Nav Bar

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Interview with author Abhijit Haldar


Tell something about you, including your hobby and rests.
Well, I am a teenager as you know and I am currently studying in Indus Academy, Jagiroad and staying at Morigaon. It was age eight, when I started to pen down my thoughts and since then, it has been a long walk! I had written two more novels when I was almost at the starting stage, so you can guess, they were quite juvenile. And then I kept on improving. After I read different books by different authors that gave me a different taste, different perspective of literature. And it was the time when I changed the draft of the second novel into a completely new one; thus the former being the foundation.
My hobbies include photography, watching movies and listening songs besides writing poems. Born in Assam, a state full of beauty, provided me enough esteem to nurture my rather amateur photography skills. I like to portray the smallest beauty of nature that we may overlook to the daily lives of people, from streets to homes. And I am really fond of Holly movies!


What you expect from your book and its readers?
My book primarily focuses on the impact of wars on the people. From a small age only, I was really fascinated by wars. But then I didn't had the power to reason it. People forget the blood of the men who fought the war and the ones who faced the devastation! There is a quote from the movie Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which hugely inspired me while writing the book: "History prefers legends to men. It prefers nobility to brutality, soaring speeches to quiet deeds. History remembers the battle, but forgets the blood. Whatever history remembers me, if it remembers anything at all, it shall only remember a fraction of the truth. For whatever else I am, a husband, a lawyer... a president... I shall always think of myself first and foremost... as a hunter." 
If you ask me why I wrote a book, well let me say this that, whenever I ask the same thing to myself, the only honest answer that I get is, "I really don't know!"
I think the readers who are interested in the Fantasy or YA genre, or just want a simple fictional read, can read it and I hope they will enjoy it. And I think they may even learn something new, I guess...


What make you to pen down the thoughts?
I pen down my thoughts when the inner me tells so. I write whenever I feel that something needs to be written; to be told to the world. It can range from anything like while I feel sad, or witness an exact moment of happiness; the writer inside me gets the spark. Sometimes it can be while I am strolling hopelessly, or just lying on the bed with a void mind, or watching a movie or listening a song. It can also happen while I am busy in photography... If you look through an artist's perspective, you will see that the whole world around you is telling a story. It can range from a small grain of sand, to a faded grey sky. Just capture those moments. I always think to carry a notepad and a pen with me if in case but I always forget. So many times a lot of stories had just slipped out of my mind. I guess it happens. I like to write about the common problems that people face. I really like to write vagabond poems!


How long it took you to complete the book "The Outlander: Rise And Fall Of An Empire" and what hurdles you faced throughout the progress?
It took me almost 3 years to write it. I faced hurdles from the very first onwards. I didn't know a budge about publishing; reaching out publishers. So I had to do a lot of research back then on how to get published. I read a lot of blogs and it really helped. Then I kept on writing the book and faced the problem of balancing it with studies. Then came the big one, finding a publisher. I was rejected by more than 10 publishers and agents and I became really frustrated. The world around me told to give it up, but I kept on sending proposals. And then it was when my cousin told me to try out some new publishers, and it helped! I was accepted by two more but I went with Blackbuck.


You are in your teenage. How you feel after becoming a writer of fantasy novel?
It feels really great with the feeling of achievement and at the same time that of being humbled by responsibility. I have a whole file of plots in my head to write... with the uncertainty of what lies ahead. But then here also comes the stage when I am in the determining period that will decide my carrier. And I have to carry my passion along, which will be difficult for me to leave. But if situation comes, I may have to give up writing for some years I guess. But, I will keep writing, a passion I can't give up, even if I have to give a halt of some years. I will always continue!


Do you believe in God? If yes then why if no then why? Any special moment when you realized that God is there or god is not there?
Well I really don't feel like to comment on this. I am somewhere in the middle. What I believe is that God is a point in the entity. No shape, no size, nothing. Only a hope. Only a spark. A hope that resides among us. 
I really feel hopeless when we sink in our own hands. We face genocides. We face wars. We also face internal wars inside us. And then, there comes no one like people say for a God. What comes, is a hope. A spark. A pioneer. People are just worsening the situation and yes, doing a really bad business by the word God! Everyone has a different faith. They are fine with it. And I don't have any problem with theirs. But I just can't stand when they take it to extreme. Everything has a limit. And I think faith has a limit too.
I think people should use some scientific logic before declaring anything based on faith. And I think science has a reason for almost everything...


What is your aim in your life? Kindly explore the thoughts.
I am really fond of Astrophysics. The cosmos with its secrets fascinate me deeply. I want to do something in this field. But there is time for me to choose. I might even change track from Sciences. After all we don't know what lies ahead of us. But I will keep on writing which is something residing inside me. Time will give answers of everything. Let us wait and see what happens.


What would you like to suggest to young writers?
What I would like to suggest is that it doesn't matters how literally strong literature you write. The only thing that matters is that keep writing! You always have a story to tell. There is a belief amongst us that people like to read only literally critical writing, one with alien words and sentences. But trust me, the thing that really count is that how you are able to convey the message. That can be done with simple words, simple sentences; something not like incredible-for-the-eyes really matters to convey the message clearly. So just focus on how you are able to do that, stitch the lines, connect the dots and instill the motion. Always don't look out of the box; you will find many inside too. Just look with a different angle. 
Patience is the tool that will help. This road is not an easy one. You have to stick to the end. You will get thrown out many times, but get up for the sixth if you fall five times. Be aggressively wild and don't let anything pull you back. Once if you have started, don't look back!


Would you like to say something to your readers?
I hope this book will be a good read for you. And please give your valuable feedback; however good or bad you find the book. You're always welcome. After all this is what keeps the author going. I really hope that my this effort will help in you some aspect of life, that you can learn something of war and life, and both when get intertwined, how the struggle for survival gets more tougher. I tried my best to bring out the pain of the Men in War, and I hope I am successful in doing it rightly.


Any plan on new book? Would you like to discuss in brief?
This book is a part of a trilogy. So the second and third are still to go. I will soon start work on the second and can promise that it will be with more action and yes, science! The whole story is clearly laid out in my mind. I have to do this within in a less amount of time, as I said earlier, my crucial years are ahead.

Interview by - 
Kamal Paneru

follow Kamal Paneru at
facebook twitter google+

No comments:

Post a Comment