She’s just 25 years old and she’s already 10 books down. Not as reader but as writer! Nikita Singh was in town to launch book No. 10, Every Time It Rains (Harlequin, Rs 199), when t2 caught up with her... 

Every Time It Rains is your 10th book in six years. Has that sunk in?

It doesn’t feel real. It’s a very surreal experience because it happened one book at a time. When I started six years ago, I didn’t think about writing 10 books so fast. So, when I look back, I can’t sometimes believe what’s happening. Also, because I live so far away (New York), I’m disconnected with this life, it’s like a parallel universe for me when I come back and people know me, because I’m just living a very normal life there. It feels good.

So it’s not even one book per year!

In the first two years, I wrote six books and since then I’ve been writing one per year. 

How did you do that?

I don’t really know (laughs). It feels like a buzz because I was constantly writing one thing or the other, thinking of the next idea as soon as the first was done, or even during writing one. 

So was your routine wake up, write, eat and write again?

I was also studying. I was in pharma college. I was going to college and then coming back and writing, but I don’t really write every day. 

Tell us a little about this book. We know it’s about Laila, who was Mahi’s friend in your last book, Like a Love Song... 

It’s not necessarily a sequel. We saw Laila from Mahi’s perspective in the other book, but I started wondering while I was writing that book, what Laila does when she’s not around Mahi. Because to Mahi, she looked like such a badass person who was just doing whatever she wanted. She seems so mature and grown up... this perfect person that Mahi wanted to be like. It was interesting to me... I thought, it’s so easy to look at somebody and think that their lives are perfect but what if I get into their heads? What about their insecurities? What makes them smile or cry? So I dug up a whole backstory for Laila and that’s how I decided to write this one. The premise is the same, they are in the same bakery... and then she meets JD.

Should we wait for Mahi and Laila’s stories to come together in one big novel? 

Umm… I’m planning a third book. In the first, Mahi had three other characters — Laila, Sarthak, the brother, and Siddhant, the boyfriend. I’ve left the book open-ended for Mahi because the third book would be from Siddhant’s point of view. I wanted to see what he’s been doing for a year and a half. 

Is it difficult to write from a man’s perspective?

No. People think it’s odd that I do it but I’ve read so many books written by men, it’s not like I don’t know how it’s done, you know. I think I’ve read possibly more books by male writers than female writers. So it’s not like it’s going to be exceptionally hard. Of course I need to work on it. 

Laila is a strong person, very mature. How autobiographical is she?

It’s funny, because when I was writing Like a Love Song, I felt like Mahi, I sort of transitioned into that, and when I was writing this, the book became like my coming-of-age. Now I feel more like Laila than anything else. I feel strongly connected to her.

Is there a JD anywhere?

No (laughs). I don’t do lukewarm. Unless I have genuine feelings, I wouldn’t pursue it. I don’t want to meet someone and wonder, do I like him, do I not? But it doesn’t mean that I’m not open to getting into something like love but, ummm, I want it to be not a decision. 

The last time we met you were reading Lolita. What are you reading now? 

I forget the name... it’s an Indian book, Panchratna or something. Before that I was reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I haven’t finished it, I left it there when I came here. 

You have a picture of The Bell Jar on Instagram. Did you read that?

Yeah. Actually Every Time It Rains takes its epigraph from The Bell Jar, because those lines were exactly where Laila was in this book. Because she has everything and doesn’t want anything else but she also wants something that she doesn’t know about. 

Any takeaway from Sylvia Plath’s book?

I just feel that her writing is so honest and very unapologetic. Like she is who she is and she knows that she is smarter than most people. Even in her times she was so strong, she knew what she wanted.

We’ve seen this video online of you riding a bike. Is that a favourite pastime in India?

(Laughs) When I was younger, I would just ride a bike whenever. And if my brother was sleeping, I would just take his keys and go away. I used to be a pro. Then I moved to Delhi and then to New York and hadn’t done something like that in a few years. And this new bike…Pulsar and all that are very easy…but this one (a Royal Enfield), the starting part is just so hard (laughs) but yeah, it’s something that I do when I come to India. And the December holiday was just family, not a book tour. So I thought even if I get hurt, it wouldn’t really matter. 

In India, you’re riding bikes. In New York, you are...

... Working as a fashion stylist for men and helping them find a suit and all.

Where?

J.Crew. And I’m working with a magazine as their writer and editor on social media.

Any tips for Indian men?

I don’t think Indian men are very fashion-conscious. So, no sandals with socks. Please, never do that. Either you’re hot or you’re cool, what is this in-between? 

Has New York changed you?

I wouldn’t say this about America but in New York, everyone there has come from some other place to follow a dream. It’s such a fast-paced life and so much emphasis on art and culture that you find like-minded people from around the world. Like my closest friends are from Bosnia, California and Colombia. But New Yorkers just sort of... get it?!

And Ranveer Singh? 

I like him a lot. He’s my favourite after Shah Rukh Khan. But I haven’t seen Raees yet... I have to.

What was the last film you watched?

Kaabil. I hadn’t even seen the trailer. I just went for the movie because my friend insisted. Such a bad decision. I’m not that much into movies. I watch TV shows more. I’m very excited about Game of Thrones Season 7. Also the film, Logan, which is releasing on March 3, the day I return to New York. As soon as I leave the airport, that’s where I’m going. I don’t care if I’m jet-lagged. Wolverine’s my favourite superhero.

Who’s been styling you throughout this book tour? We love this fusion of West and East!

There’s this designer, Vatsala. She is a friend of my younger sister. She graduated and started this fashion line. So I’m wearing all of her designs. She uses Indian fabric and designs, like ikat, and I just sort of mixed and matched them with my tops and jeans and made a fusion, kind of like what I am right now.

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