These days people are talking about a fascinating book, ‘Love Destiny …and those two days’. The book stands out for its dealing with difficult but relevant issue. Debutant author Murlidhar Srivastava sensibly handled a bold subject of superstition, love and betrayal. We, at Spectralhues got in touch with the promising author. In conversation with Susmita Bose, Murlidhar Srivastava unfolds many facets of his unknown persona, his journey to become writer and most of all – his thoughts.
Congratulations on the success of your debut novel ‘Love Destiny …and those two days’. Tell us how much your life changed after the release of your book.
Thanks Susmita, it feels really nice when you see that months of your effort, dedication, time and patience are being acknowledged and appreciated. I am getting very encouraging comments and appreciations for interestingly handling a bold subject around a love story and that is a great reward. So far as the change in life is concerned, yes I am experiencing some changes in my life after its release. The people who know me, the people whom I meet, they all now give more recognition and more weightage to what I say. Many persons are visiting my website / write comments on my pages. I have received a few phone calls from press and mails from websites. These are new and fresh experiences in life. And then the autograph – I must have taken quite a number of autographs in my life but now I have understood how it feels when you are on the other side of it. The sense of achievement and satisfaction is amazing.
Being a debutant author did you face any kind of difficulties with publishing the book?
Not much, a little though. The websites and emails these days have certainly made the life easy for a writer especially a debutant writer. This I have also mentioned in acknowledgement in my book. I sent my manuscript to four-five publishers on their websites/emails and got reply from two who approved and were ready to publish it. I decided to go with Mahaveer Publishers and entered into an agreement with them. There were some delay in the time frame and some communication gap but that is okay. It was nothing significant. A debutant in any field has to face some problems.
Was the story in ‘Love Destiny’ completely fictional?
Yes, it is fictional but many incidents and happenings observed here and there in the life have its impact on it so I am unable to decide whether to call it completely fictional or not.
After reading the book some critics say that you have successfully manage to create not one but four protagonists out of it, for an author how difficult is to give enough depth to each character?
I have got this remark by a few but at the same time they have appreciated my work for maintaining enough depth to all the four characters. In fact, I decided to go ahead with two stories to convey my points more effectively towards the end but it was not possible to give both the stories equal importance, one had to go in the side and that was Chandani’s story but I also knew that unless and until I make enough depth to the character of Chandani, her story will not get much attention by the readers. Yes it was difficult to maintain four characters in the story with almost equal depth but I went ahead.
Mayur, Shobha, Chandani, Lata – Who is your personal favourite? 🙂
May surprise you- it is Lata. She wins her husband, who is first haunted by his past and then sandwiched between his past and present when he meets his yesteryear girl again, only by showing her deep love and having full faith in him. A family is kept alive against all odds by such trust and endurance. This character shows that faith and trust are very important in a relationship.
How did you bring astrology angle in the story? Was it pre-planned or you incorporated as the story progressed? How much your faith lies on astrology?
It was pre-planned. First I worked out on the concept and decided what message exactly I want to convey and accordingly started building a love story around it. I am not totally averse to astrology but what I am against is its overdose which I am watching these days in different media particularly our TV channels are full of such shows every day in the morning like a particular colour for a particular zodiac sign will either do wonders or will bring disasters on a particular day, a particular day of the week will bring all the happiness back to you or a particular direction in the house will solve all your problems. The more we make people to believe such stories, the harder it gets for them to think clearly and it actually weakens one’s ability to rationally look at a thing or a problem.
Murlidhar Srivastava
Love, betrayal and the search for the truth – from where you get the inspiration to create Mayur’s life saga…
There is no living person in particular from whom I can say I got the inspiration to create Mayur’s life saga. In all fairness, Mayur was born and then raised as per the demand of the story line.
I love the way you sensibly portray the Indian marriages – both love and arranged – was it your personal experiences which helped you to expose the very core of the problems…
That’s true. I have grown seeing these typical problems in Indian marriages in almost every family that I know and I too have lived with it. The issues of horoscope matching, caste, sub castes, educational level, educational institute, family compatibility, job, private, government etc are distinctive in any arranged marriage. With little variations here and there the same is prevalent in almost all parts of our country. Then parent’s non acceptance of the boy or the girl for no reason whatsoever is also very typical in most of the Indian families when it comes to love marriages. If caste or religion is different then it gets magnified manifold. Off course things are changing fast now. Parents always think it is their prerogative to choose and they can only find a suitable and correct life partner for their children. I remember blurb of Chetan Bhagat’s famous book ‘2 States’- very apt.
What is the message you wanted to convey through ‘Love Destiny’?
First, don’t let your life run by these superstitions and never allow them to take control over your intellect. These over beliefs cast a false layer over the eyes in which you might miss out something important. Secondly, Life is very long. It does not always give you what you want and so what you get in life ultimately matters. Whatever one loses in life is his destiny but what one gets in life is also his destiny and whatever one gets is more important than what one loses.
How much do you personally believe in destiny?
Destiny is nothing but predetermined events to take place – something which will happen. You can never know what lies in store ahead, so just go on doing your duty.
Tell us something about yourself?
I was born at Patna in a traditional family, completed my graduation from Ranchi University and then pursued management courses in marketing and also the public sector management. I joined a public sector IDPL in its marketing division and worked for many years before opting to leave and start my own venture an IT enabled service.
Was writing comes easy to you? How was your journey to become a writer?
Yeah I can say that writing came easy to me but the journey to become a writer took rather long. I always loved writing right from my junior school days but it remained limited to writing some small articles here and there. Living in small towns, especially in pre internet days, also posed some limitations and maybe I was also not sure of myself that I would go to the extent of writing a 200 odd pages novel. But all said and done, finally I wrote a complete fiction, got it published and as per the reports it is being liked by the readers. So my journey has reached a destination now. From here I would like to take this journey even forward.
What else you like apart from writing?
My best pastime is to close my eyes and listen to old melodious songs in a calm and serene surrounding. I simply love Lataji’s golden voice which literally works as a magic whenever I have a tensed mind. Apart from that I watch cricket and enjoy comedy shows on TV.
Have you started planning for your next book? What would be the subject?
Yes, I had planned my next book while writing the first one itself but I was waiting with bated breath to see the response of the first book before venturing into the next one. Thank god, the response to my first book has been good enough to give me strength to go for the next one. So far as the subject matter of the next book is concerned, I will be touching and raising the essence of our Indian values and traditions which are fast fading away in this internet and global accessibility era but the base of the book will again be a love story. In fact it will be told through love stories of three generations- the present and the two previous generations.
Though you said writing is a ‘lonely process’, still how much support you are getting from your near ones? Whom do you like to give credit for your success?
Yeah, I always believe writing is a lonely process. You cannot write until unless you are alone, calm, and have free mind. I would like to give credit to my wife though as she inspired me to go for this dream of mine.
Any message for Spectralhues readers…
I am privileged being interviewed by your site spectralhues.com. The first and foremost thing that I would like to say especially to the youths is that have faith in yourself and no matter which career option you choose, always try to give 100%. Lead your life with a positive attitude. Everything can’t go as per your wish. Enjoy today and always remember — The best way to predict your future is to create.
Thank you Murlidhar for your time. Wishing you for the glorious success and hope you would come up with many more remarkable books.
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