Author Interview

 

Q1. Your life has been full of events. Which part of life would you like describe as the best?

I would describe my falls as my best moments, for they taught me how to get up and hold my head high. 

When I was actually at my nadir, I felt that destiny was very unkind to me – it was only later that the realisation dawned that the nadir was also destined to take me to some moments of happiness in the journey called “life"

Q 2. As I am a big fan of poetry I had read your Hindi poetry book ( Kai Basant Dekhe Hai Maine ) it was an amazing read. Would you like to tell us more about the kind of poems you write ? 

Thanks for reading and also liking my poetry collection “Kai Basant Dekhe Hain Maine”. I have written on different themes and in different styles and forms; however, the themes which I often tend to pick up are either social, motivational or those describing my inner journey. Of course, like all poets normally do, I have written a lot of romantic poems too at some juncture of life. However, later the desire to write more meaningful poems grew, as did the understanding that you have to love yourself first, and the direction changed a little. 

3 - What was the reason the keeping the Title “The Red Diary” ? 

“The Red Diary” is where the protagonist of my novel discovers the secrets to his life and his journey in life. In short, you can say, it’s the key point. This was one of the reasons I chose this particular title. 

If you wish to know about the choice of colour – well, it perfectly gels with the plot of the novel. One of the main characters of the novel discovers this diary in a large library. Now, to discover one particular diary, about whose existence the character doesn’t even know, there has to be something attractive about the diary. While I was imagining the scene, the red colour immediately came into my mind for its vibrancy. Hence the title “The Red Diary”.

4 -  Your favourite  character from the story of  The Red Diary . Tell us about it a little .

Well, though an author can’t really play favourites, and I love all my characters, I am in love with Shivi for her silent support, her simplicity and her accepting things as they are without any anger or remorse.

5.   Your memorable moment in your writing journey.

My writing journey has given me many memorable moments. The most important landmark was receiving an award from Gulzar sahib for Hindi poetry. Also, my being named as one of the 78 most popular authors by Forbes magazine in 2014 was another big moment for me. 

However, I am sure that there will be many more.