Dropping out from college is never appreciated in our country, rather , such guys need to face a lot of trouble wherever they go. But author Shomprakash Sinha Roy, has proven it all wrong. When you do have a passion for something, nothing can stop you!!! Going out of the trend, today, he is not only an author of bestsellers but is also on the Forbes Top 100 celebrity author's list in India. Here's Shomprakash in an interview with me -
Q. First of all,Sir, how does it
feel to be nominated to the Forbes Top 100 celebrity author’s listin India?
A- To say the very least – I was as surprised as anyone else,
including my mother. The revelation came from another reader one evening, and I
daresay it induced more than a few smiles.
Q. Sir, We would like to know
how Shomprakash Sinha Roy ventured into the world of literature. Tell us from
the beginning.
A- My interest in literature began with the books that my
parents used to gift me as rewards for everything. I used to get a ton of books
every summer, every winter break and so on. And then somewhere in my early
teens, Harry Potter happened. I was hooked, and I was hungry for more. My dad’s
closet opened up to me and I found books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I think it
was precisely around that time when I began studying the world of authors. I
was attracted to it like a bug. By the time I turned seventeen, I had started
harboring dreams of being a published author, but I was a lazy bum. It took me
another five years to get my act straight and write on schedule. Finally,
around the age of 22 when I thought most of my life’s troubles were over (I was
wrong) I got a call from Durjoy Datta, who said he wanted to publish my
manuscript with Grapevine India. I haven’t looked back ever since.
Q. Four years have passed since you joined Dell, How is the
experience and how is it contributing to your writing world?
A- The best influence that Dell has bestowed me with is the idea
of living my life on a preset schedule. As a kid, I used to detest that idea
and somewhere in my college days, I became very erratic about attending classes
and what-not. I was a regular shirker from anything normal. Dell changed that-
the job made me acknowledge and respect the idea of waking up on time and
keeping myself active during the day. Apart from that, I’ve met so many
wonderful people that I cannot possibly recall everyone on this page. Everyone
at work has a unique characteristic, and I think everyone that I’ve known so
far has contributed in some way or the other, towards shaping up the characters
in my books. For example, one of the books that I had written under the name of
Siddharth Oberoi (Backbenchers 3) was based on a trip that I took with a few
colleagues, to Masinagudi.
Q.Tell us about your life as a
student? How were you, the people around, the teachers?
A- During pre-school, primary school and secondary school, I was
generally a good student. I remember distinctive certificates, rank trophies-
lots of them. I was the quintessential mama’s boy. And then towards the onset
of my Eleventh grade, something ticked off and I wasn’t at the top of my class
any more. My teachers were kind and some of them kept pushing me to do the
right thing- to take up a course in literature. But I was probably too blind to
see it back then. My school is something that I’ll always be proud of – Till
date, I think it’s the only place that taught me anything academically
worthwhile. Delhi Public School Durg
still retains a part of my soul.
Q. What made you drop out from
the Engineering Course? I guess that was the turning point of your life.
A- I think the moment where I knew I had to make a choice
between other people’s choices about my life & my own- was the turning
point. Yes, that happened in college. In hindsight, It has been four years and
I think I’m at peace with the subject right now. My college principal is
probably living his own life the way he wanted to, and I’m living mine. I can’t
complain about the way things turned out, because I used to follow-up on all my
potentially regretful choices at once. I don’t anymore. The best way to answer ‘why’ is – I wasn’t
cut out for the course. I wasn’t a great coder, I didn’t see myself as a software
developer, and I probably never will. Even here at Dell, I work with Social
Media Strategy and Graphic Design, things which have a certain creative appeal
to them. It just took me a bit of time back in the day, to realize what I
wanted to do was worth more than what I wanted people to think of me.
Q. What was your first reaction
on learning “The Pink Smoke” is on the way to get published?
A- I was as excited as anyone would be. But I still think the
best part was Durjoy calling me at 7 AM to say that he had finished reading the
manuscript in one night and that he wanted to sign me on.
Q. Tell us about the journey
with your three novels till now? The way they started? The way they went?
A- Mostly, It has been a learning experience. I think as a new
author in the market, you can never stop learning. It’s either the way a book
connects to a set of people, or the way it is marketed to a target group- but
there’s no way out of the learn-by-experience game. I think I’ve been lucky, to
not have been blessed with instant hits, because I had a lot of time to
understand what works and what doesn’t. Sachin Garg’s guidance has been
extremely helpful. It started with one
novel, and then Sachin kept pitching ideas about what I should do next. If all
works well, he might just be responsible for the way my entire life turns out!
Q. “Three Days in a week”, it’s
a best selling short story from Cross Cultural Anthology: ‘The traversal of
lines’, tell us about your own experience with it?
A- I can’t take too much credit for its publication, really. A
young gentleman from Cardiff University
called Robin Lord, underwent an internship with Penguin Books UK, and as a part
of his project he visited Bangalore, India to find Indian Authors whose work
could be featured in an India-UK anthology. I had just started working at Dell
back then, and I used to be a lot more regular on my blog. He liked a post from
the blog and wanted me to turn it into an entire story for their book, and it
panned out well. For me, it was exciting because that’s the first time I saw my
name on print. I think I bought all the first-edition copies that they sold in
Bangalore to give away to friends J
Q.You are the lead vocalist of
Band Pedestrians?Another creative area. Tell us more about it?
A- Pedestriansis
definitely not my original idea. A bright man called Amit Das started the band
in 2009, and I was invited to join them in 2012. It’s a relaxing experience to
be in a band because singing is something else that I’ve been interested in and
the kind of music which appealed to me during my college days, is exactly what
the band plays. Any author requires his/her fair share of detached music and my
band takes care of that side of my requirements.
Q. You had started with your own
blog? Tell us more about the relationship between blogging and you?
A- My blog, I suspect is very angry with me these days because
I’ve hardly posted anything substantial in the last two years. I started
blogging when I was in Class 5, with BlogSpot. I’m not going to give you the
URL because it’s too embarrassing and too childish, but I can tell you that the
old blog still exists online. When I moved to Bangalore in 2008, I took
blogging a little more seriously and started with a project called Lifesourcing which serves as a medium
for self-expression. The blog has helped me in a lot of things, not all of
which can be shared in this interview JBut yeah, I don’t think
I can ever stop blogging. It gives me an uncontrolled platform to speak up
about things that I feel are necessary. It’s like having another voice.
Q. What is the basic requirement
to start writing a novel?
A- To start with, anyone who attempts to write anything beyond a
thousand words should possess an excellent sense of grammar. That, I will
maintain- is the primary prerequisite. Next up, you need a storyboard. You must begin with the end of the novel right
in front of your eyes- this will ensure that your story doesn’t wander around
the bush too much. Also, you need to develop a strict writing schedule.
Writing, like any other profession, requires due diligence and attention to
detail. To inculcate storytelling capabilities, one should start by reading the
works of his/her genre from a previous era. For example, if someone wishes to
write in the Young Adult Genre today, the best book to read would be ‘The
Catcher in the Rye’.
Q. What makes most of the Engineers
turn writers these days?? We have some huge examples, you are no different.
A- I’m not really an Engineer – I finally graduated with a
degree in Marketing & Media Management, so I cannot comment on why Engineering graduates turn towards writing. But I have a vague idea about why
students of a specific routine do not stick to it. If you think about it, it’s
not very different from Mechanical Engineers who work in Software firms. At the
end of the day, in an ideal world everyone should be able to study what they’re
interested in. I should have studied literature. I couldn’t, because of a ton
of reasons. Back then, it was parental expectations – the false gleam of an
engineering degree. I think educational authorities can be blamed peacefully
about this matter. The amount of money that’s spent in advertising engineering
colleges in this country is ridiculously high. However, there’s no PR agenda
behind excellent literary institutions, like JamiaMiliaIslamia or JNU or FTII
Pune. The day we start educating our children about the feasibility of
alternate careers, I think we can solve this weird engineers-to-writers
paradox.
Q. Where do you think a guy with
interest in literature stands in our country?
A- That’s a very interesting question. We’re living outside the
era of library-fever, and there’s no visible outcome for enthusiasts apart from
professions like commercial paperback fiction writing, or scriptwriting.
However, there are a few groups who seem to have figured out an interesting
avenue, which is profitable too. People like Arunabh Kumar, Biswapati Sarkar,
etc- excellent writers, who also happen to be IITians, have created a YouTube
channel which employs writers with a really good sense of humor, to put
together videos which can cater to a predominantly intelligent population.
Their latest show “Permanent Roommates” was an excellent example of what good
writers can achieve with a little bit of popular opinion thrown in.
Q. If Shomprakash Sinha Roy was
not what he is today, what would he have been?
A- My best guess is, I would’ve joined an active political
domain. I might still do that sometime in the future J
Q. What’s the role of family,
your parents in your career? You had a total change of career, most of the
conventional families do not support that.
A- The one thing that I’ve successfully figured out about family
ties is that they’re stronger than what society makes them out to be. When I
dropped out of my engineering college course, I was genuinely scared of how my
family would react. My father showed a surprising amount of resilience towards
what others had to say and actually sat down & listened to me and I think
that has been my biggest source of support. My father stands by me in the decisions
that I take, and I don’t think it’s due to any misled sense of being modern. He
was born in 1950, and is older than most of my friends’ parents. But he loves
me. And anybody who loves you, is bound to understand your side of the story. I
feel it’s the same thing about anything, not just writing. If what you believe
in, is true- then convincing your parents about it won’t be impossible. Rather,
they’ll be the first people to understand and accept it, provided you’re brave
enough to confront them with that information.
Q. What according
to Shomprakash Sinha Roy should the country be like?
A- Mine is a rather audacious idea, I’m afraid. I’m a big believer in the pre-civilization days. I don’t fancy the concept of a civilized society much. In that sense, I do not detest basic rules. But the whole idea behind religious, linguistic and cultural divisions, that bothers me. Right now we’re living in a dormant phase where engineers, doctors, investment bankers and lawyers are considered better & more stable than actors, writers, singers and painters. Who made up those rules? We did. We as a collective society have developed notions about people, their habits and how they should be treated. Why is it, that the guy who designs movie posters for a living should have any less respect than a guy who prints railway tickets behind the counter? In fact, we have stopped looking at the future completely. To think about it, all the so-called regular government jobs, like Railway Ticketing, Banking, Engineering Database Management, will one day be automated. Creating jobs in that sector and pushing students in that direction is a ridiculous plight, because at some point of time, those jobs will become obsolete. A robot will do that exact same thing- that’s how we’re currently training our technology. But you will still need painters to paint, writers to write and actors to act. If my country realizes that, and the fact that arranged marriages are nothing but a scam that a bunch of high minded pranksters pulled on us before the birth of Christ- maybe we can push towards a better future.
A- Mine is a rather audacious idea, I’m afraid. I’m a big believer in the pre-civilization days. I don’t fancy the concept of a civilized society much. In that sense, I do not detest basic rules. But the whole idea behind religious, linguistic and cultural divisions, that bothers me. Right now we’re living in a dormant phase where engineers, doctors, investment bankers and lawyers are considered better & more stable than actors, writers, singers and painters. Who made up those rules? We did. We as a collective society have developed notions about people, their habits and how they should be treated. Why is it, that the guy who designs movie posters for a living should have any less respect than a guy who prints railway tickets behind the counter? In fact, we have stopped looking at the future completely. To think about it, all the so-called regular government jobs, like Railway Ticketing, Banking, Engineering Database Management, will one day be automated. Creating jobs in that sector and pushing students in that direction is a ridiculous plight, because at some point of time, those jobs will become obsolete. A robot will do that exact same thing- that’s how we’re currently training our technology. But you will still need painters to paint, writers to write and actors to act. If my country realizes that, and the fact that arranged marriages are nothing but a scam that a bunch of high minded pranksters pulled on us before the birth of Christ- maybe we can push towards a better future.
Q. What is the
most important factor one should have in his/her personality? If I ask you,
what kind of people attract you the most, what would your answer be?
A- Honest people. People who can call a bird by
its right name, will rise above everyone else. And this includes conversations
with your parents too. That’s the first step towards building a personality. If
you think something is right/wrong, speak up to them. Then speak to people
around you, your friends, your relatives. Then comes the rest of the world. Do
not think of the world as a buffet, nothing will ever be laid out. Always
believe in the fact that you need to get out and get things for yourself. Never
depend on too many people at the same time. Believe in Murphy’s law. Above
everything else, remember Rule#1 – Never be afraid of the truth.
Q. You being an
icon for us, tell us how can we build up a good career?
A – As stated earlier, make a list of everything
that excites you in life. Is it colors? Is it music? Is it numbers? Data? Try
and figure out how you can contribute to that segment in a unique way. Swami
Vivekananda once remarked that we need to be something more than trees if we
intend to rule the planet. We can’t just live, eat, sleep and die. It is your
moral responsibility to do something for which you will be remembered. So when
you’re trying to choose a career, keep that as your target. Don’t take up Engineering
just because you want a job. Aim to be someone as significant as Sir M
Visvesvaraiah or Sabeer Bhatia. If you go for your MBBS, aim to be Dr Bidhan
Chandra Roy. It’s the same for every subject. And once you get into a job,
connect with your organization as if it is your family. Don’t just chase
numbers blindly – understand why a certain metric is important for the entire
firm and then push it with all your heart.
Q. Tell us about
your achievements – NaNoWriMo, achieving Amul Shakti Vidyashree Award at the
age of 16, being chosen as a Young Achiever by Whistling Woods Internationals.
So much at so less age?
A- We can’t possibly evaluate achievements with
the age at which we accomplish them. I’m pretty sure that Shah Rukh Khan, about
to enter his fifties, is younger at heart than me or many of my peers. That’s the dream – to remain eternally young
at heart and to keep striving for the next goal. Appreciation from people and
recognition- they’re essentially byproducts. And yes, it’s okay to celebrate an
achievement just as long as it doesn’t start affecting your work ethic.
Lastly please give a one word or sentence which
describe the words given below according to you-
1. Engineering – If
you’re into it body, mind & soul – then it’s an experience. Otherwise, it’s
just a degree which won’t help you at all.
2. Relationships –
Surprisingly, they’re not too different from an Engineering degree. If you
invest emotionally into a relationship, considering every aspect of how much
you’re affecting the other person, you’ll do good. Otherwise, it’ll be pitfall
after pitfall. Most of all, never lose track of who you are, in the process.
3. Life - An entirely big subject for me to comment on,
I’m simply too inexperienced at this stage J
4. Politics – An extremely
necessary aspect of grooming today’s youth, and so far highly underrated in
everyone’s career trajectory. We need new blood.
5. Bollywood – Relaxation J
6. Marketing – Religion J
