“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.

Amid all the excitement surrounding the release of HAPPIMESS, I regret having missed thanking a shy fellow called Biswajit, my alter ego. The world is not aware but he has been instrumental in providing the basic ideas behind all the stories in my book.

My parents and my wife are shining examples of patience, putting up with an intolerable like me, especially when I am writing. Thanks to Swan Morrison, the editor of www.Short-Humour.org.uk for including my writing in his humour anthology and thus inspiring me to write more useless stuff. My maternal uncle, Sri Pronob Mukhopadhyay, a retired Accountant Generaland ace photographer, has always greatly encouraged my reading habits and pursuit of liberal arts.

It’s because of the invaluable support of Mr. Suhail Mathur of ‘The Book Bakers’ literary agency and the wonderful Locksley Hall Publishing team that my book has seen the light of the day.

Finally,I would like to thank the world in general for its wonderfully stupid inconsistencies that provide fodder for my humorous stories.

When and how the idea of writing a book came to you? ‘Happimess’, is a collection of short stories, having a flavor of satire. Were the stories inspired from your everyday experiences?

I have dabbled in creative writing for quite some time, mainly writing poetry, travelogues and humour pieces which got published in good literary journals and e-magazines. During this course, one of my humour pieces got published in a selected short-humour anthology ‘People Of Few Words – Vol 5’ brought out by a popular UK website www.Short-Humour.org.uk.That actually planted in my mind the idea of going for a book-length collection of humorous stories centered on everyday life.

I think, like asking a woman her age, it is never appropriate to ask a humorist if things in the book really happened. Only a few of the stories in HAPPIMESS carry a hint of personal experiences. The rest are all mental inventions. You know how a casual remark, an untoward incident or a social blunder can trigger a train of imaginative thoughts to finally shape a story. What really interests me is the irrational way people behave in a given everyday situation and that certainly offers plenty of opportunities to catch the fun and the irony. The stories in HAPPIMESS serve to hold a mirror up to the society to reflect the truth as I perceive it.

How difficult it is to convey a serious message to the society through humor? What kind of research you put into while writing this book?

Writing Humour and Satire is a difficult art because any careless handling can have serious consequences. I mean using snide and hurting remarks can defeat the very purpose for which they are being used, which is to convey an awkward social truth. So while writing humour, you need to be cautious and have a way with the words along with a conciliatory style so that the readers can tolerate things which they otherwise may find annoying or even painful. I completely agree with George Bernard Shaw when he said “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you!”

HAPPIMESS being a book of fiction, more than any kind of research, a lot of thought has gone into it. I have tried to dish out a brand of everyday humour that has literary merits and which is not cheap or shallow. The satire in the book does not hurt and can be comfortably read out among the family and friends. I have deliberately chosen a dead-pan tone that hides very well the most comic and absurd premises in the book.

Would you try writing any different genre other than humor in your next book? Where do you think Indian humor authors stand on a global level and how Indian fiction in humor can be promoted?

No, I would like to stick to humour. It comes naturally to me. I have stated in my book that it is useless to try reforming the world which is hell-bent on making a complete ass of itself, so why not have a hearty laugh over that?

Indian writing in English does not possess such a solid tradition of humour and satire as with the western literature symbolized by say Wodehouse, Mark Twain, or many other illustrious authors. Barring cases of sporadic brilliance, it is difficult to name an Indian author writing in English with a significant body of humour created on a sustained basis. Hindi literature fares better with masters like Harishankar Parsai and a few others dedicating themselves exclusively to the genre.

In my opinion, one way to promote humour would be to have more books in the genre in the first place for a wider readership. For that, the publishers need to be a little bolder to actually accept the manuscripts and publish those. I am happy to have a publisher like Locksley Hall who encourage diverse genres like humour. I would also love to see various online sites organising literary awards and competitions and those related to writing in general recognize and list humour and satire as a separate genre category for all their purposes. Apart from the established names, newspapers can keep their humour columns open for ordinary readers too to participate with their humour pieces. That might inspire people to write humour.

According to you which are the 5 books, everyone should read and also who are your top 3 Authors?

Animal Farm by George Orwell, Mulliner Nights by P G Wodehouse, The Plague by Albert Camus, The old man and the sea by Ernest Hemingway and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

My favourite top three will be Aldous Huxley, P G Wodehouse and  William Golding.

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

I live with my parents, wife and daughter. With a background in mechanical engineering and a job in a senior position in a steel manufacturing PSU, it really requires a fine balancing act to find time for creative writing. My wife is an accomplished singer of light classical and Tagore songs and often the first one to pass a judgement on any story idea. I am basically a shy person and like to keep away from human gaze but this is becoming difficult since the release of my debut book. I dislike being greeted with a ‘how are you’ interruption when I am in the midst of my evening walk with story plots bubbling in my mind. Encouraged by my parents, I have learnt classical music from a young age and I like to practice music to relax and soothe my soul.

Could you share a few tips for Young Authors? What would be that one thing which you would like to tell your younger self as a writer?

If it is non-fiction, write what you know from your experience and research. If it is fiction, give wings to your imagination and try arriving at a point where the sheer joy of writing takes over with a smooth flow of thoughts and ideas. Don’t cast off an idea easily that has struck you. Scribble those down in a notebook, you never know when they can take off.

One thing that all young authors need to have is patience and loads of it. They need to remember the advantages of slow cooking in terms of taste and aroma. It is advisable not to rush things but wait for the ideas and words to marinate well in the mind for a mature output. Extensive reading and conversing with another author’s mind can be a good ploy to get over that writer’s block.

Which are the books that left a lasting impact on you as a writer? Who are your favorite authors?

One book that I can always re-read and recommend is ‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley. Written in 1932, this satirical masterpiece describes a futuristic totalitarian state that uses genetic engineering and psychological conditioning to promote happiness for all.  The book is in fact a chilling satire on the dangers from a dictatorial regime and how advancement of technology dehumanizes the society where happiness and truth become the ultimate casualties.

The next one, another masterpiece and a personal favourite is ‘Three Men In a Boat’ by Jerome K Jerome. The book most comically describes how a well intended cruise on the river Thames turns into a series of hilarious and absurd misadventures with farcical consequences.

If I am to name a few favourite authors apart from whom I have mentioned above, I’d pick P G Wodehouse, George Orwell, Mark Twain, Hemingway and William Golding. I am also a great fan of Hindi satirist Harishankar Parsai for his masterful observations on social issues.

At Sharing Stories, we have an ongoing campaign ‘Empowering Our Kids’ where we are trying to encourage and inculcate reading habit from a young age. We are trying to pick up 20 to 30 must-read books for children and try and make them available at our library in Jaipur, also take this initiative across the globe. Please suggest some books which you think every child should read before the age of 15 (mostly the character-defining age)

•  Treasure Island by R L Stevension
• Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by R L Stevension
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
• Twenty thousand leagues under the sea by Jules Verne
• The prince and the pauper by Mark Twain
• Panchatantra by Vishnu Sharma
• Arabian Nights
• Mahabharata & Ramayana

Rapid Fire Round

Favourite

Place – Seashores and Mountains because they make you feel insignificant

Person – Anyone who is hard of hearing and cannot hear my jibes

Food – Burnt Pancake

Beverage– Tea without milk, sugar and tea

Your other Talents – With a degree in Vocal classical Music, I am a practicing classical and Rabindra sangeet singer

Your First Love….The fountain pen that I won as a prize in primary school

Favorite Quote – “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot” by Charlie Chaplin

Favorite Character from a book–GEORGE from ‘Three Men In a Boat’ by Jerome K Jerome. He is a hypochondriac who has perfected the art of sleeping. He ‘goes to sleep at a bank from ten to four each day, except Saturdays, when they wake him up and put him outside at two ‘. He tries to act clever, only to land in a soup every time.

What if Round

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

A pen, a notebook and a few publishing contracts

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

Making it compulsory to smile when people meet each other

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

Straightaway head for the safest bank