Author Interview : PC Balasubramanian, author of ‘A Drizzle in the Desert' (Part 1)

PC Balasubramanian

Read up, part one of the Interview with PC Balasubramanian, author of ‘A Drizzle in the Desert' (Part 1). Here, he answers questions about how the book first came about, and how he feels the lives of the characters are related to our day to day lives. 

The author also tells us, what the most challenging and the most fulfilling parts of the book were. There is more coming up, in the second half, Folks...

How did ‘A Drizzle in the Dessert’ happen? Could you describe the journey?

My earlier fiction, ‘Ready.. Steady.. Exit’ was released in 2015 and it took three years for me to release my next one. I took one year to write this book, considering the heavy subject that I had to convey in a light manner. Plus, thanks to the constraints on time to write the book. 

‘Relationships’ always fascinated me. How we deal with and relate to people, their selfish behaviours, positive and negative vibes, conditional and unconditional love, complacence when it comes to predetermined relationships, happy people and cribbers, people who walk that extra mile to sprinkle happiness around them despite their own distress and complex situations… these fascinate me. 

I observe many of these, on a day to day basis and many of my observations get stored in my heart, some are good for the heart while some cause pain. I discuss what brings happiness, because people around you more often love to listen to happy incidents and episodes.

This book is a way to express happiness, how we can spread happiness, how we can bring joy in others’ lives through simple acts, how we need not be cribbers all the time, how we can elevate our thoughts and actions. This book is purely on ‘relationships’.

What according to you is different about your book?

This is an emotional drama and the big difference in this book is that there are no villains in this book, no bad characters, in a way this book is about normal, good people and the situations and incidents they experience, influence them.

It is not easy to write a fiction where all are reasonably good people and out of them a very few are elevated souls. That’s the difference and this book is for all ages.

How would you relate the lives of characters to the lives of today? Any similarities?

There are a few similarities, in terms of the characters and nature of people but not the incidents. That’s how you add a lot of fictional elements and give life to these characters and try to make it an interesting and engrossing read, I just tried that.

After reading the book, most readers may identify with some characters or parts of them. This could happen, especially with people they interact with on a very regular basis.

What were the most challenging and the most fulfilling parts about writing ‘A Drizzle in the Dessert’?

After sketching the overall plot and the subtle message, the challenge was having the right fillers. The ones that go with the plot, and at the same time; the ones that do not drag and disturb the readers’ attention and curiosity.

The other challenge is convincing my publishers, the main reason is that I keep hopping between fiction and non-fiction and the genre also is not the same. Perhaps, I confuse the publisher and at times some subjects are not in their ‘lists’ and hence it becomes difficult.

The most fulfilling part is when you are able to complete a task and get the book published. And when you get the first two or three comments as positive feedback, you know you haven’t done a bad job.

What is fulfilling is that a majority of the readers, are enjoying reading it, and are relating to the subject and the characters in their own fashion. In this case, many are calling me and talking to me and this is extremely fulfilling and gratifying. 

You can Read the Review and Buy the Book, here as well.