Animesh Verma: Youth power

New Delhi, Jan. 18: In between experiments to build an anti-cancer molecule, IIT Bombay student Animesh Verma has found time to pen dreams that he is now sharing with the world.

Dreams of love, life and of dreams themselves, woven around two incidents that the 24-year-old Jharkhand boy says have propelled him to think beyond chemistry.

His first novel, Love, Life and Dream on..., has sold over 10,000 copies in less than a month, its Delhi-based publishers Srishti say.

“The book is pure fiction, but it is based on what I have seen, and particularly on two events that for the first time made me think of youth as more than just a word to describe a collective from a particular age group,” says Verma, pursuing his MSc in chemistry.

In 2005, the then undergraduate chemistry student at Hindu College in Delhi University saw on television the bloodiest terrorist attack to hit the capital, which killed over 60.

As one bomb ripped apart a bus and another splattered blood across Sarojini Nagar market, Verma says he felt helpless.

A few months later, when students missed classes, battled police lathis, tear gas and bursts of water from tankers to protest against the then proposed OBC reservation Bill in 2006, Verma went a step closer. With his friends, he went to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to survey the epicentre of the protests.

“I will not reveal my own opinions on the matter... they are immaterial and are not reflected in the book,” claims the son of an excise inspector posted in Jamshedpur.

“But the movement for the first time made me believe that youth can work together towards common goals, common aspirations. They could be job opportunities or the chance to study, but the theoretical abstract of common goals was suddenly a visible reality before me.”

The book starts with a group of friends at DU, full of dreams for the future.

One by one, the friends turn from dreamy youth to “pragmatic” young men who prick the balloons of their own dreams.

The turmoil in the lives of students who lived through the reservation debate serves as the backdrop initially.

The scene then shifts to IIT, where some of the friends are pursuing their postgraduate studies. Love blossoms, and then hope.

“It is fine to dream, something that many who make it to IIT or similar such institutions forget,” says Verma.

He doesn’t come from a literary background — Verma confesses he hasn’t read more than 13 novels in his life. He has read Chetan Bhagat, possibly the most famous IITian author, but doesn’t think too highly of his work.

Cricket is his favourite pastime — he is an opening bowler for the hostel team — and Mahendra Singh Dhoni his favourite cricketer.

“You could call it my loyalty to Jharkhand,” laughs Verma, who studied in Dhanbad’s Denobili School and Bokaro’s Beldish Church before moving to Delhi for college.

Jayanta Bose, his publisher at Srishti, says: “The sales of his book tell a story... we are now printing the third impression of the book. The book carries a message to all youth, to dream, and then move towards accomplishing those dreams.”

The author isn’t sure whether he is ready yet to move to writing as a full-time profession.

Verma took time out from his final-year project — segregating a molecule that scientists believe may assist in the battle against cancer.

“I haven’t ruled out a PhD yet. I only need three to four hours a day to write and perhaps I can manage that with my studies,” he says.