Hyderabad: P.G. Bhaskar puts a funny picture of himself in the about-me of his website. He writes: “Bhaskar started writing in 2009 and finds himself unable to stop despite efforts of several editors to try and thwart him.” And in the fourth year of his writing, he has finished his fifth book, Mad in Heaven.
You dedicated this book to P.G. Wodehouse. You share the same initials. What’s the story?
There isn’t any. I’m an ardent Wodehouse fan and his books have given me so much happiness over the years. Blandings Castle is my second home. So I thought it would be appropriate for me to dedicate one of my books to him.
And humour seems to be your pet genre. How did that happen?
As a reader, I find it very difficult to read anything that is not laced with at least some degree of humour. Perhaps because of this, my writing tends to focus on the lighter side of life. Many situations, even relatively serious ones, do have a humorous side to them, if only one can see it from that angle.
Which character did you most enjoy creating?
That’s a very difficult question for me to answer. As the characters unfolded, I fell in love with almost all of them. They became like family, sort of. I’m not even sure whether a writer can say, with any certainty, that he has a favourite character.
Tips for struggling new writers?
Sure, give me! I still think of myself as a struggling writer, though not so ‘new’ anymore. Every book is a challenge, even for relatively established authors. The percentage of traditional, hardcore readers is declining, so it’s a tough business to be in. But then, new avenues of writing have been coming up and with that, new opportunities. To paraphrase Dickens, ‘it was the best of times, it was the worst of times’. So keep smiling, keep writing and keep your options open.
