In a conversation with Amrita Anand

Amrita Anand Nayak, an IT professional working with BMCSoftware,Pune, has lived in many parts of India, courtesy, her father’s government job. She completed her education in Delhi and moved to Pune for her first job with Infosys in 2003. 

Besides story-telling, she enjoys anchoring, dramatics, sketching and like most of the writers, she is an avid reader and book-lover.

“Polka Dots, Pony Tails and Purple Pouts” is her first book.

In a conversation with Alka Shrivastava, she shares about her book, life and experience in literary field.

Congratulations Amrita for your debut release “Polka Dots, Pony tails and purple pouts”. How are you feelings?

Thanks a lot, Alka. I always dreamed to be a serious author and this book marks the beginning of realization of that dream. I feel so blessed and contented right now … and not to forget, highly motivated.

Tell us storyline briefly for our readers. 

The book is a tale of three froomies (friends-cum-roomies), Leena, Tia and Jasmine, who share an apartment and along with the apartment, they share many wonderful moments of laughter, tears, adventures, heartaches etc. besides sheer gossip! There are many more characters – boyfriends, parents, friends, relatives, colleagues, acquaintances et al who spice up the story.  The story travels from Pune to Japan, from USA to a remote village in Haryana, from Mumbai to Kerela and the list goes on. From Fashion shows to Khaap Panchayat, from casual affair to true love, from Church choir to discotheques – the reader is taken on a whirlwind tour, a tour as much of emotions as of places. Among the protagonists, while Leena and Jasmine’s present is greatly affected by their past, Tia always weighs her actions keeping in mind the future she desires. It’s to be seen, whether they manage to break free of their inhibitions and listen to their hearts when it comes to finally shaping their lives. All along the way, they stand by each other dutifully and face the challenges of life with style and chutzpah. Leena, Tia and Jasmine are three modern-day girls hailing from three different cultural divisions of India whose lives are joined by one common thread - the fact that they are room-mates and best friends for life.

How such a symbolic and trendy name clicked to you? 

When I was framing the plot and shaping up the main characters, I wanted the name of the novel to depict the three main protagonists, their characters, their personalities. That’s what got me thinking about this title. While Tia is a true-blue fashionista, who wears a very trendy and stylish polka-dotted dress on her first date, Leena is more of a ‘careless beauty’. She almost invariably ties her hair in ponytail and looks like a school girl. Jasmine is a colorful character who doesn’t think twice before getting into affairs or for that matter ending them. She doesn’t mind going all out to seduce men if she has to and loves to pout and purr and mostly she wears lipsticks and lip-gloss of different shades of purple. So, this is how the title represents different aspects of their personalities. “Polka Dots” represents Tia, “Ponytails” represents Leena and “Purple Pouts” represents Jasmine. Plus, I love alliterations. They just decorate the language and make it fun to read and repeat!

The story moves around three girls living together and dealing with thick and thin of their life. Is the story is totally fictitious or somewhat extracted from your own surroundings?

You’ve caught me there! Yes, your guess is right. The story is not totally fictitious and it is inspired by the kind of life I lived with my froomies, before I got married. It was such a fun-filled and exciting phase of life! I had the good fortune of closely living with so many different and amazing girls that I knew - I had to write on this topic one day. Of course, the situations, twists and turns etc. are fictitious. But the backdrop is extracted from real life. And you know, I am getting this review from many girls who cohabit with other girls for work or for studies, that they can identify with the story a great deal. You can say it’s a fair example of ‘Art Imitates Life’ phenomenon.

In your opinion who handles best with situations, a working man or woman?

I don’t think we can generalize. When situations demand, a person has to rise up to the occasion and prove her or his mettle. And that is what we call CHARACTER.I think it is independent of gender. But having said that, I think when it comes to multi-tasking and donning many caps at once, I think women have an upper hand. The way a woman runs the house, manages the spouse and kids and takes care of their multitude demands – from serving tasty and healthy food to making them eat, from Parent-Teacher Meetings to science projects and what not, is simply amazing! A woman can be a CEO of a conglomerate and do acquisitions and negotiations without batting an eyelid and the same woman can cry softly on seeing her kid perform on stage for the first time. So, I’d say that though both the genders handle situations as per their individual personalities, for me it’s more interesting and awe-inspiring to see women tackle the difficulties and emerge as winners.

How do you maintain balance in work life and family responsibilities?

I try try and try. Sometimes I succeed and feel all calm and contented. Sometimes I fail and feel like a loser. And then I try again. Seriously, work-life balance is easier said than achieved!

An IT Professional’s life can be pretty demanding. A relationship or a marriage is demanding. Kids are demanding. Society is demanding and your personal aspirations, if you choose to pay heed to them, can be quite demanding too. So, achieving that perfect balance is like a tightrope walk. So, what I do is – I prioritize and I compartmentalize. When I am at work, I don’t think about the house (unless it is on fire). When I am at home, I keep work aside (unless there is some really important teleconference or presentations for clients from different time zones). Sometimes, when different tasks are vying for my attention, I give the topmost priority to what is really important. E.g. if there is laundry to be done and manuscript proofreading to be done and dispatched in two days, then I ‘d politely ask the laundry basket to wait and go on with the proofreading. Of course, my husband helps me a lot and whenever my parents or legal parents (patents-in-LAW) are around, they extend a helping hand! And last but not the least, I employ maids! They say – Behind a successful man, there  is a woman. Behind a successful woman, there is maid!

As being debutant, did you find it difficult to deal with publishers?

Getting one’s book published needs patience, perseverance and well, luck! When I sent my book proposal (a proposal typically comprises the synopsis, chapter outline and two-to-three sample chapters) to the leading Indian Publishers, I was pleasantly shocked to see that two out of three responded positively and asked me to send the complete manuscript ASAP. At that time I had just completed three chapters out of twenty. My maternity leave was over and I had to join back at work. So, completing the book ‘ASAP’ was going to be tough. But thanks to the interest shown by those publishers, I was highly charged-up and motivated to complete my novel as soon as I could. Besides, being an IT professional, I am used to working with deadlines.  Once I finished my manuscript and sent it across to the publishers, I did not hear back from them for months! I did not know what to do! But I did not lose hope. I contacted a few more publishers and fortunately for me, one of them was ‘General Press’ who believed in encouraging new talents. They took it forward and published it. Finally, the patience and hard work paid off!

How much helpful you found online marketing in promotions?

These days, online marketing is the life and blood of book promotions. For books like mine, which are youth centric, the biggest market segment is YOUTH and that segment is a heavy user of social media and  modern-day youth empowers itself to a great extent by the knowledge gained over the internet. So, reaching out to them means making your presence felt online.  Every writer needs to have the weapon of online promotions in her or his armory.

Tell us about your inspirations in literature. What do you like- poetry or prose?

I love English language and I like reading anything under the sun. But if I have to pick a favorite, I’d choose prose over poetry. It’s more engaging for me.  As a young girl, I had read most of the famous classics. Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens – they were my heroes. When I grew up a bit, I read lots of Agatha Christie thrillers and it was my ambition to become ‘Agatha Christie’ one day! But my favorite contemporary writer is Jhumpa Lahiri and I just love her style. I think Khalid Hosseini is a great writer too and Cecelia Ahern’s writing emanates warmth and love. Amish is wonderful Chetan Bhagat has a great mass appeal. So, basically, I have drawn inspiration from a lot of writers, when it comes to literature. The list of writers that I admire is endless.

What do you like to do in leisure?

I read books, I write. I play with my two-year old, dabble in cooking, chat with my husband, socialize with friends, read tech blogs, shop, watch TV…Oh God! So much to do, so little time!

How much time did you take to complete a book? Did you find difficult art of writing? 

The only easy thing about getting my book published was writing, trust me. The tough part was, getting the proposal selected, then getting the manuscript selected, waiting and not giving up, contacting publishers, meeting deadlines for manuscript submissions, proofreading etc. and finally, promoting the book. You see, writing comes naturally to me. I just love it. I think I can write even in my sleep. So, no, I did not find writing challenging. Yes, carving out time for it was challenging of course, because, at that time, I was still coming to terms with the new stage of my life - motherhood. To answer your other question, well, it took me four to five months to complete the book.

What kind of support you are getting from family and friends?

I would never have been able to finish the book without the support of my (both set of) parents, friends and my husband. They all helped me take out time from my schedule for writing, and cheered me on throughout. My best friend Mansi (who lives in Delhi) would pester me with calls and e-mails asking about the progress on the book, and would constantly remind me of my deadline. My husband’s belief in me just filled me up with energy and zeal. My in-laws would encourage me and my parents would help me focus and think clearly. My siblings were always there for round the clock support and thanks to these people, I stayed motivated and was able to complete the book in a short span of time.

Do you want to reciprocate any message our readers?

My message to your readers is - 

If you have a dream, go for it. Pursue your hobby, work towards your dream. If you succeed, it’ll be an amazing and truly rewarding feeling. If you fail, you’ll at least have the satisfaction that you tried. And what is failure anyway? Another step towards success! Just keep trying and never say die. You owe it to your dreams. And well, read my book, and let me know your comments! 

Thank you so much Amrita for all the sharing! We wish you bright future ahead.

Thank you!