There are indeed a handful of people out there, who love what they do and do what they love. Acclaimed city-based translator-cum-author, Bhaskar Chattopadhyay believes he is one of them. While he tasted a whiff of success post his debut read, Patang – an atmospheric thriller and a subsequent novel titled ‘Penumbra’, what actually drives Bhaskar is not the rankings or the number game. But rather, the joy of rustling up ideas and penning them down. His recently launched third book, Here Falls The Shadow, hit the shelves early this May. In a candid chat, he tells us more...
Enthusing how a small-town upbringing amidst the lap of nature fueled his innate passion to write, Bhaskar elucidates, “I grew up in a small town called Dibrugarh in Assam. Living in a small town is one of the reasons why I got an opportunity to observe nature from very close quarters. I really enjoyed growing up in a small town, owing to the abundance of time on my hands. I used to live a truly laid back life, I don’t remember ever being in a hurry, there was never any mad rush to do things. This hugely impacted my formative years, and my sensibilities as a writer.”
About his latest offering, Bhaskar adds, “My new novel is a murder mystery, and that’s all there is to it. Whether it has a ‘message’ or not – that is something readers will decide. I’d rather not leave a message in any of my books, because doing that would be akin to force-fit a bit of what I believe in my writing, and that would be a mistake because the story is not about me, it’s about my characters,” shares the 38-year-old. As a full time writer now, Bhaskar is in a happy space.
“Fortunatly, I write pretty fast! I’ve never had issues with finding time, even when I used to have alternate professions in the past. Since, I love doing this, it never feels like work. I receive the same kind of joy in writing a novel or a short story, as I do in watching a movie or relaxing in the pool.”
Aside of the excitement to see how the book fares, there’s also a sense of being a responsible Bengalurean, that he wishes to do something about. “I didn’t care too much about anything other than myself when I was younger. But now, I can sense a certain urge in myself to do something about deforestation. My children will never know the kind of relationship their father used to have with nature, and for their children, it would probably be even worse. I feel very strongly about it have started acting on it in my own way.”
