Today we have Mr. Jatin Kuberkar the author of the latest book “While I was waiting” by Leadstart Publishers.
Take an ounce full of imagination and a scoop of humour. Mix them well. Now put a few teaspoons of feelings and emotions and stir until it smells good. Put the mixture on the pallet of dreams and garnish it with a few peanuts of desires; that is all it takes to be Jatin Kuberkar. A software engineer by day and a passionate writer by night, Jatin wants to experiment with different genres.
When not tangled in software codes, he writes poetry, short stories and essays. He is deeply interested in spirituality, philosophy and observing life as it turns into interesting ways. He lives in Hyderabad, surrounded by his friends and well-wishers. His family consists of his mother, wife (who happens to be his childhood love) and his son, Arya. Jatin can be reached at: itsjatink@gmail.com
The blurb of his book reads:
Everyone in this world has to wait; be it waiting in a physical sense or be it waiting in a philosophical form. Waiting often results in remorse about the unchangeable past or anxiety about the indefinite future. While waiting can be all this, it can also be a silent, carefree dialogue with the self, a moment of oneness with the present, listening quietly to the stories of hidden existence, reading history from an invisible book of time, being an unasked judge to the oblivious characters as they perform on the stage called life and the list goes on... The world has many stories to tell and I have got all the time...because, I am waiting!
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| Source: Google Images |
In conversation with him in an attempt to know him more in his own words:
1. First of all a warm welcome to Reviews and Musings. It is a pleasure having you here and thank you so much for your time. Let’s talk about While I was waiting your debut novel. How did it all happen?
Waiting is a strange phenomenon. It has the power to make a common man an author!
To the best of my knowledge, I had written my first waiting story somewhere in 2009. That time, I had no idea that I will publish a book someday. Initially, I used to record my observations in my blog under the title ‘From the streets of Hyderabad’. After some more waiting tales, I realized that the theme was more on waiting than to do with a city. That is when I changed the name to ‘While I was waiting’.
2. Your book is a collection of short stories, an anthology. Looking at the recent surge in the number of anthologies available in the market was it a deliberate attempt to bring out such a book instead of a full-fledged novel?
First of all, I never believed that my short stories were interesting. It was my personal blog that only my wife and a few close friends had access to. They kept saying that even my short stories were worth a read (I was working on a full-length novel then) but I never took it to my heart until one day when I submitted one such story to one of the ‘Chicken Soup for Soul’ series and it got selected. Not only that, the editor wanted me to contribute some more stories. That is when I thought I will go ahead with publishing my short stories too.
3. Your book has been getting mixed reviews. How does it feel – holding that book in your hand and reading those reviews?
No review is good or bad, in essence, negative or positive. But it is very important to get an honest review. Esp, when an author wants to make a decent space for himself in the bookshelves. Until now, only close acquaintance, read my work. Now that even others are reading it, their perspective is defiantly going to groom me as an author.
4. Take us through your journey of becoming an author.
Since childhood, I use to create stories and write poetry. My first poem was on a horn of a city bus. I was about 6 years old then. My writing skills went un-notice because of my hand writing! Even then, I used to participate in all the writing contests that happened at the school. I am sure none even glanced at it. One fine day, my teacher (he did’nt knew me) ‘dared’ to read my submission. After sometime, he realized that he couldn’t withstand my handwriting anymore, so he called me and asked me to read it. Literally shivering out of fear, I read it out only to surprise him. I did not win the competition, but he complemented me by saying ‘You have the gift of writing!’. I did not understand what he meant then but I stopped writing for a while.
I started writing again in my college days. Computer had become a household item and my handwriting was no more a barrier that stopped me from jotting down my thoughts. Youth made me fall in love and love re-introduced me to Poetry. I joined a poetry group named “Ah! Poetry” on Orkut.com. Here I met numerous people who encouraged me so much that, in 2011 I self-published my book of poems titled ‘Rainbow Dreams’. It was a collection of my life’s effort.
It was at a birthday party that I first realized that I can also make stories. A group of aunties had asked me to look after their children. In an attempt to manage them, I narrated a story. It was spontaneous flow of words from an unknown source of knowledge that even surprised me. In due course, the concept of waiting hit me. I was working on a full length novel but time and again, I was being blessed with little inspirations that I, as an author, couldn’t let go.
And here I am!
5. Writing as they say is a lonely journey. What do you think about it?
The beauty of observation is that it never lets the observer feel lonely. In my journey, I was never alone. I was always surrounded by the nameless characters doing their best to look good on the stage of life. As an audience to this fantastic drama, I clapped, enjoyed, cried, laughed and learnt a lot from them.
6. Publishing Industry in India is said to be a very challenging one. How has been your experience regarding the same? Any specific incident that you would like to share with us.
It is true that ‘Writing’ is not considered as a full time profession in India and the publishing industry here is very selective about what they want to publish.
There is one specific incident that I want to share. One day, I received a mail from a publisher expressing his willingness to publish my work. Until then as many as five publishers had already rejected my manuscript. At one hand I was eager to say yes to him and at the other, I wanted to be cautious. I did a through research about the publisher. Interestingly, facebook helped me a lot. What I did was, I searched for the titles from the publisher and searched for its author on Facebook. On finding many of them, I enquired about the credibility of the publisher and NONE gave me a positive response about him.
That is when I controlled my emotions and decided to wait for the best opportunity.
7. One of the most common things to be observed in all your stories in that they are high on emotions and feelings which says a lot about you as an individual. Your thoughts in this please.
I think, being emotional and being expressive is the biggest boon (and a bane) to an author. Even the best of the words sometimes fail to convey certain emotions.
Observation is my habit and not always an observation gives you pleasure. Personally, being a little sensitive, I sometimes think, I shouldn’t have been there to witness the incident. Writing about it is like giving a vent to my feelings.
Having said that I also believe that, Feeling others emotions makes you humble. It instantly reduces your pride to ashes. It gives you an assurance that everything will fall in its deserving place. It brings you a step closer to God.
8. Whom would you call your inspiration, if any?
There is a little revelation here.
Someone asked me this question recently and I gave a formal answer to it. But it made me ponder…really, who is my inspiration?
It followed me all the day. It troubled me even in the bathroom while I was washing my face. In one such moment, I looked at my self in the mirror and the answer smiled at me.
“My biggest inspiration is the one I see when I look into the mirror”
Apart from this, I have derived a lot of energy from ‘Thomas Edmund Clint’ the child prodigy who made 25000 paintings in just 2550 days of his life! Whenever I feel burned out or de-motivated, I look at his innocent face and it fills me with energy.
9. How different is the author Jatin Kuberkar from the real Jatin Kuberkar?
Not very different. He is a guy next door with a craving for junk food and Rasgullas. He is a Harry Potter fan and an action movie buff. Apart from being a devout, Son, He enjoys watching ‘Choota Bheem’ with his kid and lovingly listens to the endless chatter of his wife.
I am a strong believer of the thought that everyone in this world is good at heart. Just that they are too busy to express their kindness to each other.
10. We would love to know your future projects or any other books you might be working on currently.
I am working on a novel titled “Cabbing All The Way”. It is nearing completion. There are a few more ideas that are currently preserved in the fridge of my creative kitchen.
11. One message that you would like to give to your readers and all those aspiring authors who dream of being HERE someday, having the title of author associated with their name.
Every idea can make a best seller! We just need to believe in them and write them down. T.V and Internet are the biggest threat to authors. They just kill your time that otherwise could be invested in painting your ideas in words.
A huge thank you for sparing some of your precious time to be with here today, we would like to wish you all the best for all your future endeavors.