WRITING HISTORICAL FICTION BASED ON THE INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

Author Interview: Anuradha Singh

Anuradha Singh is working in the field of academics from past 19 years. She has worked in various schools across India as an English Language facilitator. As an army officer wife, she has experienced and explored India from North to South and East to West as India’s true citizen. She loves every moment of her wandering life and calls herself the new age gypsy. She is a published author of three books. Poetry writing is her passion and her poems have been published in numerous poetry anthologies as well. Her recent book “Ayasam: The Epic Tale of King Gavi”, is a historical fantasy, based in ancient India in 1800 BC. After extensive research, the book has taken shape of a fast paced intertwined historical fiction. In a candid chat with Chirdeep Malhotra, she talks about her latest book, her writing journey, her favourite books and authors, and much more. Read On!



Please tell us more about Anuradha Singh as a person.

I am an educator by profession, teaching in a variety of schools across India from the past 19 years. I am a passionate poetess and relish reading and narrating stories; hence I am a novelist as well.



Has writing always been a part of your life? Or did you chance upon it later on and then instantly fell in love with it?

Writing has always been in my life. I used to write small stories and poems as a student; then as an English language facilitator, writing essays and preparing students for debates, declamations and elocution competitions was always part of my work. Still I had not thought of taking it to another level. Later while working in Nalanda University, and assisting the PhD students with their thesis, I was coaxed by many of them to try my hand on writing a novel. When I gave my manuscript for reading to my family, they read it in one go. That gave me immense confidence.
My first book, “The Mysterious Widows of Mehboobpura” is doing well; it gave me the love of readers. I think that is what matters.



If you had to describe “Ayasam: The Epic Tale of King Gavi” in one sentence, what would it be?

I would say it depicts values which we are taught since childhood. Greed leads to destruction in the end. Resources endowed by nature should be used judiciously and positively.



Now tell us a little bit more about the book!

The book is set in 1800 BCE during the time of Saraswati valley civilization. The protagonist of the story happens to be the anti hero. It is the story of discovery of iron in the Indian subcontinent, called Aýas in Sanskrit language. The story revolves around King Gavi and discovery of iron and its use and misuse. It is historical fiction with numerous characters, kingdoms, war and many twists and turns.



When did you think of delving into Historical Fiction for your novel?

Around two or more than two years back, I started thinking about working on this genre. I am fond of mythology, history, genealogy. I love to read mythology and history books. But I should say I had not homed upon any idea, or as it is said nothing had captured my fancy, to start writing about till then.



How did the idea of writing this book emerge?

Actually I should call it a story of serendipity. In those days I was writing my second book, which is Mahabharata in condensed poetry form. I have kindle published it as “Song of Life: The poetic retelling of Mahabharata”. I was doing research for it.
While looking up for some story of Mahabharata, I came across a story of a tribe of Bihar who call themselves descendants of Mahishasur, called Asuras, they always had the knowledge of iron smelting since ancient times. Then there was another story of a tribe of Jharkhand who say Shiva has given them the task of smelting iron. I found these stories immensely interesting. They remained at the back of my mind. I discussed these stories with my family. Even they found it very engaging and suggested me that this idea can be turned into a fictional novel. This is how the seed of a story was planted and then I started working upon it.



What kind of research did you do for the book?

I had to do extensive research for the book. I must have read so many research papers of PhD scholars. I read numerous articles published by Archaeological Survey of India and even read portions of Rigveda, Brahmanas, and Upanishads pertaining to this topic. The research must have gone on for more than a year.



What challenges did you face while writing this book?

This book so far has been most challenging for me. Since it is set in 1800 BCE, the language, the ambience, the tone had to be perfect to give a great reading experience to the readers. So maintaining these aspects was tough for me, a gruelling task. Writing, scraping, again rewriting the whole scene all over again –that is the way this whole book has been written.



In terms of the complexity of the character and the nuances of the dialogues, the character development of whom was the most difficult in this book?

The character of the protagonist itself has many ups and downs, then portraying the queen Maya was quite complex.



Can you recommend five books from any genre, for our readers to add to their reading lists, that you particularly cherish?

Reading is a journey which never gets over. On it's way you keep on picking gems after gems. Some of the marvels which I have pocketed and cherished, I would like to mention those to the readers.
I love the classic 'Gone With The Wind', read and re-read it. Then I relish the books of the exemplary Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, like “Kafka on the Shore”. One of my all time favourite Indian author is Amitav Ghosh, whose first novel that I had read was “The Hungry Tide”.
Then in Historical Fiction there are books by Shivaji Sawant which are unforgettable like there's this, “Mrityunjay” which is based on Karna, that was the first book which I read when I was in class 10 and then much later Amish Tripathi made historical fiction a popular genre. Alex Rutherford’s “Empire of the Moghuls” is another excellent series of historical fiction.



There are many new writers and poets who are aspiring to get their work published. What would you say to them?

I would advise the new writers and poets that they should not be in a hurry to publish their work. Keep honing your skills, evolve with a style of your own, and do not succumb to plagiarism. Your story, your poems should be unique. Then everyone has his own journey. Writing is not a profession to get rich monetarily; it will give you lots of readers and their love if you write well.



What are you working on next?

There are many ideas, skeletal frames of stories which keep beaming at me through the laptop screen but so far I have not decided. Sometimes I leave it to destiny, to lead me towards a story.



Can you share with our readers a motivational quote that keeps you going?

Yes, I very much believe that, “Life throws numerous opportunities towards us, we need to recognize them and grab those opportunities.”