Author Interview : Jaydeep Khot, author of ‘50 Miles : A Reverse Journey' (Part 2)

Read up, the second part of the Interview with Jaydeep Khot, author of '50 Miles : A Reverse Journey'. 

In this section, he talks of the most fulfilling parts in the book, the character he felt most close to, his next book, and also his favourite authors, and then a little more, Folks...

What are the most fulfilling parts in your book?

The entire book is the most fulfilling experience of my life. I never thought, I could ever finish the book completely, because I am good at short stories and essays. Well, there is always a first time.

Though, If I am told to choose, I would go for the part where there is the teaching scene. As it is a personal experience, it is very close

Jaydeep Khot

to my heart.

Which particular character did you feel most close to? Why?

Haria.

This is because he is very confused in life. I have a lot of friends and family members, who have been like this.

On a personal note, I was the same way, when I was a teenager in school.

But this does not mean Haria is my reflection. He isn’t. He is completely different from me. We are poles apart.

The confusion he has in his life, brings me closer to him on a sympathetic front.

Do you have another book planned? If so, what is it about?

Yes, It is Envisage - Looking into the future. It a about a girl, Kasak who has power to see the future and therefore, she prevents crime with the help of these powers.

Kasak was also a character in ‘50 Miles - A Reverse Journey’.

But they both are unrelated. Or are they? Who knows?

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Which book are you currently reading?

I am reading ‘Business as Usual’ by Deepak Chawla. It is a collection of short stories published by The Write Place.

I completed reading the first short story and I am totally awestruck by the author’s command over the language and creating a thinking process, which is very rare in Indian authors.

Who are your favourite authors and why?

JK Rowling and Chetan Bhagat.

J.K. Rowling because she knows how to touch children’s hearts and that is something I would love to have one day.

Chetan Bhagat, because of his simplicity of English language. He knows how to communicate even to the sectors of the society, which don’t have good command over the language.

What else do you do on a daily basis?

I am a final year CA student. I attend classes for six hours a day. Study for an hour every day. Read as much as I can. Go to the and practise running for the SCMM 2016 21.1 kms, which I am hopeful I will be running.

Help my sister in her 9^th grade history and civics. Watch TV shows and tweet about them.

Book Review : 'Dussehra : Festivals Of India' by Diamond Comics and 'Tales of Durga' by ACK Comics

Considering this is the Dussehra season, and I had gone to the Easy Library for a storytelling session. I decided to do three books there. The first one, 'Dussehra : Festivals of India' was about Ramayana (in brief), the Mahabharata (the Agyatvas period) and finally, a favourite of mine, Amar Chitra Katha’s ‘Tales of Durga’.

So, let us begin. Diamond Comics version, 'Dussehra : Festivals of India' had a go at this festival, which is celebrated with a lot of excitement across India. Ramayana, which started off with the mention of the Ramlila festival, and how actors do the roles of Lord Rama and Lakshmana. The comic is pretty colourful, with the effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakaran and Meghnad, his son. It talks of the ultimate win of good over evil, which would translate to Rama over Ravana. 

Then it moves on to speaking of the history of Dussehra. It talks briefly of how Rama came to be in the forest and then of Soorpanakha’s rejected proposal. How Ravan is brought into the picture ending with the great war of Lanka. How Vijayadasami came into place, before finally ending with Diwali.

Then, a brief story of how Mahabharata’s heroes also ended up, fighting a war with the Kauravas, in King Virat’s kingdom. And, how they almost got caught in the final year, or so the Kauravas thought…

Finally, there was an ACK story of ‘Tales of Durga’. It basically spoke of how the asura, Mahishasura prayed to Lord Brahma. After years of prayer, Brahma appears. Mahishasura asks for immortality, but he is rejected and offered another boon. He then, asks for defeat by a woman, as he thinks that all women would be powerless and meek. 

So, after this episode, Mahishasura goes on a rampage. He defeats and kills a lot of Rishis and kings and good people of the earth. He also lays his eyes on heaven and Indra and the Devas are not spared his ire. Soon, the devas make their way to the three lords, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. They vent out all their problems and the three lords,  who then with all their power create Goddess Durga.

Durga’s first task is to destroy Mahishasura, and she is given all the weapons and a lion to ride. She makes her way to the asura’s kingdom and he, who thought would never be killed, immediately sees the threat. The asuras attack, with Mahishasura in the lead.

How Durga manages to defeat Mahishasura, who appears in various forms and how the Devas take back heaven and the people of the earth return to a safe life in the entire crux of this story.

The ACK version is a good one. One can see the rage in the eyes of the gods, and also Durga’s anger. This comic book definitely has my vote for the ultimate children’s comic. It shows all it wanted to show, and its illustrations are exceptional. 

Both comics do speak of much more, but these were the ones related to Dussehra and that is why they have a mention here. So, do pick up these comics and show your kids a little more of India's mythology...

Author Interview : Jaydeep Khot, author of ‘50 Miles : A Reverse Journey' (Part 1)

Jaydeep Khot

Read up, the first part of this interview, which is almost as short as the book. :) And therefore I will not take up any more time. 

This contains how the book happened, how much of the story was a personal experience and how much imagination, and the most challenging bits of writing this book, Folks...

How did ‘50 Miles : A Reverse Journey’ happen?  And what were your resources?

One fine day, I was sitting in college and the idea struck me.

The idea of writing something in reverse.

My college had completed 50 years, so 50, came into existence and I am a marathon runner so, miles came to existence. Hence, 50 Miles.

There were no resources for the content as it was a combination of imagination and personal experiences.

Could you describe the journey from ‘Age 50’ to ‘Age 0’?

I tried my best.

I am working on a detailed version of 50 Miles as a result of many requests from the readers asking for a more elaborate version.

How much of the story was a personal experience? The education, to the love and marriage, children and finally the various businesses…

The Carter Road teaching scene is a personal experience. Everything else is just pure imagination.

Love, marriage and children, which I have written about is my personal idea of an ideal confusion.

The businesses are my ideal fantasy.

What according to you is different about your book?

The reverse journey. It was been narrated in a reverse, sequence which we do not find in the market.

I researched for a year to check whether such an idea already existed in the market. Luckily, it didn’t.

Another thing different is that my book is precise and does not include unnecessary content and research.

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

I believe every human being goes through these life experiences sometime or the other in their lifetime.

If you take out the life accounts of people, it would need a detailed research and analysis to find out the similarities. The efforts will not go in vain.

This could even lead to an interesting real life based novel.

What was the most challenging part about writing ‘50 Miles : A Reverse Journey’?

The reverse journey. It was the most challenging part because I had to do a lot of brainstroming and make a separate pile of notes to be on the right track. I had to write it in reverse. There were a lot of times, when I had to edit my content because it was written in a going forward manner rather than going reverse.

I have spent a lot of sleepless nights for this book. I even had to take a lot of medicines because I used to end up with severe headache after the process of writing.

Book Review : 'Ready... Steady... Exit’ by PC Balasubramanian

Ready.. Steady.. Exit by PC Balasubramanian is a humorous adventure of two CAs, who want to make it big in their field. And they are not waiting for anyone... Gautam completed Chartered Accountancy after a few attempts and ended up with Anand, a close friend, who had managed to clear the dreaded CA exam, in the first attempt itself. 

Gautam and Anand set up FAB, which is an accounting services company. They provide services to companies, which prefer outsourcing their work. Then walk in Vimal and Ruchi, a brother-sister duo, who provide an additional revenue source. The company begins to grow, with the addition of these two.

Meanwhile, both Anand gets married and Gautam finds the person, who he has loved for a long time. 

Back to business, as the four have a problem when they notice that there are certain things, which are not going the right way. Would problems at work with the other two develop, and would the resolution of which, bring about the intangible end?

The book is an entrepreneurial venture, with a dash of romance. It also touches upon the family and friends factors, which are ever so important in today’s scenarios. The family factor also makes up for the funny bits, in the book. It is definitely a must read for most entrepreneurs and financiers, with its drama and humour.

The first fiction, for PC Balasubramanian, who had written two non-fiction bestsellers, ‘Rajini’s Punchatantra’ and ‘Grand Brand Rajini’. As one can see actor, Rajinikant is a major influence, and it showed throughout this fiction piece too. PC Bala has a dry sense of humour, which carried into his book, as well. 

Only two small things, were the spelling of Aamir Khan, which was written as Amir Khan, otherwise there were no grammatical errors, at all. But, people never look for mistakes in proper nouns, but I cannot help it. After all, even I get upset when people do not write my name correctly. :) There are a couple of others, as well. Otherwise, it was absoutely brilliant, grammatically.

Author : PC Balasubramanian

Publisher : Srishti Publishers and Distributors

ISBN : 9789382665403

Price : Rs 120/-

Book Review : '50 Miles : A Reverse Journey’ by Jaydeep Khot

‘50 Miles : A Reverse Journey’ was an experiment. And what a poignant experiment, it was. It spoke of a 50 year old man, waking up one night at 3.15 am and realising that he does not remember anything at all. He has amnesia!

From this page on, you are put through 60 odd pages of one man’s life. But this one goes, backwards. It took the best of the author to think and write backwards. But there it was…

The person goes through his life’s journey in reverse order. He discovers that his name is Haria and the circumstances that follow it, can make it surprisingly interesting! The reader discovers his girlfriends, wife and even his children. There is also his business, his jobs, and even the cases, against him.  The page turner goes on to understand the person’s life, but in inverse order.

As he attempts to understand more, Haria finds certain smidgeons and hints of his life, which occur in reverse sequential order. So the journey, which began at age 50, ends at age 0. It seemed a tragic, but an oddly adventurous life. 

The author, Jaydeep Khot does a good job, but of course it did get a little confusing in the middle, but the overall mystery made it a good read, for the hour it took to finish it.