Author Nanda Pavaday is Mauritius based writer and columnist. He writes in French and English. His first book "Tales of Simpler Times" is a story about nostalgia, times gone by ,and the good old vibes of childhood, love, thought, humour. His words are a joy. In an email interview, he speaks about writing to RASA AUR DRAMA TIMES.
Rasa Aur Drama: Is there a good time to write a story?
Nanda Pavaday: I first write the story in my head. I don't start until I am sure how I am going to start, how it ends, and what are some of the key elements in the story. Writing is like swimming. I need to know where to jump into the water, how to stay afloat, and where I need to be going.
Rasa Aur Drama: How do you add conversations to a story ?
Nanda Pavaday: My book includes conversations that I believe add depth to the stories. I like to think in terms of characters. Therefore, at moments, I include conversations that will not only convey information but give some hints about the person's character. I avoid having lengthy conversations if it does not move the plot.
Rasa Aur Drama: Can you tell us how to get inspiration for stories?
Nanda Pavaday: A story is above all a vehicle to convey a message. When you have something you really want to express, usually the ideas start taking shape in your head. One day I wanted to convey the message that people tend to control their true nature to fit in. I discovered that this can be illustrated by the story of a little boy who has a dog that he keeps under leash to get accepted by his friends, and ends up losing the dog.
Rasa Aur Drama: Should stories be emotions, full of emotions, laughter, sadness, drama?
Nanda Pavaday: Always. The listeners must not only hear you, but also feel you. Your story must take the listener ( reader ) on a journey where they experience a range of emotions.
Rasa Aur Drama: What is the success of a story ?
Nanda Pavaday: You write a story to give a piece of yourself. You want people to not only listen to the story but to relate and connect to it. The reader is the mirror through which the writer gets to see glimpses of himself. The success of a story is in getting a reflection that makes you feel good about yourself.
Rasa Aur Drama: What do you look for in stories when you write them; does it give you love, peace, compassion? or a way of life for you?
Nanda Pavaday: Writing stories is about connecting with people. We live in a physical world that we can see, hear, and touch. This physical world is superimposed on an emotional world that we can’t see, hear, or touch. We feel sad, angry, or happy but these are personal experiences. So when you communicate, you try to get people to feel these emotions that you feel.
I write stories to get people to connect with how I felt when I traveled by bus or visited a shop or ate a cake or when I lost someone close. When someone else relates to these feelings, there is a connection that is real and very intimate, probably more intimate than physically touching someone. What the world needs is the need to be seen, not just as we look bit as we are. There is a saying that you cannot really know someone until you have walked a thousand miles in their shoes; I think it is so only then can you feel how they feel. This is a connection.
Rasa Aur Drama: What else are you working on at the moment?
Nanda Pavaday: I am presently working on the book two,there are so many stories that I want to tell. There is a readership for my style of writing. And I see that my stories bring joy to so many people. So I want to keep doing so for as long as I can. I am also working on the English version of my book that I want to launch to an international audience.
Rasa Aur Drama: What is your writing process? Do you write daily? Every alternate day. Morning, evening. Do you have a fixed schedule? Or is it eternal?
Nanda Pavaday: For me, good writing is deep thinking. I always have a step into the writing process. This is what I tell myself when I don’t have time to sit and write. I usually try to write something on my Facebook wall daily. As far as book writing is concerned, I write in bursts, then I stop for some time. Someone said this, I found it amusing: I don’t write like a cow lazily chewing grass, I write like a lion, in fierce ferocious bites. I write when I feel the energy.
Rasa Aur Drama: What is writing to you? Passion, love, inquiry, journalism, a part of your soul?
Nanda Pavaday: Writing is the mirror through which the writer sees himself, he exists through the reflection that his readers shine onto him. Inherent in all of us is the need to be appreciated, for someone to know not just for what we appear to be but for what we really are at our core. What we long for is someone to get us. Because by so doing it, they make us exist.
Thank you Sir for chatting wih us. RASA AUR DRAMA TIMES would love to know more about your upcoming book.
All images are Courtesy: Nanda Pavaday Instagram
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