Today we have the man behind Asura - one of the most talked about books this year, Mr. Anand Neelkantan. The moment I had read the book I was curious and I knew I had to know more about him, the book anbd ofcourse his forthcoming book Ajaya about which you can read HERE:
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- Firstly a warm welcome to Reviews and Musings. I would like to tell you here that I have tremendously enjoyed reading Asura and the first thing that I was very curious to know about was what inspired you to write this book.
Thank you very much for your
nice words. Asura was inspired by many folk tales and tribal versions of
Ramayana, but it was mostly inspired by a single thought- what if the
vanquished have a story to tell?
- A year has passed since then and yet it still creates ripples in the literary world. How does it feel now that it coming out in its hardback version?
It is a dream come true to any author. When I was
toiling for 6 years and was doubting about my skills about telling a good story
over the pile of rejection letters I used to get, in my wildest imaginations, I
had not thought about a success like this.
- How did writing happen to you , was it a dream you always saw as a child?
Yes it was and it still is. I dream for bigger
and bigger things
- How did you come up with the title of your book?
The story to be told was that of
the vanquished. It had two main protagonists and both were Asura. Hence the
title Asura, tale of the vanquished
- As a writer I believe that gradually as the book progresses the authors tend to become one of the characters breathing life in them. Did it happen with you when you were working on your book? Who is your favorite character from your book and why?
Bhadra is my favourite character
as I created him. All other characters in Asura are from original Ramayana.
Bhadra is modelled on the common man of all countries of all eras.
- The story from a very different point of view is what Asuras is all about. And it reaffirms the old adage that every coin has two sides. What is the message you wanted to send across to the readers through Asuras?
That life cannot be simplified
into good guys and bad guys story
- Can you share a little of latest upcoming release Ajaya with us?
Ajaya again is about the power of perspective.
What if the defeated have a story to tell. Ajaya looks Mahabharata from the
view point of Kauravas and especially the Crown Prince Suydohana (damned as
Duryodhana in popular telling) who was cheated out of his inheritance. It will
have other heroes like Ekalavya, Karna and Aswathama.
- Sounds very innovative and interesting. How did this unique concept come into being?
The story was inspired by a
temple in Malanada village of Kerala. This ancient temple has Duryodhana as the
main deity with Karna and other Kauravas as minor deities. The details story of
this temple is given in the sample chapters and the introduction of the book
- Could you share with us you future projects?
Ajaya is going to be in two
parts and the second part Rise of Kali will be out in Aug 2014. Other than that
I am toying up with many ideas and one of the mature ones is the story of
Chanakya’s
foes.
- If I were to ask – name one of the most beautiful thing and one worst thing about being an author what would it be?
Beautiful thing- Life is never
boring
Worst thing- An author can never
take a vacation. The brain will be buzzing with the next story.
- Would you please share your experiences of becoming an author? Your journey till here.
My sister
Chandrika is an astrologer. If you have read my books, you may be knowing that
I am very critical of superstitions and try to bring rationality to thoughts. I
am an Engineer by training and work in a public sector for a living. When I had
started my research for my book Asura, she had predicted that if I am able to
complete it, it would be a great success. I laughed at the idea. Those were the
days when books got sold if it had the name of great authors like Amitav Ghosh
or Arundhathi Roy, because of their talent in writing or they got sold if it
had names like Chetan Bhagat written on it, for his deep understanding of what
average reader wants and deliver it, packed in off the cuff humour. This was
much before Shiva Trilogy had come to the market and changed the game. So, the
idea of any one wanting to read about a few Asuras who may have been dead at
least three thousand years ago in itself was preposterous. Even now, I do not
admit to my sister about her prediction, but I think may be
subconsciously, that prediction might have encouraged me to toil on in my
writing and research when there was no possibility of it getting even
published. That helped me perhaps in facing the pile of rejection letter I
received.
- Do you have any advice for other upcoming writers?
Never, never never give up.
Rejection letters will look like bomb shells delivered in your mail box, but
keep believing in yourself. Any book can be published if an author works
sufficiently on it. With every rejection, the author has to view her work
impartially and correct the same.
I have a small request to make
to all the readers of this blog. Asura
is in shortlist of Crossword award 2013. The competition is tough with all the
big names squeezing a first time author.
Please vote for Asura and
give the vanquished a chance to win. Please post the same in
your blog/ fb/ twitter by spreading the message.
Here is the link http://goo.gl/nVkgS6
Thank you so much for gracing my blog today and it was indeed a pleasure to have you here. We would like to wish you all the best for your future projects!
Thank you so much for gracing my blog today and it was indeed a pleasure to have you here. We would like to wish you all the best for your future projects!