A student of English literature and history, Soorina Desai always had a passion for the written word. But other priorities kept her from exploring her skill as a writer. Then, one day, a chance discovery of her grandmother’s diary gave Soorina the inspiration to write her first book.
Wanting to capture the essence of a bygone era so cleverly detailed in her grandmother’s daily jottings, Soorina began to weave a tale of an unorthodox romance in an orthodox society. Anamika, written in a span of six months, was longlisted for the Crossword Book Award in 2006. After that, followed her next book, Barefoot To Paradise, and her latest, Blame It On Destiny.
The plot for Blame It On Destiny follows a disturbed counsellor who is caught in a violent love triangle, a sculptress looking for God, a medium for spirits who wants to be loved, a real estate dealer who strives to be a good son and a writer penning a novel — five strangers who never meet but influence one another’s lives in a manner which alters their circumstances.
“The basic concept sprang from the idea that our circumstances are interconnected with those of others. Someone, somewhere could be altering our futures for the better or for the worse, without our knowledge. So the belief in an unseen force planning our lives could be explained if we knew of the actions of other people in context to us. It also means, that we can take responsibility for our actions without blaming or acknowledging a mystical force and at the same time find strength to chart our own way,” Soorina says.
About her evolution as a writer, Soorina says, “Every book feels like a new beginning to me. It’s almost as though I want to forget that there is any craft attached to it and I want to begin the process all over again to give a new story my best effort.”
She is now working on her fourth book, Birds Of The Air. Her prolific output seems to hint at her being a very disciplined writer, but she laughs this off. “The funny thing is that I sometimes keep putting it (writing) off,” she says. “I can while away my time chatting with friends, running errands... I can display a complete lack of discipline until I sit down to write. Then I am consumed by the process and wonder why I do anything else at all!”
So who are the writers who have influenced Soorina? “I admire many, many writers,” she says. “Enid Blyton for making me fall in love with reading as a child, Shakespeare for his rich drama and understanding of human character, Cortazar for reinventing the novel, Marquez for having drawn us so magically into his Latin American vision, Nabokov for conveying the fragility of our existence through his words, Kundera for his exploration of the human psyche and Vikram Seth for finding the perfect balance between English writing in an Indian culture.”
