Debutante author, Madhavi Gunasheela talks about her book which will be launched today
Madhavi Gunasheela
She hails from one of Bengaluru’s illustrious families. The daughter of a well-respected doctor Sushila Gunasheela of Gunasheela Nursing Home, the Bengaluru-born Madhavi N Gunasheela is a doctor too. But she has found a new calling now. Madhavi discovered her love for writing during an off beat summer day in April 2012. “My kids were having their vacations and it was a dull day at work, so I decided to write a story and before I realised it, I had finished 14 stories,” she exclaims.
Madhavi has an infectious charm and this conversation is laced with laughter. She is quick with candid confessions too, “I have not travelled the world, contrary to perceptions. I have never been to an elephant orphanage in Africa or to the Bahamas where some of my stories are based. Like most Indians, I have travelled to rural India, but have never lived there. My stories are purely based on imagination.”
Her first collection of short stories titled, A Brigand for a Night and Other Tales will be launched today at the Bangalore Golf Club by Dr Thomas Chandy. And like every debutante, there are butterflies in her stomach. “I’m excited and nervous. It’s an unchartered territory that I have ventured into. It’s not like sitting at a medical conference but it has been a wonderful journey so far,” she quips.
Madhavi’s fresh and breezy style has already been compared to legendary literary icon RK Narayan. “He is a huge icon and I can’t even dream of being compared to him. Whoever has done so has been extremely generous with their words,” she adds. Given the romance with flamboyant language that most new age writers resort to, does she feel the pressure to conform? There is a brief pause before she replies,“Yes, it is difficult to keep it simple and as most authors want to impress readers with their vocabulary these days. But I believe a book should be an easy read, where people can just sit back and enjoy without having to worry about the language,” she states.
The book itself spans different genres and has generated strong but positive reactions from her close coterie. “My sister had been enthusiastically mailing my stories to our friends and I have been getting constant feedback. I really enjoyed getting their reactions,” she says.
Madhavi is tentatively writing her next book and we wonder whether it will be based on the medical community. She is unsure though. “I am working on something but it is very basic and only time will tell how the plot will emerge,” says the mother of two, who has even signed up for an online course in journalism from the London School of Journalism. “But I haven’t found the time to complete it yet,” she says with characteristic candour.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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