Author Highlight: Saugata Chakraborty Discusses his New Book ‘They Go To Sleep’ and Stories from his Life
We are back
with another author interview. Today, with us, we have Saugata Chakraborty– the
author of ‘They Go To Sleep’. In this interview, Saugata talks about his
writing aspirations, the route to getting his book published, and his
inclination towards fiction and books. Stay on...while we chat with him.
What inspired you to write this book? Any tales to tell?
Lots! After
‘They Go to Sleep’ went to the press, I started penning down the real life
events that inspired each of the stories. These backgrounders are now available
as a Kindle book ‘The Insider Account’.
What motivates you to write?
It’s difficult
to pinpoint a particular motive. Sometimes, it’s a newspaper report that nobody
gave a second thought, sometimes it’s a conversation with friends or an
absolute stranger. I am aware that a story idea can hit me anytime. If you find
a sub plot in my stories, those are invariably something that I have
experienced for myself.
How do you handle the response to this book, especially from your friends and colleagues?
It’s a
humbling experience. Of course, many of my friends and colleagues knew from the
past that I write, but then coming out with a whole book probably exceeded
everyone’s expectations. Less than half the stories in the book were published
earlier in our in-house magazine ‘Without Reserve’ and very few people within
RBI actually read those, so when the stellar debut of ‘They Go to Sleep’ was
announced, there were lots of surprised looks. The weirdest query was raised by
one junior colleague when he asked if I had hired a ghost writer. A few of my
well-meaning friends have pointed out what they believed the weaker points of
the book were. I guess such balanced views helped me to absorb the
unadulterated adulations that were on offer.
What kind of research did you do to pen down this collection?
‘What’s in a Name’ did not require any
research as the entire text is a replication of a real life chat on messenger.
‘It was Time’, incidentally the first story written for the book also falls
into this category. On the other hand, the concluding chapter of ‘Six Days,
Seven Lives’ required intensive theoretical study of Bharatanatyam; ‘They Go to
Sleep’ forced me to read about the narcotics scene of Goa apart from the
migration of Saraswat Brahmins through the breadth of the country; ‘Blowing in
the Wind’ necessitated a study of every single report, blog posting about the
queer twin suicide by an uptown couple in 2012. ‘Aperture’ was a result of
following photo features about the insurgency in Kashmir for at least a couple
of years; ‘The Man Who Sold his Gods’ similarly involved browsing through
newspaper archives, art magazines, police and private investigator group
websites as also studying the video tapes available online of a few key
characters in order to understand and reproduce the language they speak. It
would suffice I think to say that it took me six years to write the 12 stories
for the book as the background research did take a lot of time.
Can you name some of your favourite authors and novels?
My all-time
favourite would be ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ by Douglas Adams. I
find Frederick Forsyth’s detailing to be impeccable. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn
along with their creator Mark Twain will remain eternal favourites. The dark
humour of Roald Dahl has also impacted me. Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’, Hemingways
‘A Fairwell to Arms’, short stories of O’Henry, Saki and now those from Jeffrey
Archer enthrall me. I still have not mentioned Wodehouse and Arthur Conan
Doyle. The list is virtually endless!
Do you think writing a book from the comfort of a bedroom is possible?
I guess it is possible to write a story
without having any firsthand experience of its characters and circumstances.
But, if someone has never set out on a journey, however trivial it is, it’s
very difficult to even start writing. In order to be imaginative, one needs to
have own experiences as a starting point. It is also important to get out of
one’s comfort zone once in a while just to keep the desire of writing something
new burning. At least it is so for me.
Do you have a favourite place to write? Such as a beach or the hills?
Hardly. I mean
when I am at a beach or the hills or any other place outdoors, I get so
mesmerized by nature, and the people that I forget everything about writing.
So, while the elements of storytelling are gathered from outside, actual
writing takes place at home.
What was your biggest learning during the publishing process?
That I need to be more patient. If I could
wait for six years to write the book, it was equally important to have spent a
few more months in improving upon the content with professional help. That
little extra time could have been used in creating more awareness about the
book. I refused to have any and though
the book was ready for the fairs in January, here we are working on few
revisions in the month of April.
Any advice for budding writers?
Read more, do
your research well and do not aim for any shortcut to success. There is none.
Something personal, readers don’t know about you?
That I believe
in competition and in emerging at the top of it.
Any books in the pipeline?
I am writing a series of features about the
contemporary India that I have seen and experienced in the last two decades or
so for my blog. It’s called Deshmrittika
(Soil of the Land) in Bengali. If these short features ever appear as a book,
an English version will also be launched.
Since ‘They Go to Sleep’, three more short stories, again in three
different genres, have been written. If everything goes well, you will see
Inspector Sutanu Deb to be back in action as early as in June.
Connect with Saugata Chakraborty:
Twitter: @ twitsaugata
Website/Blog: https://saugatathestoryteller.com/
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