Last year around this
time, a very strange thing had happened to me which picked me up from where I
was and put me on another zone altogether.
As you may know,
throughout 2016 we were invited for quite a few festivals as well as privately
arranged screenings of ELIXIR across the country, after we were back from the
Cannes and the film won a few big international and national awards. It was at
the end of one such screenings, that it had happened. As we stood there in the
auditorium after the film got over for audience QnA, customarily answering
and thanking them for coming, a gentleman came forward, shook my hand, handed
me a visiting card, and said if I'd like to write ELIXIR as a novel.
"Would you like to bring out a novel?" Was it a practical joke
of some sort? I wasn't sure as yet. "But i don't even have a
manuscript!" I was perplexed. "But this story belongs to a
book." This man said. Turns out that he was the founder of a publishing
house himself!
I signed the book
contract last year around this time. I started the manuscript, the first word,
the first line, pinching myself all the way through it. And here, now, well...
This is the book cover
art. Do let me know what you think... Please?
The book has hit the
market next week, and is now available on Amazon and across bookstores in
India.
Amazon link –
It will go on to have
a multi-city launch. It was first launched at the Valley of Words International
Literature and Arts at Dehradun by Anita Agnohotri.
The launch event for
Delhi NCR is in Gurgaon on 2nd December (Saturday) evening, at National Media
Center auditorium.
This will be followed
by other cities like Kolkata and Bangalore, in January and onwards. If
you are in Delhi NCR, please block your calendar. For I wrote it with all
my heart and head, and now I need all the love and luck...
