Author Interview : PARAG KULKARNI

 

🌺🌺🌺 AUTHOR INTERVIEW 🌺🌺🌺

I got the chance to interview Parag Kulkarni, the author of the book ' The Rebirth of Lilavati '. Our conversation has been summarized below:

1. You have an impressive bio with a stronghold in all the fields. Which is your favorite field and why?

💫 My favorite field is Astronomy and Star Gazing. I like this because it connects me with my childhood memories when we kids used to sleep on the terrace and used to watch stars and wonder what they were. Allother fields are something of an acquired taste if you know what I mean.  

2. We know you have started an academy for Astronomy for young children. What vision do you have for them?

💫 My vision is to develop ‘Scientific Curiosity’ in the creative minds of growing children and educate them beyond Academic Science Phenomena. Most of the concepts I like to teach children are typically not covered in the academic books and that’s what makes it unique and interesting.

3. Your current book is a mixture of genres. How did the idea occur to you?

💫 At the end of my first book, I had left the primary protagonists on their own. While it was not a love story, it was pretty clear they were into each other and would love to start the next chapter in their lives. But the book also sort of closed its own plot, with only the exception of a sinister mastermind who went behind the bars for good. This meant I had a clean slate. I knew both Wikram and Sindhu were extraordinary, but I did not want them to go through the same ordeal they did in the first book. Hence I concocted a new story with fresh challenges but still based on science and relatable situations. Hence the idea came about showcasing their domestic life and still making it a mystery-thriller. 

4. You have used the word# 'Phrontisterion’ in your book. What does this mean?

💫 The Phrontisterion of Trapezous was a Greek educational institution that operated from 1682 to 1921 in Trabzon, in the Ottoman Empire, now part of Turkey. It provided a major impetus for the rapid expansion of Greek education throughout the Pontus region on the south coast of the Black Sea. It became so influential that even after the Ottoman empires’ take over of the region, they allowed the institute to exist and flourish with multiple disciplines being taught. I had a similar idea for Sindhu’s club, hence the name. 

5. What do you think makes a good story?

💫 A good story is about 3 major tenets – plot, characters, and conflict between them. The plot sets the premise or context for the reader, the strength/weakness of the main characters make the plot relatable and conflict (which should include great dialogues among them) is what makes it interesting to go on writing it further (for the author) and reading (for a reader) 

6. Do you have any suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they?

💫 Most of what we covered in the previous question applies here. As an author, you don’t always have to worry about your readers, along long as you satisfy the conditions for a good story. Some would always hate and others would love it, but you do want to minimize those who ignore it or get bored by it halfway through.

7. Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?

💫 I love this question as much as I love my fans. I do hear from my readers on various platforms and love to engage with them. A review on a public platform could be biased (depending on whether the reader knows you or whether he or she is influenced by existing review comments before posting it). However, I like it especially when they reach out to me, impromptu, and proactively provide personalized feedback on the book. For example, there’s a friend of mine who had invited another common friend at his home for lunch. Now they both, along with their wives read the book, as a group study. In the end, they contact me saying what a masterpiece this book is and they have become fond of me. Others have been professional and wrote – “The character development is too good for words with the author's way of narrating. As I rarely found any plot holes. Everything just syncs well and that adds to one good reason why one should read this book.” 

8. What is your favorite childhood book?

💫 As a child, I used to read a lot of comics – especially Super Commando Dhruv, Nagraj, and Chacha Chaudhary. In my childhood, there was no access to English literature so knew very little about it.

9. What are your favorite literary journals?

💫 Unfortunately, I am not a follower of literary journals, not because I don’t like those, but because of the lack of information and literacy around those. Since my 2nd book, I have started to follow a few like ‘Sahitya Academy’, ‘Jaggery Lit’ and few others. But I am yet to participate or support these. 

10.Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?

💫 If it’s a secret, how can I disclose it here - 😊.

11.Do you Google yourself?

💫 Yes, I do. And here’s a funny part. There are many well-known, celebrity authors with the name Parag Kulkarni and often my books get associated with them either on Amazon or Goodreads. But I do find myself mentioned correctly and happy with that.

12.How do you select the names of your characters?

💫 An interesting question that is. I choose those based on some real-life personas I came across as well as some fictitious one.

13.What did you edit out of this book?

💫 A lot. My original book (sort of like a director’s cut) was big. I still feel I should have gone with that version. But I realize that it would have been costlier and maybe I am not yet in a position to bargain. 

14.How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

💫 At least 3 for now. The First one is the 3rd part of the “The Peacemakers Trilogy”. But the other two are unrelated – one is a fictional love-comedy and the other is a non-fiction book about Child Education in India.

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