Author Interview : Prashant Yadav
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| Prashant Yadav |
The Jeera Packer
, a recently released contemporary fiction, is gathering great responses by its readers. Here is Prashant Yadav, the author, shedding some light about his debut novel.
, a recently released contemporary fiction, is gathering great responses by its readers. Here is Prashant Yadav, the author, shedding some light about his debut novel.
Q1. Congratulations on your debut novel, Prashant! How does it feel to have your work published and received with raving reviews?
A: It feels great. Seeing the book in print is a high - something that was just a warm idea in your head in a form people can touch, smell and read it.
The reviews have been great and it’s been an awesome feeling. It gives me a a lot of strength to dig deeper for my future works and have crazier fun because unless you have fun creating something, your readers won’t have fun reading it.
Q2. Absolutely. So, what is The Jeera Packer all about?
A: It is a layered story operating at several levels. At one level, it is about all of us who want to do cool, exciting stuff but have to stick to our boring routine and unfulfilling jobs just to keep paying bills. It is also about peer comparison and coping with the success of those you didn’t think deserved it. It’s also about lost opportunities and that one last shot at glory. Then, it is also about identifying what is really important in life and how to focus on the right things.
It’s a deeply felt personal story, touches upon everyone’s existentialist angst rolled in the context of UP politics and fun characters.
Q3. How did you begin writing?
I always loved writing. During my school days, my English teacher would read out my exam essays to classes two years senior to me. I wrote in Hindi during IIT days, won the best author and also edited their Hindi magazine. During IIM days, I wrote campus gossip columns which people liked. Post that, I kept writing occasional short pieces and maintained a blog though not very regular.
So, the love for writing continued and then it became strong enough to force me to write a novel length work.
Q4. What prompted you to write a book on this topic/genre?
The desire to start a company, to paint, to start a rock band or to travel the world is very common - you talk to anyone near the office water cooler or the roadside chai shop - everyone wants to quit their jobs one day and do what really makes them happy. But, very few manage to do that. The book started with that universal feeling.
Then, around that time, I was facing tough time in my entrepreneurship. So, while I’d be waiting for the next payment or the next nod from the customer, Facebook would show me pictures of my classmates vacationing in Switzerland - even as I’d have to think twice even before making a weekend trip to Rishikesh. And, some of those classmates, with all due respect to them, I thought were far less capable than me. It was stupid of me, even petty, but that’s how it was then. So, the entire angst of seeing people of less capability (whatever that means) doing better than you originated from there.
In a way, I channelized my entrepreneurial depression into this book.
Q5. Who are some of your favorite authors?
I am reading Charles Bukowski and am in total love with him. I loved Shantaram and A Case of Exploding Mangoes (Mohammed Hanif) and I consider these two (Gregory David Roberts and Mohd Hanif) as my first gurus in fiction writing. Loved Lolita by Nabokov, Chuck Palahniuk, Stephen King. Liked “The Truth About Harry Quebert Affair”. NN Taleb is another writer I love reading.
Q6. Will your next book be in the same genre and when can we expect it?
I can’t think genres. For me, the unit is the story. The next one is about something that is very close to my heart - essentially this whole man woman dynamics - the interplay of patriarchy-misogyny and sexism. The question that I am trying to ask is - the human female is perhaps the most exploited, abused, vulnerable and defenceless of all females across all species in the animal world despite all our superior knowledge and sensibilities, social norms, justice, law and law enforcement to protect them. Is it that all of this is insincere? Or is it designed to keep women subjugated - using every method from subtle everyday signals, daily psychological conditioning to the most brutal form of violence? The central theme being there is a war out there between genders and the women have lost the war, been captured as prisoners of war and don’t even realize it.
Well, I certainly am looking forward to your next book, Prashant. Thank you for being here at Book Vue and all the very best for your future works!
Reach the Author:
Twitter: @pr_ashantyadav
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