Book Stop Corner

Hello and welcome my dear readers,

Hope you all are having a great day. And as for me, I'm having a really pleasant and charming day as today on author Q&A session, Sreemoyee Piu Kundu, the sassy and talented Indian author, is here to enlighten us with her life, her books, and everything in between books and drama. 

So let's not waste any more time and get down to chat with this beautiful and amazing author.

Keep scrolling folks!

Read the review of You've Got the Wrong Girl



Me: Hello and welcome to my blog, Sreemoyee. Congratulations on your new book, You've Got the Wrong Girl. How will you express your feelings about this  book that has already won the hearts of so many readers?

Sreemoyee: It's a great feeling that the book is being well received. Since lad lit is not a very common genre in India - it's heartening to see readers warm up to this latest offering and identifying with the characters.


Me: How did you research for your book? Can you tell us briefly about it?

Sreemoyee: Actually, just before writing You’ve Got The Wrong Girl I was reading Shakuntalam, Kalidasa being one of my favorite writers. And also, I happened to be in Kolkata at that time, watching a bunch of commercial films that are usually always on my itinerary when I touch down in the city, being starved in Delhi. After one particular film, I remember asking myself why it is always the girl who falls in love hopelessly, then is forced apart from her lover by circumstance and fate, faces familial pressure, then decides to marry another guy (usually the villain/his son) and then in the last scene, dramatically there will be a re-entry of the swashbuckling hero who rescues her in the end as they live happily ever after.

I co-related the movie to the play somehow. And saw King Dushyant a tad differently, wondering if he was the typical, confused, apparently metrosexual man searching for true love in an age of instant hook-ups and easy sex – if Kalidasa’s eternal romance could be seen as Dushyant’s story? Instead of being identifiable as Shakuntala’s soiree, alone?

Dushyant the man who screwed up, falling in love with Shakuntala first seeing her in the forest, love at first sight as he was struck by her beauty and grace, indulging in a passionate, timeless romance saga, making torrid love, composing love sonnets (akin to songs in contemporary films), having a Gandharva Vivaha, after which he must leave to take care of affairs in his kingdom. She is given a ring by the mighty scion, to be presented to him when she appears in his court so that she can then claim her rightful place as queen. But, cursed by the anger-prone sage Durvasa, Dushyant forgets her existence, the only cure for Shakuntala being to show him the signet that he gave her. She has to cross a river to reach him where the ring is lost, a clever twist in the tale, so on arrival Dushyant naturally refuses to acknowledge her. Fortunately, the ring is discovered by a fisherman in the belly of a fish, and Dushyant also realizes his mistake - too late and there is a proper ending.
What if we saw romance and finding love from a man’s view? If the search for a soulmate was as complex and curious and full of twists and turns for a man of today – that was my challenge and I have loved every bit of recasting Dushyant.

 
Me: Did you travel extensively for the purpose of research, as you have diligently captured Agra and Kolkata with your words?

Sreemoyee: Kolkata is my hometown so I would say it is in my DNA, and as for Agra I have travelled there several times. Sonagachi – Asia’s largest red light district has fascinated me since a child. Ever since we used to pass by that area while dropping an uncle home, since my childhood, who stayed in Northn Kolkata. I wanted to go in, but was always stopped saying it’s a ‘nongra,’ (dirty) area and girls from respectable families don’t venture to such places. Marginalized communities and women have always found a place in my consciousness and therefore when I was working on the plot for You’ve Got The Wrong Girl – I knew in my heart, it was where the book should touch down. The romance of this ancient city, the long tram rides, the Maidan shimmering at dusk, the lazy boat rides along the River Ganges, the experience of huddling closer to your lover under a solitary umbrella in the pouring unseasonal rains, the lights of Hooghly Bridge, piquant puchkas by the roadside, every street corner laden with a mishtir dokan – the imagery seemed incomplete sans a cross reference back to Shonagachi – the lights that gleam so brightly, the women in flashy polyester saris and gaudy red mouths – what goes on in their minds – is love forbidden in Sonagachi? Or what if it’s a perfect mixture of human experience – imagine an epic love story in a place that is shunned and stereotyped? What if love is the answer?  So, while I can’t give away how it features in the storyline – all I can say at this point is that it is almost like a character in the book – it’s not just the backdrop, but the soul of the book in many ways.


Me: Tell us one trait about your main character, Dushyant Singh Rathore, that intrigues you the most.

Sreemoyee: His vulnerability that I think lies underneath his so-called machoness.


Me: How will you describe your journey so far as an author?

Sreemoyee: It has been fulfilling and a great leveler - also to be able to tell and be entrusted with stories is very humbling, and I hope I can live up to the expectations.


Me: Was it always your one true dream to be an author?

Sreemoyee: Ever since I was a young girl I loved to write - it's almost like I see things and people in words. It's the only way I know how to live fully, and freely.


Me: What other passions do you have apart from writing?

Sreemoyee: Traveling, watching people, listening to music and reading.

 
Me: What's next up on your writing sleeves? Please tell us briefly about it.

Sreemoyee: Working on my non fiction book, Status Single that looks at single women in India.

 
Me: Thanks Sreemoyee for joining me today on this interview session. I wish you luck for all your future endeavors.

Sreemoyee: My pleasure and happy reading.
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Sreemoyee's Bio:


Sreemoyee Piu Kundu has been a lifestyle editor and PR head, and is now a fulltime novelist based in Delhi. She is the author of two novels, Faraway Music and the bestselling Sita's Curse, and has completed her fourth novel, Cut! She is working on a political tragedy titled Rahula and her first non-fiction title, Status Single, will be published in 2016.
Visit her here


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