An exciting world of teenage memories

BANGALORE: She is all of 17 and she already has a book to her credit. Tiger by the Tale, Lakshmi Prathivadi’s debut novel is set in 1935 British India and follows the life of Ram Sarvarkar, a peppy teenager with a loving family, whose lives are taken over by poverty and political fervour in pre-independence India. At the launch of her novel at Reliance TimeOut, City Express talks to the young author who transports her readers to 1936 British India as swiftly and efficiently as she takes a listener to an exciting world of teenage memories.So age is never a barrier for good writing? Age is not a barrier for writing.I’ve been writing since fourth grade. And my family has supported me ever since.But what about experience? Doesn’t that count? That’s a trick question! Yes, experience does count. But if you don’t start somewhere, you won’t get that experience.This book is that starting point for me.So, what kind of research did a 17-year-old have to do to capture 1936 British India? A lot. What I did was read a lot of autobiographies, like the autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru and the likes. I also read quite a lot of textbooks about Indian history. Apart from that, I watched movies that captures the era. The Legend of Bhagat Singh is one of the movies I watched.But if you read my book, you will notice that I’ve not mentioned real life events.The book has to do more with the emotions of the characters and the perceptions of the author.The story is supposed to be inspired by your childhood experience in India, before you moved to the US when you were eight. But the book is set in a completely different era. So what experience are you talking about? By childhood experiences, I mean the relationships and family structure that I observed – the brother-sister relationship, the fatherdaughter relationship and so on. My relationship with my family made me imbibe the Indian values.You are planning to do Biochemistry major and a Creative Writing minor at Stanford University.So what career at you looking at? I want to do both. I want a research career as well as a career in writing. Biochemistry is also my passion.Are you the kind that grew up reading Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and Mills and Boon? Or is it more serious works that occupy your bookshelf? Yes, I grew up reading Nancy Drew and Enid Blyton. I am a big fan of Harry Potter books too. I read just about everything now. My favourite author would be J K Rowling.I am inspired by her detailed writing. And the ease with which she writes dialogues is something I would like to gain. Among Indian writers, I like Chetan Bhagat. His books are easy reads and that’s how book should be.Since you are planning to write more books in the future, what would you want to write. ‘Easy reads’ or books that will gain appreciation from the critics? I think I’ll write both. I want to have an opportunity to reach out to a lot of readers.I also want them to be read by critics.So what genres would you like to experiment with? I would like to experiment with Indian fiction. Fantasies also interest me. It’s a hard genre in fiction, but I would love to write fantasies.Are you working on any book now? I have written a story. But I’m not sure whether I should get it published. Lets’ see.