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| This is your first book. What prompted you to write ‘Kaalkoot’, which is a mix of history, mythology and thriller? |
| I have loved reading thrillers since I was a child. What fascinated me was their ability to captivate the reader and transport him or her to an exciting world of discovery and anticipation. Separately, I have been fascinated by the richness of our history and the vividness of metaphor and imagery in our mythology. Also, my corporate career gave me the opportunity to travel and build a rich reservoir of life experiences and inspirations. A few years ago, when I was spending a significant amount of time on flights while on business trips, all these sources of inspiration came together and began to form themselves into a book. Before long, I was hooked and the book was writing itself at a breathtaking pace. That’s how KaalKoot was born. |
| The genre of mythology is taking the publishing world with a storm. What’s your take on it? |
| I believe that we, as a nation, are going through a phase where we are starting to shake off the colonial hangover and are seeking to understand ourselves better. In that context, we are looking at our heritage with fresh eyes, and attempting to reinterpret the powerful symbolism of our myths and legends. Popular stories have always been a vibrant medium for societies to process such a transformation. So it is not surprising that books with a strong historical or mythological underpinning are proving to be very popular. |
| How has been your journey as an author been so far? |
| It has been an exhilarating roller-coaster ride. Some of my most ecstatic moments, as well as the most frustrating ones, came during the phase of writing the book. This phase brought together creativity, excitement and passion, yet it also required grit, patience and persistence to see the story through to completion. The next phase was the editing process, which went a long way towards making the manuscript unputdownable. I have been fortunate to have TreeShade Books as my publisher. |
| What are your future plans? How soon can your readers expect your next book? |
| I have a variety of ideas for creating books in my head, and I hope to bring many of them to life. My next thriller—AgniBaan: Guardians of the Fire Chamber—to be published by TreeShade Books, will combine elements of suspense, conspiracy and history, and should be out in this coming year. I am currently experimenting with a few rather interesting items in the plot, and am very excited about it. |
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| Runjhun Noopur is an ex-lawyer turned entrepreneur and blogger who regularly writes at Medium, and has been widely published by national and international publications including the Times of India, Huffington Post,Thought Catalog, Chicken Soup for the Indian Soul, the Best of the Speaking Tree collection (Vol. IV), Thrive Global and Arre. |
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| A full time Finance Professional, Arjun Hemmady took to writing at an early age. He has written various articles on everyday topics like driving and sports to more serious topics like the current socio-political scenario in India. He published his first novel titled “You Raise Me Up” in November 2015 at the age of 26. |
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