The Making of the book IN THEIR SHOES

The Making of the book...

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Since childhood, I have been fascinated by trying to visualize what others keep thinking. Whenever I travel, I look at people around and try to visualize as to what they must be thinking. Do you remember the essay questions in school exams? Out of 4 topics for essay question, there used to be at least one topic on Autobiography of XYZ (xyz could be anything – Rs. 5 note, a donkey, a horse, a pen, etc.) I always used to attempt the Autobiography questions. I somehow had a knack of thinking from others’ angles. After finalizing the topic – In Their Shoes, I started thinking about the characters on which I would write the book. This is how I came up with the characters…:

1) Bindiya – A Drummer’s Daughter: In February 2009, I attended a wedding of a cousin of mine fom Gujurat. In that wedding was a drummer who was playing drums on the arrival of the groom’s family. Along with the drummer was his daughter in a red coloured frock. She kept observing my sister who dressed as beautifully as a fairy; She kept on looking at the stage where the rituals were being carried out; She kept looking at the decoration all around, the guests dressed in their best, etc… All this while, I was observing her. Then I thought, why not try to visualize what she must be thinking about the whole wedding and that is how I came up with the concept of this book and the first character of this book.

2) A 24 year Old Specially abled Girl: This character was more like a creative challenge for me. There was no other basis of selecting this character.

3) A Heart-Broken Lover Boy: A few months ago, one of my very good friends got dumped by his girlfriend. He was in a state of depression for at least a month or so. Then, I thought- why not try to visualise the life of a heart-broken lover boy! Then I thought of a story for the character - a heart-broken lover boy!

4) 8th std kid – Vineet: In the Diwali of 2009, Minal - one of my friends from office- wanted me to write an essay on DIWALI. That essay was supposed to be written by her 5 year-old daughter-Shruti. Minal said to me “Dipen, Shruti ko school mein bola hai ki ‘Diwali’ pe 10 lines ka essay likho. Tu likh ke de” My initial reaction was – would I be able to think from a 5 year-old school kid’s angle? But then I tried that and I think I did a good job in writing the essay on ‘Diwali’ by being in the shoes of a 5 yr-old school kid. That is when I thought – hey, why not have a naughty school kid as one of characters for my book! So, I started writing on an 8th std. kid-Vineet! To tell you the truth, 8th std kid – Vineet is a kind of a character that I would like to be if God gives me a chance to visit my childhood again! The way he behaves in front of Rhea-his crush, the love-letter that he writes, the way he enjoys his life in school, the way he plays pranks on his friends and teachers…all that is what I would like to do if I get a chance to rewind my life!

5) A Saadhu Baba: Recently I had written a blog called as “life is…” This blog was kind of philosophical. The content in that blog was kind of what a Saadhu Baba would say in one of his sermons! So, I thought – why not have a Saadhu Baba as a character in the book! I found this topic the toughest to write on. The last 3 pages of this character are on different interpretations of life. I hope you liked those different perspectives on life.

6) A Struggling Writer: Around 30 % of this character has reflection of my life in it. I have struggled a lot to see my book shape up in the way it is now. I had a strong self-belief that I would succeed in what I have tried to venture. I mean, an electrical engineer writing a book was not very easy for all my near and dear ones to digest! Writing blogs was OK, but they had never thought that I could write a book. I am sure that every person who wants some motivation or push to achieve his/her goals should read this chapter.

7) A Broke 77 Year Old Man Living In a 140 Sqft Hut: I clearly remember the date – 17 December 1998. There was a short-story competition in my junior college – Birla College. I was in 11th std then. I had written a story called as “Help Us”. I had tried to show the life of old parents who love their son but then in their old age, they are thrown out of the house and life by their one and only son.  So the character – a broke 77 yr old man living in a 140 sqft hut- is an enhanced version of the story written 16 years ago!

8) Gatekeeper of Ashabai old age home: After writing a chapter on 77 yr old man, I thought – lemme try to visualize how life in an old age home would be! This story teaches you many things related to relations, life, etc…

9) A Regular Commuter Of A Local Train In Mumbai:  My routine consists of:

1) waking up at 8.00 AM and getting ready for office.

2) leaving home at 9.20 to catch the 9.55 local from platform 1 A.

3) struggling for a rikshaw to reach Kalyan station at 9.35 or 9.40 (so that i get a window seat as soon as the train reaches the station 10 minutes before its departure time)

4) going to Dadar and then catching a Malad fast local, getting down at Goregaon and reaching office at 12.10 PM!

The life of an ordinary Mumbaikar is the same as what has been mentioned above. Just prepone the hours by 2 or 3 or 4 or 5..! In one day, 75 lakh Mumbaikars use railways as their means of transport (which is like saying that one-third of the population of Australia uses Mumbai railways as their means of transport). I am just one of them. So, the character - a regular commuter of a local train in Mumbai- is what will give you a glimpse of the life of an average Mumbai railway commuter!

10) A Tantrik: Have you ever travelled in local trains in Mumbai or been to a public toilet in Mumbai? If yes, then I am sure you must have seen advertisements of tantriks! These tantriks claim to solve your problems in just 7 hours! And that too with guarantee card! If you haven’t been to Mumbai, then make sure that you visit Mumbai just to see those ads! The numbers of ads that they give in trains made me feel that there must be demand of such tantriks, which in short means that there are people who are gullible enough to believe such thugs!  So, I thought of having a ‘tantrik’ as one of the characters of my book!

11) An Uneducated Corrupt Politician: I have the same feeling towards uneducated corrupt politicians as does any educated Indian. Educated people keep on cursing the uneducated corrupt politicians and keep blaming the system for its inefficiency! So, I thought – let me try to think from an uneducated corrupt politician’s angle and then see how cunning can such a character be!

12) A Visually Challenged Person:  The other day when I was travelling in train, one visually challenged old man was selling key-chains. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I kept thinking as to how he must be spending his whole day without vision and money. I mean, even after getting a good salary, I do crib at times! But this old man had nothing except a liability of selling the assigned number of key-chains! That is when I thought of having “A Visually challenged person” as one of the characters of my book.

13) A Bar Girl: Life of a bar girl has intrigued me since a long time. I had even thought of writing a short story on a bar girl. This book happened at the right time and I have tried my best to show the life of a bar girl.