Bhubaneswar, July 7: She met and fell in love with a young man who changed the way she viewed the world. Nidra Naik has something in common with the main character in her book, Twinkle Das.

The 31-year-old writer, who released her debut novel The Bhubaneswar Times last week, had an engaging chat with The Telegraph on how stories characterised by dark humour, stark reality and romance can leave an indelible mark on the minds of readers. The chat took place at Oxford Bookstore yesterday evening.

The novel is loosely based on the life of the writer, an alumnus of Ravenshaw College, who put her aspirations of becoming a writer on the backburner and went on to pursue an MBA degree because of “peer pressure”.

After working at a consultancy firm in Delhi for a brief period, she became homesick. Soon, she packed her bags to return to her hometown Bhubaneswar where she met the man of her dreams. “I was always inspired to do something creative. The idea of penning this book crossed my mind when I met my husband, Bhuban Patra,” recalled Nidra, daughter of lyricist Swaroop and actress Niharika Naik.

She started writing the novel in 2009 and finished it almost a year later. However, it took her another 12 months to find a publisher. “It was quite a struggle,” said Nidra, who is at present based in Calcutta. Now that her book has hit the stands, she can hardly contain her excitement.

“The book has received a satisfactory response so far, but it is too early to give a verdict. The protagonist in my book is Twinkle Das, a girl from Odisha who is impulsive, egoistic and imaginative. She has pre-conceived notions about big and small cities. She loves to take charge of her life, but things change when she falls in love. The sensitive young man she meets ushers in many changes in her life,” she said.

However, unlike Twinkle, Nidra did not have an eventful courtship and so, has let her imagination run wild to make the book enticing for readers.

Being the lethargic kid that she was, the only books Nidra grew up reading were Mills & Boon. It was only during her college days that she tried to inculcate reading in her daily schedule. She is a fan of writers such as John Grisham, Ruskin Bond and Chetan Bhagat.

Nidra is now giving finishing touches to her second book and feels that she needs to take the writer in her seriously for her work to be appreciated.

“The term chick lit has a negative connotation. A woman writer can be just as funny and imaginative while penning light-hearted reads as her male counterparts,” she said.