Some screamed as he entered. Some called out for a selfie. Some stood rooted to the spot, star-struck. Young girls had been queuing up outside Story bookstore on Elgin Road for hours to meet their ‘love guru’ — Ravinder Singh. The 32-year-old writer was in town to unveil his latest novel, Your Dreams Are Mine Now. In Calcutta after two years, Ravinder arrived looking dapper in a striped shirt, Jawahar jacket and jootis, a lot fitter and a lot more ambitious.
The young storyteller left the girls weak in the knees when he mentioned his lady love, wife Khushboo. But he didn’t want to talk much about his personal life. He read out excerpts from his new book and took questions from the eager audience. He encouraged the reading habit even though he admits he had never read a book before he
wrote his debut novel, I Too Had a Love Story.
He obliged his fawning fans by taking a walk around the bookstore and signing books. “You don’t have to be romantic to prove your love, you don’t have to be creative to tell a story,” he told them. When asked by a fan what life was like for a bestselling author, he simply said, “Life is as complicated as you make it”. Not just romance tips or wisdom, Ravinder’s quick wit cracked up the crowd too. After the event was over, they refused to leave, prolonging their chit-chat, as if they had met an old friend. Ravinder seemed happy to hang out with them. He had just one request — “Please don’t make me your love guru or anything like that!”
Stories from The USA
Mrinal Chaudhury (in picture), based in Houston in the US, has written a book of stories, Kicchu Bhabna Kicchu Golpo. It is replete with precipitating experiences of several decades and of the many countries he has travelled across the world, launched at Jibananda Sabhagriha in Calcutta on December 21.
His oeuvre could make it as a book because of a unique initiative, Indic House: an independent publishing house started by Sumita Basu in the US with a branch in Bangalore.
Amarendro Chakravorty, author and editor, who was at the launch, lauded the effort. He mentioned that in today’s world, where the readership for quality literature is diminishing, it is important to reach out to the reader in better ways. He said the new trend of official book launches in different cities is something he supports for it helps create more awareness about new work. Poet Bithi Chattopadhyay was all praise about the book. “I would count it as a bestseller,” she said. Chaudhuri started by saying that he is uncomfortable calling himself a writer. “I try to spread the good things in life through my writing,” he said. And went on to tell a hilarious yet ironic story about his uncle and his friends who were all struggling writers with their books still with publishers. He also thanked the Indian community in Houston, who helped see the book through.
Chaudhuri was then countered by acclaimed author Kunal Basu, who said the biggest challenge of a writer is to find the story. He mentioned how Salman Rushdie had said each time he came to India he would travel back with a bag full of stories. He said the stories Chaudhuri told “shows that he has a lovely collection and is certainly a wonderful writer”.
Dipanjan Sinha
