FAQs

Tell us about the book?
It is a collection of 23 short stories. These are stories which are set in today’s times and bring out the modern day dilemma and questions that we as a generation deal with. Questions about love and relationships, about role of fate and effort in success, about following your dreams, about situations in which we discover ourselves.

Does it narrate your personal experiences, like experiences at IIMA for instance?
While some of the stories are derived from personal experience, they are not linked specifically to IIMA. These are not MBA stories or campus stories. These are human stories, about everyone. These are stories about people and how they react in different situations. Like these is a story where a much married man encounters his past flame. Another is about a man who has lost his interest in life while in one of the stories a man encounters a ghost and learns a secret from him. So themes are quite varied.

How have the reviews and the feedback been?
The words used most often are entertaining, though provoking and interesting. One thing which has surprised me is that everyone seems to like different stories in the collection. Almost everyone has connected with a few of stories and liked others. Other comments have been that they are very visual and relaxing read.

Where can I get the book from?
Currently it is available at online stores only. Below are the links you can buy it from for Rs. 100.

http://www.indiaplaza.in/books/all/9788190585811/all/To-Catch-A-Smile.htm
http://www.hindushopping.com/books/pd.aspx?sku=9788190585811

How long did it take you to write these stories?
It took me over a year to compile them. Typically I will write only when I got inspired. It will mostly start with an image or an emption which I got infatuated with.

How did the book happen?
When I started writing, it was more for fun and joy of discovering oneself. I had not been a keen writer before. My efforts had been limited to occasional poetry that too mostly for personal consumption. You can find some of them on my blog http://www.dreamlimited.blogspot.com/. Response of early readers to the stories made me pursue it further. Once I had material large enough to be published as a book, I decided to go ahead. Support of friends and lucky coincidences were vital for it.

It sounds like a smooth sail?
There were many a moments when I felt it was not worth doing it or that I was chasing a mirage. It was never obvious to me what fate it will end up with. But hope prevailed over it. It took a lot of self-belief and risk.

How did being from IIMA helped in it?
Not in any direct way. IIMA gave me that confidence to go ahead and experiment. It also made me more perceptive of people by providing wider exposure to event and people. Otherwise for someone who studied in a Hindi medium school of a small town, to publish a book of English short stories is highly unlikely.

Do you plan to write more?
I do feel I still have a lot much more to be told, a lot many images and half baked stories waiting to be told. In fact I have completed my second work tentatively called “To catch a butterfly”. Unlike my current book it is a more serious work and is a quasi self-help type book. It is more of an analytical and intellectual work where I have exploited my story telling abilities to transform an otherwise may be a serious topic into an engaging and interesting read. Lot of credit for this work should go to my friend ‘Nitin Goyal’ (My current book is dedicated to him) whose ideas on life I have captured through this book.

Is this a hobby, a one-time thing, or do you plan to nurture it?
Everything has its own life and we are just instruments in the hands of life irrespective of what we would want to believe. I like my job and writing is an outlet of my creativity and imagination. It does not give me satisfaction but it brings me happiness. But tomorrow is another day.

What are your other interests?
I am part of Delhi based theatre group “Dramatech”. I acted in quite successful musical “Fiddler On The Roof” staged during Dec-Jan in Delhi. We are currently working on our second play “Hello Dolly” to be staged in Dec’2008. Interesting conversations will be my other interests. Any topic will do as long as there are new ideas incorporated in it.