I was facebooking as usual. All in the name of surveying for ideas. Then I saw this post that made me jump with joy.
Anita Nair was coming to Gurgaon Moms Book Club with her new book ‘Chain of Custody’.
There was no way, I was not going to be a part of this event!
We are talking about 'Anita Nair', the author of books like The Better Man, Ladies Coupe, Mistress,The Satyr Of The Subway & Eleven Other Stories and Puffin Book of World Myths and Legends.
She is one writer who walks the talk, who uses her powerful writing to stir up the reader to the pervading distress.
I had the opportunity to read ‘Chains of Custody’ centered around paedophelia and child labour in the cyber city of Bengaluru. It is a hard hitting novel which owes it’s genesis to a news paper report on missing children and Anita Nair’s follow up on that. Bengaluru, once a conduit, is now a hub for all the baser instincts.
On the D-Day, GurgaonMoms Book Club co-admin Upasana was in conversation with her, at The Palms Town and Country Club, Gurgaon – an apt setting for some free wheeling conversations.
Anita Nair was extremely eloquent with a disarming clarity of thought and openness.
The places she has grown up in and the people she has mingled with have influenced her writings to a great extent.
Her thoughts, her opinions about the world around with it’s volatile vicissitudes find an expression in her writings
The protagonists often mouth her feelings.
She had great words of wisdom for aspiring writers. ‘Stop talking, Start Writing’! Budding author should just get on with the job by putting in at least 400 words per day.
Believe it or not! She still writes in long hand. She does maximum of two drafts before the story finds the editor.
She has had no writer block so far. She believes in more show than tell. She doesn’t pander to any reader base but stays true to self. She believes that some higher karma guides her writing.
She finds singing in Carnatic music, therapeutic
She is great buds with her twenty plus son and believes that home is where the child should feel absolutely unfettered.
Phew! some lady she is!!
Answering Neela Kaushik, Anita Nair confessed that ‘Chain of Custody’ had made the Anti Trafficking Cell happy, because no mainstream writer had the gumption to take this problem head on. Bosco Rescue Unit, figuring prominently in this novel, is setting up an experimental home called ‘Azaadi’ for Bangladeshi Girls. No, she hasn’t faced any threats so far. (knock wood)
Oh did I mention that, the wonderful hostesses of The Palms Town and Country Club had engaged the ladies with a game of ‘Treasure hunt’? Anita Nair’s various novels were the much coveted treasures!
As is usual, Neela Kaushik, Upasana, Vidya Deshpande and Vidya Raja were gracious and warm.
Rashmi Choudhary covered the event via camera.
Reconnecting with the members of book club, sharing a laugh made the morning all the more memorable. Coffee, Conversations and Candid Shots!
It ended all too soon
Photography by : Rendezvous with Rashmi Blogger : Anupama Jain |
