Category: Interviews & Stories

Nikesh originally self-published his book through Pothi.com after which the book was accepted and published by PustakMahal.

Pothi: Nikesh, congratulations on getting your book published by Pustak Mahal! Tell us something about yourself.

Nikesh: I belong to Raipur, have done most of my schooling at Baroda, my engineering at NIT, Bhopal and MBA at IIM, Lucknow (2008). I have worked in IT and FMCG industries for some time before moving to education sector recently. Currently I am working with the academics team at IMS Learning Resources, Mumbai. I have lived in several places in India.

Apart from writing, I am interested in reading, watching movies, quizzing, cricket and travelling.

Pothi: Where can we find your book on the Web?

Nikesh: It is available with several leading online stores: Flipkart, Infibeam, Indiaplaza, Amazon (Kindle version), etc.

Pothi: Favourite author/book? Name the one that made the biggest impact on you.

Nikesh: It is difficult to single out a book but some of my favourites are: 1984 and Animal Farm (both by George Orwell), To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee), Catcher in the Rye (J D Salinger), Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams), Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts), Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand), The Prophet (Khalil Gibran), The Godfather (Mario Puzo) and The Day of the Jackal (Frederick Forsyth).

Pothi: How did you get the idea to write a novel? Is it a novel? Memoir? Fiction based on real life?

Nikesh: It was a mix of various factors. It was something which I always wanted to do!

I have been somewhat creative throughout my life but this had been mostly limited to blogs, short stories, few articles in college publications or just cracking PJs! There was always an urge to do something more, maybe on a larger platform and this is where I got this idea to write a book. I started and abandoned the project a few times, but eventually I got going and wrote it.

It is a work of fiction, but at some level it has been influenced by my life—my beliefs, opinions, travels or experiences while working in FMCG industry, a result of watching too many movies, a reflection of my confused self or just a figment of my imagination!

I guess there will be people reading between the lines, and there is nothing I can do about it. Maybe, if this happens I can consider it as a good omen!

Pothi: What is your favourite part/passage/chapter from the book?

Nikesh: Impossible to single out any one!

Pothi: How much time and effort did it take to finish the book?

Nikesh: It took a few months to write. It kind of followed Pareto’s principle—the first 80% took 20% of the time! That was when a basic skeleton was ready. Then it was all about revising it, re-revising it, re-re-revising it and so on. Theoretically there is no end to it. This went on for almost around a few months. Most of that time was used in giving ‘finishing touches’!

The process was quite interesting and it often involved stretching my imagination and kind of living two lives—one real, and other one virtual, imagining what the book’s “hero” would be doing! Once the image was ready, putting it into words and what would finally come out was a lot different from what I had initially imagined.

Pothi: How was your publishing experience? Any advice for new authors?

Nikesh: The publishing experience was a kind of mixed bag. To begin with, I was a ‘nobody,’ sending an unsolicited manuscript to publishers. There were publishers who never replied, there were some who rejected it outright and there were some who wanted to make major changes to the content to make the book more ‘spicy’!

I eventually decided to go ahead with self-publishing on Pothi.com and the feedback was quite encouraging.

Later on, Pothi sent me a mail regarding a competition by Cedar Books. I participated in it and my book was selected for publishing.

As far as writing a book is concerned, I think getting started is the most difficult part. Once you break that inertia, you have set the ball rolling.

To begin with, self-publishing provides a wonderful opportunity to showcase your work. Also, since there are no major copyright issues or other legalities involved, switching to a traditional publisher (the advantage in this is the reach of their distribution channel) is hassle free. With pothi.com, they were quite responsive and willing to help and also have a transparent system in place, which makes the self-publishing (especially for a new writer) experience a lot more comfortable.

Pothi: Did you find the experience of self-publishing worthwhile? What more would you like to see?

Nikesh: Absolutely! Self-publishing is a wonderful opportunity as it lowers the barriers to become a published writer.

Also, it lets you control your content as some of the traditional publishers dictate terms about content. It is like you have a movie ready and the producer comes and says, “This won’t work. Add a few item songs, introduce a love story as a sub-plot, put in more masala and make it spicy.” If you are comfortable with it, it might work in your favour, but as an author I felt that my book should be what I want it to be.

Self-publishing is a relatively new concept in India and its reach is quite limited. So, if I write a book, not many people outside my immediate friends circle might know about it.

Going ahead, I would like to see self-publishing sites having tie-ups with retail channels (especially online ones like Flipkart). This might help in giving authors a wider reach.

Pothi: Plans to write more going forward?

Nikesh: Definitely. But I would try to steer clear of all those life/love at IIT/ IIM kind of stories!

Pothi: Thanks for talking with us, Nikesh, and all the best for your writing endeavours!

Meena R. Shankar is a happy home-maker. A Sociology graduate with Masters in Social Work, she worked as an Asst. Professor before becoming a full time home-maker.

It was 25 years ago, when she was pregnant with her daughter, that she started writing. Over years, the poems she wrote covered a variety of subject and emotions. Her father and her husband encouraged her with their appreciation, expectations as well as critical feedback. Her husband Ramesh even compiled her poems as spiral bound diaries couple of years back.

Her daughter Aparna went a step ahead and decided to publish the book as a gift on her mother’s 50th birthday, completing the cycle of inspiration!

As she celebrates her 50 happy years in this world on June 18, 2010, with her husband Ramesh, son Vignesh, daughter Aparna, son-in-law Vikash and her soon-to-be-born grand child, we also join in to wish her a very Happy Birthday! May she continue to spread the song of life through her poetry for many years to come. Her poetry collection is available on Pothi.com.

Sachendra Garg ‘Rashmi’ grew up listening to the poets in various kavi-sammelans/Mushairas during his formative years in 1950s. Be it the ones organized at Lal-Quila and broadcasted on radio on the occasion of Republic day, or the annual ones at Dayal Singh College Karnal. With this exposure and encouragement from his teachers, he was soon writing poems himself, which were published in many contemporary magazines and anthologies with the pen-name Rashmi. He wrote a lot in the period of 1955-62. A dream of publishing them as a collection was born at that point of time, but other callings of life took precedence and it never materialized.

Some 50 years later, his son Shaleen Garg decided to re-collect the poems he regarded as the “most valuable property the family has” and publish the collection.

The dream is now a reality. The book “Vihaan” (a name that poet had thought of way back in early 1960s) was launched in Yamunanagar, Haryana in presence of more than 150 people. The vimochan of the book was done by Dr. Ramesh Kumar, General Secretary of Mukund group of educational institutions. The four hours programme also rightfully included a kavi sammelan. Some photographs are below. The book is available on Pothi.com.