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Author Highlight: Mohan Nair Discusses his new Book ‘Nair Told & Untold’ and Stories from Life

It’s time for another author interview. Today, with us, we have Mohan Nair, who currently lives in Cochin, Kerala, India. He teaches Management in SCMS Cochin School of Business. Prior to teaching, he did Mechanical Engineering and was working with Indian Oil Corporation in its management cadre for 25 Years. 4 years ago, he quit the job and switched over to teaching as a profession after acquiring a doctoral degree in management.

What is the genre of your book? Do you enjoy writing this kind of book, or there is something else that you want to experiment with?

The book ‘Nair Told & Untold’ is a collection of satirical short stories dealing with day to day affairs of people living around us. In each of the stories a character Nair is present adorning a role suitable to the theme of the story. In some stories Nair would be the protagonists, in some others he could be merely an observer and in some others he could be a person wielding some influence on the life of main characters of the story.  Every story has some suspense and Nair is privy to that suspense.  In all stories, readers will be able to connect the suspense to Nair in some way.

I like to watch the lives of people closely. We are controlled by our ego and selfishness which we conceal.  All of us put our best effort to make our lives meaningful and happy. But these are short term acts. We are also people of immense ability. You may not be aware of it until an occasion warrants you to perform. But often you may feel on hindsight that events in your life are preset and we merely acted a small role in a whole drama directed by someone else. With this insight when you look at the people around you, you feel amused at the struggle of people to excel and outsmart others. You feel like telling it aloud. A satirical story is a way to express it.

I wish that the readers of my stories feel happy and amused at the richness of life as they read each one of them. I want to engage them right from the caption of the story till its last word. I wish they cherish the feeling; look up, and smile at life.

Do you think writing a book from the comfort of bedroom or study room is possible? Where do you write from? Do you go to some specific place, like beachside or into the hills?

I write in bits and pieces and do it when I feel like, if the occasion permits. I do not have any specific place to write. I like sitting late in the night to read and write. I hate waking up early morning.

Did you do proper research before penning down this book or was it something based on personal life?

I feel that a reader should benefit with additional useful information or a new insight after reading each of my stories.  In this context, I try to include such references in the stories in a subtle way. Otherwise each story is a mixture of observations, intuition and imagination all knitted together.

What inspired you to write this book? Any stories to tell…

I want to create a world of my own where there is life and action and a hope for future. It is very difficult to change anyone’s life in real world. Real life takes its own course and is beyond your control. But in your stories you create your own world. You feel so happy when you see that the readers enjoy the way you created it.

What was your biggest learning experience throughout the publishing process?

I never realized that I make so many mistakes in my writing till I went about publishing the stories. You get carried away with your thoughts and do not notice that the text you made do not physically have many words that you tend to see and read.

Looking back, what did you do right that helped you break in?

I used to show the stories to my children and wife to get their feeling about them and make changes.  I was shy to tell others that I write. One day I happened to tell my friend Sanal that I have scribbled few stories and gave him the print outs. He read them and encouraged me to think about publishing. Had I not told him about this, probably the stories would not have got published this way.

Any future books that you would like to discuss now?

I would like to explore the world with the help of Nair. Hopefully Nair would guide me to unchartered areas.  I will be happy to share with readers what he shows me in future as well.

Connect with Mohan Nair on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/mohan.bnair.50

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