1. Who is your inspiration as an author?
Inspiration is like a wave breaking on a shore, in the sense that the only constant is that they're always changing. Having grown up reading books, I have been a keen observer of the particular writing styles of authors and their tried and tested methods. Think of it as the seams holding a piece of cloth together. Once you get used to the preferred tropes of a certain author, you can see the pattern in which the story has been threaded together and from then on, it's very hard for me to continue reading the same author unless they can surprise me. It is the same principle on which I try to write myself.
If I had to pick one author I loved to read growing up, it would definitely be Louis La'mour. I loved his bare-bones writing style about rugged, hard-skinned cowboys and the way he described the terrain and customs of the time. Some other authors I look up to are Elmore Leonard, Charles Bukowski, Jonathan Tropper, Larry McMurtry and James Michener.
2. If you had to pick only one book to read for the rest of your life, what would you pick?
That's a tough one. As a reader, I have always found solace and refuge in the worlds created by the author. Thus, for me books that have a lot of depth of characters and narratives and encompass worlds that can be inhabited by the reader over and over again, each time with new and novel meanings, are what interest me. I know for a fact that I will change my mind as soon as I've had to think about it, but for now, the book that I think I could read over and over again is Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It is equal parts a crime thriller as well as a deeply philosophical treatise on life and redemption and the setting of the book, based in India, is fairly familiar as well.
3. Favorite film?
I think by now you must have realized that I absolutely cannot give a definitive answer on most things because I feel there is so much that still needs to be discovered. There are so many wonderful pieces of work, that to categorically make up one's mind would be to close off the possibility of being amazed, which is something I don't want to do. I'm always looking to expand my knowledge, diversify my palette and enrich my experience. Having said that, a couple of movies that I can watch over and over again are The Shawshank Redemption, Seven, Tamasha and When Harry Met Sally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmSpCLefjnw
4. Favorite memory?
I have had to think long and hard about this. Once again, maybe because it is something that is relatively more recent and also very personal to me, but at this moment in time, my favorite memory is getting to see the paperback copy of my first novel. It's kind of hard to put into words, but when you come across something deep inside you that pushes you to throw away a cushy, prestigious career and to swim against conventional wisdom and the opinion of everyone, you know you're in it for the long haul. And that was how it was for me. I gave up a decade-long career in the Civil Services and went against almost everyone's advice because I couldn't ignore my passion to write stories. I realized that many years down the line, I didn't want to one day look in the mirror at the wrinkly face of an old-timer with accusatory eyes, blaming me for being too chicken to follow his dreams. So I wrote. From my heart. And to see the universe reciprocate that faith, and to hold my book in my hands, that was something else.
5. Biggest challenge as a writer?
I think it was Ernest Hemingway who once said, "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." I live by that rule. The key is to be vulnerable and completely honest with yourself and not try to pretend to be something you are not. But at the same time, you also have to make sure that you do not put too much of yourself in the book because while you as a writer know all the backstory as well the future arcs of your characters, your readers do not and hence, you need to write in a way that allows them to keep pace with the narrative and come to their own conclusions without coloring the landscape with your biases. In common writing parlance, this is the 'show don't tell' rule. It is a constant tightrope that every writer has to navigate. Being a reader myself, I know when a writer comes off as being too preachy and opinionated and it can turn off the reader instantly. So, I try and hope that I don't fall into the same habit.
6. What are your most and least favorite literary trends?
Not sure if you can call it a trend but I have always found the depiction of Asian stereotypes and the dumbed-down version of ourselves in western narratives very off-putting. Using Westernised substitutes for our items of usage I think is a great disservice to our depiction in literature and something that I hope we can come out of very soon. Growing up, I remember fantasizing about cowboys and Indians and thought only those who wore hats and rode horses deserved to be called heroes. Only much later did I come to appreciate the heroes and noble characters in our own local culture and it was because there were no examples in English literature to look up to. Sadly, the same trend persists in the visual medium as well. I hope if more and more writers from our part of the world write about our culture and people in a way that is easily digestible to a global audience, while staying true and authentic, perhaps this will start to change for the better.
7. If you could speak to one author in the whole world who would it be and why?
I would love to talk to Charles Bukowski because I just think that he would be great company. I love his dry, almost bitter yet profound style of writing very refreshing. He is brutally honest, self-deprecating and insightful. Add to it the fact that he also worked in the public sector and was disillusioned with the monotony and narrow-minded approach that I also found chaffing and I think I could get to learn a lot from him as to how to channel and harness that fire and use it in my work.