The author is out with the sequel of his Game World trilogy - 'The Manticore's Secret'
The author is out with the sequel of his Game World trilogy - 'The Manticore's Secret'
When a fellow drops out of IIM-A and locks himself up in his room, the minimum to be expected are a few aunties going 'Tch, tch, tch'. Taking it all in his stride, Delhi boy Samit Basu took a few drags of whatever the myth masters of the 'days of yore' were smokin' and created a mythology of his own with his first book, 'The Simoqin Prophecies'.
Combining world myths, his own brand of random humour and an acidic imagination, the book was a ride through characters with miasmas that put the Mahabharata and Bollywood villains to shame. Now he's out with the second part of this Game World trilogy, 'The Manticore's Secret', and is gratefully blushing at the previews.
"It's less referential than the first," says Samit of the book that's out this week, with a reading session planned in January. "You have to look harder for overlaps and it's a lot darker." Fed liberally on a childhood of books with no restrictions, it's not the biggest revelation when he says he always felt he had to write a book. The only question was, "What do I write about?"
Which eventually led to one month at IIM, which he left 'cause he had figured out the ending to 'Simoqin'. "I couldn't see myself there. The first question once I was introduced to my roommates was 'What's your dream company?'"
He sheepishly admits the terrible step of CAT and the consequent spate of interviews ("not so difficult, it's just about acting and pretending to know what the group discussions were about") was the result of, "Well, everybody around me was doing it, so"
Joy for us readers and raspberries for the lot of 'company dreamers'.
'Simoqin' exhibited a rare talent to hold a story through arbitrary digressions and despite its many allusions to Indian myths and literature, is an engrossing read for even the myth uninitiated. We have no reason to expect any less of 'Manticore'.
Having spent his academic years discovering what he didn't want to do, he's spending his 'career' becoming comic literate and of course, finishing off the trilogy.
Indian superheroes and a children's anthology are floating around in his head and while he tries to get himself to finish off his 600-page end to the trilogy, he's quietly gloating about the fact that 'Simoqin' has been translated into German, Spanish and Swedish and secretly leafing through the latter and reading aloud. But only when he's truly bored.
s_rituparna@dnaindia.net
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}