Ira Trivedi sits pretty at Starmark. (Anindya Shankar Ray)

Ira Trivedi wrote her first book when she was 19, What Would You Do to Save the World? Now 26, the Delhi-based author has three books to her name. In Calcutta for the launch of her latest — There’s No Love on Wall Street, published by Penguin — the author spoke about literary snobs, a Miss India tag that she just can’t seem to shed and the city of Sabya...

As a writer of chick-lit, have you faced any prejudice?

I’m well-experienced in that kind of literary snobbery now. I wrote my first book six years ago and at that time there wasn’t really any chick-lit in India, so people did not know how to look at it. I got a lot of criticism for it. A lot of people said nice things too, but that criticism made me very thick-skinned. There is a place for chick-lit; it’s not something you should look at as literary fiction — it’s not even trying to be that...

You interned at JP Morgan for There’s No Love on Wall Street. Tell us something more about it.

It was really something, I tell you... way more gruelling than what the book suggests! This was probably the hardest I’ve ever worked in my life. Those three months prepared me for everything afterwards.

The seediness and sex you describe in the book — is it really like that?

Absolutely! In any environment where people are working this hard — 16-hour days — sitting right next to each other, it’s bound to happen. The harder you work, the more frustrated you get and there’s not much of a life outside work.

l three of my books are satires of society and satires of experiences I have gone through. They’re very intense. The one month during the Miss India pageant is so intense, it brings out the best or worst in people, sometimes a little bit of both.

Your looks seem to be a point of discussion...

Yes, after the first book, I was ‘the beauty pageant girl who wrote a book’. I think it’s going to take a very long time to get over that image. With the second book and now the third, I’m no longer the girl who wrote that one book that did well. It’s changed, but it took three books to get there and people didn’t really think of me as a writer.

At what point did you start calling yourself a writer?

It’s still so new, I often feel like an imposter! It takes a long time to settle in and it still feels like quite a statement to say ‘I am a writer’. Especially in India, where they’re like ‘So, beta what do you?’ ‘I’m a writer.’ ‘Achha... aur kya (Okay... what else)?’

Tell us about your experience at the Miss India pageant...

I don’t know if people will ever stop asking me that! I was just so young... and I never imagined one month would end up defining me to so many people, but that’s life.

I was 18 or 19 and inspired by Sandra Bullock’s Miss Congeniality. I said ‘hey, why not?’ and went for it. It was fun. It was seven years ago... and I’ve been talking about it ever since!

We hear you teach yoga. How did that happen?

I had finished business school, and landed a job with a private jet company. I felt so cool jet-setting all over the world. I went to Bali for a wedding — one of those highly superficial, glitzy weddings and I remember thinking what am I doing? I quit my job and spent about two months in Bali, writing. I spent a lot of time by myself and that’s when I got into yoga.

I came back to India and I was going through a turbulent time — there were teething problems, messy situations... and turbulent love affairs, as always! Finally I took off to Kerala — I found a place online and took a leap of faith. The minute I walked into the ashram I fell in love with it and spent a month there. Over the past two years I’ve been going back there quite often and now I teach yoga as well.

I think the yogic life is very conducive to writing. You know all the myths about drunken writers, smoking into the night... it doesn’t seem to work for me!

What’s next?

I would like to do a travelogue, talk about my yoga and put all that down in a book. I think that’s what I’d like to do next.

The book on your bedside?

There’s always a stack of books on my bedside. It is the 75th anniversary of Gone With the Wind and it’s my favourite book... I’ve been re-reading it as well as the sequel, Scarlett. I’m also re-reading Catcher in the Rye. Also Confucius from the Heart by Yu Dan and M.J. Akbar’s Nehru.

Your first impression of Calcutta?

I’ve literally been from Kashmir to Kanyakumari but I’ve never been to Calcutta before! I love the yellow taxis, I think they’re unique. It also seems a very green city and I like that. But Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport... that was not too impressive.

Your favourite designer?

I just love Sabyasachi [Mukherjee] and want to visit his store while I’m here.

Your style statement?

I like mixing western and eastern styles... so, maybe kurtas with short skirts and pants.