other language writers?
Indian writing in languages other than English has not really taken off in a big way. There are a number of fabulous writers in vernacular writing, who don't ever see the popularity that a Chetan or an Amish have seen. I don't think most Indians think in English rather than their mother tongues. The youth is still comfortable with the local language, though they aspire to learn English.
The reason why you see more of English books is because the market for vernacular is very fragmented and none of the national media covers vernacular authors. None of the national retail chains give vernacular books the kind of support it gives English books. Vernacular books are priced low. The revenue for bookstores is marginal. They would rather sell toys and English books rather than sell hundred rupee Tamil or Telugu or Hindi books. Hence distribution becomes a problem. And so the regional authors languish. It needs a scandal for a Perumal Murugan to emerge and get noticed in English despite being quite popular in Tamil writing.
A banker, CEO and author – which role is closest to your heart – why?
One is my vocation and the other is my avocation. One without the other is meaningless. My role as a CEO gives me professional satisfaction whereas my writing gives me creative fulfillment. It has given me a complete parallel universe, which helps me stay sane and grounded. As a CEO often people don’t question you. Hence it is quite possible for you to let it go to your head and become arrogant. As a writer you are pretty much naked in front of the reading public. Reputations count for nothing. Hence people are brutally honest with you. And this brutality can be disconcerting at times. Writing has taught me to take criticism with modesty and not allow praise to go to your head. It has helped me stay firmly grounded - a trait which has helped me immensely in my role as a CEO. So for me both my role as a CEO and a writer are linked in more ways than one. One without the other will be incomplete.
The film Talvar reportedly created a buzz at the Toronto International Film Festival and no one could be happier than its lead star Irrfan Khan. While the actor it is said has put in another superb performance playing the role of a CBI officer investgating a double murder, Irrfan has given full credit to the director of the film Meghna Gulzar. He says, “The story of Talvar is something that gripped me from the very beginning. The way Meghna has structured the story in Talvar is just brilliant. It has a unique narration of the same events from different and contradictory perspectives. Each version seems equally believable and will definitely leave you curious to know the truth.”
Talvar is a mystery thriller film directed by Meghna Gulzar is based on the Aarushi murder case that had gripped India. Referred to as the Noida double murder case it saw the murder of a 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar and 45-year-old Hemraj Banjade, a domestic help. The two were killed on the night of 15–16 May 2008 at Aarushi's home.
While the case is still shrouded in mystery, the film attempts to tell the tale through three contradictory accounts. The film is set for release on October 2.
Anil Menon started out wanting to be an accountant, took a long detour through mathematics and computer science and ended up a fiction writer. His short fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines and translated into Chinese, French, German, Hebrew and Romanian. His debut YA novel The Beast With Nine Billion Feet (Zubaan Books, 2010) was short-listed for the 2010 Vodafone-Crossword award and the Carl Brandon Society's 2011 Parallax Award. Along with Vandana Singh, he co-edited Breaking the Bow (Zubaan Books 2012), an anthology of speculative fiction inspired by the Ramayana. He has a forthcoming novel Half Of What I Say (Bloomsbury, 2015). Excerpts from an interview
You are an IT professional turned sci-fi writer…how come sci-fi because in India the genre is still pretty young and still very niche?
I think it's useful to classify stories but not their writers. I started out writing science fiction stories but have worked in many other genres as well, including regular realist fiction. In fact, my forthcoming novel Half Of What I Say (Bloomsbury, 2015) is a realist work.
That said, I'm fond of science fiction, as we often are of first loves. Incidentally, science fiction isn't recent in India. The first story in English by an Indian, namely, Kylas Chunder Dutt's A Journal Of 48 Hours In The Year 1945 was written in 1835 and was about a near-future India. Ten years later, his brother Shoshee Chunder Dutt published the Republic Of Orissa, also a near-future political piece. There's this long history of Bengali science fiction. Jagdish Chandra Bose for example wrote a science-fiction story, Palotak Toofan in 1895. It anticipated the Butterfly Effect from Chaos theory. In the 1970s and 1980s, Jayant Narlikar and other Marathi writers produced a lot of Asimov-type stories. So on and so forth.
I started out with science fiction partly because of my technical background. I was trained as a computer scientist. Digital technology is remaking us as a species; perhaps it'll be a shift as fundamental as humans first taking up language or farming. We have no theory as to what will happen next, but stories can go places where theory cannot.
You’ve said that attending the Clarion West workshop turned out to be a great experience. Why do you say so?
Two reasons, I think. It was my first real exposure to writers and editors. Plus the whole idea of the workshop critique was new to me. It isn't common in the technical fields for people to gather to discuss how you write up an idea; workshops are really an invention of the humanities. Clarion West is a six-week residential workshop and I made some good friends. I learned that what I intended to convey and actually conveyed were two different things.
What we call the craft of creative writing is mostly lore. It's not like solving a math problem where there's a technique that'll work the same way every single time. But that's not what writing workshops are about. At least, not for me. I think what a great writing workshop can do is to make you a "bad" reader.
The other reason for enjoying the workshop is a bit subtler. I've come to believe we understand too little about the writing experience to be able to teach it. What we call the craft of creative writing is mostly lore. It's not like solving a math problem where there's a technique that'll work the same way every single time. But that's not what writing workshops are about. At least, not for me. I think what a great writing workshop can do is to make you a "bad" reader.
Let me explain. Writers start to write because they love reading. They're good readers. They are able to immerse easily. They have good imaginations. But these talents, acquired from a long history of reading, also means text becomes invisible to them. Remember how when you learn a new language, a lot of effort has to spent figuring out what the letter shapes mean? Later, when you acquire proficiency, the letters become "invisible". You just read. A similar thing happens when you read a lot. You stop noticing how the text is put together. To become a writer, you need to become a bad reader. You have to pause over sentences, puzzle over how they work, think about one word choice over another, etc. A workshop can't teach you to become a good writer. But it can help you to wake up from the spell of text. Then you can cast spells for other readers.
After Clarion West, I can no longer read stories with the same innocence I once had. It's a loss, yes, but that's how learning works.
Do you think schools and colleges should have more of such workshops to hone writing skills among the youngsters?
There should be opportunities, sure. But ideally, it's best if there's nothing forced. I've participated in writing workshops where the kids
didn't really have a choice, and that's not fun for anybody. Besides, if students become writers too early on, they can stand to lose a lot of reading pleasure. Writing is dangerous business; it can both distance you from everybody and it can keep you perpetually immature. Like John Fowles says in his introduction to The Magus: "...all artists have to range the full extent of their own lives freely. The rest of the world can censor and bury their private past. We cannot, and so have to remain partly green till the day we die... callow green in the hope of becoming fertile green."
Writing is dangerous business; it can both distance you from everybody and it can keep you perpetually immature.
You did conduct a 3-week speculative fiction workshop at IIT Kanpur. How was the experience?
Fantastic. The group went on to do wonderful things. Novels, plays, short stories, editorial work, all sorts of good things. Truthfully, I learned more from them than they did from me. We're all still very tight, there's a special bond. We started a Google group and it's still going strong.
The Beast With Nine Million Feet is a young adult science fiction novel – have you seen the audience for science fiction in India grow? Or does it still begin & stop with Isaac Asimov?
Asimov-ji is certainly a favorite. He's the face of American SF. It's a bit like how Raj Kapoor is still the face of Hindi cinema in many parts of the world. I often get science fiction stories from Indian authors that clearly show the influence of "golden-age" science fiction. That's unfortunate because most of the golden-age stuff is thoroughly obsolete.
I don't have a good idea about the audience for science fiction in India. I don't take such numbers seriously. Was there an audience for teenage love stories involving vampires before Twilight? Who knows? With books, it is often the case there's no audience at all, and then a book appears, and suddenly that's all readers will read.
Are there any set protocols to begin dabbling in Science Fiction writing? Can you draw parallels with literary writing and science fiction writing? How different/similar are the constructs?
Yeah, there is a protocol. The best way to start writing a great genre story--- whether it's magic realism or cyberpunk or science fiction or a postmodern detective story-- is to write a great story. The biggest mistake one can do is to think in terms of genres. It's a tragic mistake that western publishing has made and the result has been an impoverishment of fiction all around. We non-western writers shouldn't make the same mistake.
There's already terabytes typed out on the difference between "literary" writing and science fiction, so I'm hesitant to add to the pointless conversation. It's also an inherited quarrel. Unlike contemporary western writers, Indian writers have always been free to write whatever they pleased. Growing up, I read everything. Don't let marketers tell you what to read or write.
The best way to start writing a great genre story--- whether it's magic realism or cyberpunk or science fiction or a postmodern detective story-- is to write a great story. The biggest mistake one can do is to think in terms of genres.
Who have been your biggest influencers in the world of writing?
The list is too long and too inconsistent. The oldest influencers are a little easier. The epics -- Greek and Hindu-- were (and are) a major influence. The Mahabharata is possibly my favorite story. I have different favorites for different aspects of a story.
Do you miss your corporate life?
Sure. Corporate life is the best place to enjoy the comédie humaine. Much of corp life involves working for stakes you don't truly care about. That can be curiously comforting. I also miss the standard office characters-- the nutjobs, the overachievers, the brown-nosers, the adulterous couples, the cynics, the sincere types. I miss all the lives I haven't lived, won't live and cannot live. Still, I can explore more lives as a writer than in any other capacity. So there are some compensations to being on this side of the green.