A POLYGLOT AUTHOR WRITING INTENSE STORIES

Author Interview - Ishita Deshmukh

Ishita Deshmukh is a multi-tasking marketing professional who currently runs a small home business in Singapore and helps with her family business back home at Puducherry. She is, in many ways, a mascot for national integration. Born to Bengali and Gujarati parents, she grew up on a steady diet of Tamil culture and French literature (in the lovely town of Puducherry), and is married to a Telegu bidda. She can speak six languages fluently and is passionate about the arts and writing. She has come up with the book “Heartquake”, which she calls ‘the first of many delicious fares from her literary cauldron’. In a candid chat with Chirdeep Malhotra, she talks about her debut book, the reader’s response to it, her favourite authors, and also about the advantages of multicultural marriages and multilingualism.

Please tell us more about Ishita Deshmukh as a person.
Ishita is a very complex person: sometimes shy, at times vivacious, mostly organized, but occasionally whimsical. Being on the cusp of Gemini and Cancerian signs, she is quite emotional but also very thorough. Her flights of fancy are often captured in her short stories, articles, and now in her first novel, Heart Quake.

Being a multi-tasking marketing professional, you have forayed into writing fiction. Can you tell us more about your writing journey?
I always loved to tell stories, which in school, translated to extra creative writing classes. Since my mid-teens, I have been writing, but it turned into a serious occupation only almost a decade later, when I took up my class assignment and turned it into a novel.

Can you give a brief overview of your book “Heart Quake”?
Heart Quake is a love story situated during the Bhuj earthquake in 2001. Sonal Patel, a nurse, rushes to Bhuj in search of her best friend (resident of Bhuj) and to help in a medical camp. Dr. Tejas Desai, lands up in Bhuj for the new hospital he built in Jaipur. They meet and the rest is for the readers to find out.

How has the response of readers been to your latest book?
I have mostly heard positive reviews of the book. People have appreciated the language and the mix of romance and suspense.

Who is your favourite character in the book and why?
Apart from the protagonists, I quite like Dr. Bimal Sen. His wisdom is based on the maxims of my childhood. I did a lot of research and rewrote his parts several times before finalizing it. His voice is like the echo of our inner spirit.

Can you tell us more about your writing style, like how you approach the premise of the story or the writing methods that you employ?
I generally plan the ending of an article/ short story/ novel, before plotting the other parts. This is just the beginning for me, so I do not have any particular methods that I follow but prefer to just go with the flow of my imagination.

The author blurb mentions that you are, in many ways, a mascot of national integration. This is the new and growing reality in India due to people from different regions and cultures marrying each other more frequently. What do you think are the benefits of this phenomenon of multicultural marriages?
I come from a family that has been for the past two generations open to multicultural marriages. My father’s siblings have also married people from other castes and creed. The biggest benefit I feel is the acceptance of the differences in each other’s cultures, and intuitively living in an amalgam of all of them. For example, our food at home is a mix of Bengali and Gujarati cooking. Since my mother is eggetarian, my father decided to keep the kitchen eggetarian, preferring to order in home-cooked fish/ chicken a couple of times in the week. After my marriage, I learnt to cook a few Telugu dishes, while my husband started sharing my kind of meals. Apart from food, there are many other aspects that one gets attuned to and incorporates in one’s lifestyle. Multicultural marriages broaden one’s horizons and heighten the experiences of life.

You also have the uncanny ability to switch between six different languages in the course of a conversation. What do you think are the advantages of multilingualism for authors and how does it reflect in their writings?
Not for this book, but for my next one, I believe it will be very helpful. If one speaks the language fairly well, one can think in that language, which makes it far easier to incorporate it in the story. The natural feel of a language is often lost if we try to do a direct translation from one language to the other. Therefore, multilingualism is an asset if one’s story has characters from different parts of India (or the world).

What are your favourite books? Can you share with our esteemed readers about the genres that you like and your favourite authors?
I read purely for enjoyment and relaxation. My favourite genre is romance, spiced up with suspense. I loved Nicholas Sparks, Stephanie Laurens, Judith Mcnaught, but my all time favourite is Georgette Heyer.

What are your other interests apart from writing?
I have lots of hobbies. I play the keyboard/ piano, paint, embroider as well as bake. I currently run a small home business, taking in orders for Indian desserts.

Are there any new literary projects that you’re currently working on?
I am currently planning and plotting my next novel.

There are many new writers out there who are aspiring to get their work published. What would you say to them?
As any other field or profession, writing has its own set of difficulties. It is very important to focus on developing your skills, writing regularly and pursuing your goals. One must be patient and very persevering.

Can you share with our readers a motivational quote that keeps you going?
I do not have any favourite motivational quote. But this one rings true to my heart and personality- “Be true to oneself, for a clear conscience is the perfect companion for life”.