“Sometimes, we do not get a chance to thank each one who has helped us in our Journey.” Let the readers get a chance to know about all the important people who have played a part in this ‘Author Journey of Yours’.

The sole person who played an important part in my journey of becoming a writer is my father. My father taught me the basics of the English language. He introduced me to the world of English novels and was thus instrumental for my love of books and my love of writing. 

When and how did the idea of writing a book come to you? Can you tell a bit about your book ‘Love Impressions’? Who is your favorite character from the book?

The idea of writing a book came to me one day while I was lounging in my couch and the characters just popped up in my mind and after some thought I also knew the outline of the story. I just had to fill in the gaps and the story would be ready.

 “Love Impressions” is a collection of two stories. The first story “Love’s Labour Lost” explores the journey of love and loss of a  British doctor and an Indian woman in the backdrop of the Indian Independence movement. The second story “Impressions of Love and Loss” tells the story of a man’s journey through life whereby the selfish decisions he takes leads him to loneliness and a more sedate way of life. 

My favourite character is Shria Pandit who appears in the first story.

Are you working on anything at the present you would like to share with your readers?

I am presently writing a story about four friends whose lives get entangled through a series of events that occur in their lives. 

My second book “ Of Forbidden Attractions” has been recently published and is available at Amazon and Flipkart. 

According to you which are the 5 books, everyone should read and who are your top 3 Authors, and what impact they had in your journey as a writer?

The five books are-

-Of Human Bondage

-To Kill a Mocking Bird

-Persuasion

-One Hundred Years of Solitude

-Far from the Madding Crowd

The three authors are William Somerset Maugham, Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen. I have extensively read the books written by these authors. Their narrative style and their characters appeal to me. The storyline is original and vivid. In their stories, they bring to life the settings and the age and time in which their stories are based. I have understood from my readings the importance of having a repertoire of words in my armour so as to bring to life the characters and the place and the era of their existence. I have learnt the importance of having well sketched out characters and the essence of a well thought out storyline, a realistic description of every scene in the story and a fast-paced narrative to keep the readers glued to the story.   

Why did you choose to become a Civil Servant? Tell us a bit about your experience with Assam Civil Service?

The thought of making a career out of touching people’s lives in different aspects through different administrative means like the Public Distribution System, MGNREGA, National Health Mission, Samagra Siksha etc made me choose civil service as a career.

I have had varied experiences in my 22 years as a civil servant. From tackling law and order problems, flood related problems, doing election duties to implementing developmental schemes, I have had a roller coaster ride. The experiences have been bittersweet.  

Could you share a few tips for Young Authors?

1. A strong vocabulary is important
2. A believable plot and characters should be the mainstay of the story.
3. Continue to read different authors
4. Continue to read books of different genres

What was the most difficult part of the publishing process for you? How can a budding author reach out to more readers using marketing strategies?

The most difficult part of the publishing process is the submission process where you have to wait endlessly for an answer from your publisher.

The social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram could be used very effectively by budding authors to reach out to a wide section of readers.  

Tell us a bit about your family, likes, and dislikes as a person.

My family consists of my mother, brother and my sister. We live in Guwahati, Assam. I like good books, travelling, gardening, reading, good food and listening to music. I dislike people who are judgemental and who do backbiting.

How can a writer keep the mental block or writer’s block away from his/her creativity?

Whenever a writer faces a mental block, he should give up writing for a while and rejuvenate his mind by reading, listening to music, playing some game and when the ideas again star popping up in his head, he should sit down to write again.

At Sharing Stories, we have an ongoing campaign ‘Let’s Empower Our Kids’. Please suggest some books here that you would want your child to read before the age of 15 which could help him in understanding certain dimensions of human life like empathy, sympathy, relationships, etc

-Ruskin Bond Books

-Sudha Murthy Books

-Roald Dahl Books

-Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling

-Jataka Tales

-Panchatantra Tales

Rapid Fire Round

1.Favorite Place, Actor & Actress, Person, Food, beverage….

My favorite place is New Delhi.

My favorite actor is Johnny Depp

My favorite actress is Julia Roberts

My favorite person is my father

My favorite food is chicken curry

My favorite beverage is tea 

2.Your First Love

My first love are books….

3.Your other Talents than writing

I can cook well….

4.Favorite Quote

“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”

― William W. Purkey

5.Favorite Character from a book

My favorite character from a book is Catherine Danielle Clark(Kya) from the novel “Where the Crawdads Sing”…

What if Round 

 1.What if you had to live with only three things all your life, what would the three things be?

The three things would be my phone, my books and a pen. 

2.What if you were given the power to change one thing from this world, what would you change?

I would like to erase all the corruption from this world.

3.What if you had all the money in this world, what would you do first?

I would eradicate all the poverty in the world.

CONNECT WITH US TODAY!