Saturday Coffee Interview with Kshitish Padhy

Over this SATURDAY COFFEE I have Invited The Author Kshitish Padhy for an Interview. His Book 'Law of averages' has hit the market in late 2012 stealing the hearts of comic loves, also those who are seeking a fun ride of adventure land. It is a hilarious book as the subtitle suggest ' A Hilarious Love Story-Filmi Ishtyle'.

(Check out the review HERE)
Buy the Book at: Flipkart / Raj Comics

Author's Page:

https://www.facebook.com/horizon.padhy

Source: HERE

Me: Hello Kshitish, it's an absolute pleasure to have you over Saturday Coffee, How would you like your Coffee?
Kshitish Padhy: Black with two cubes of sugar

1. Me: Tell us what inspired you, attracted you to enter into the comics world and how writing happened?
Kshitish Padhy: I entered into this field purely by accident. I was working with a web designing company and Raj Comics was one of its clients. I was coordinating the development of their website. The owners of Raj Comics were impressed with my communication skills and offered me a job as a translator when I wanted to quit my company. I came on board and gradually evolved, writing scripts for comics and finally the novel.

2. Me: What inspired you to write your first book, Law of averages?
Kshitish Padhy: While I was still contemplating for a plot for my book, one of my colleagues suggested that I should use the comics industry as a backdrop. I liked that idea because it gave me a unique backdrop as most of the books in this genre used management institutes, engineering colleges or corporate world. Just two days prior to this incident, I had travelled from Meerut to Delhi and the basic framework of the story began to take shape. Once I was clear about the basic plot, I began the first draft of my script.

3. Me: How did you come up with the title of the book?
Kshitish Padhy: Right from the outset, I wanted to create a love story with a fast pace of narration having resemblance to the comics scripts. I came up with the name which was apt to define the basic promise of the story. According to the Law of Averages, you are bound to win big at some point of your life. Ritwik – the Male protagonist of the book believes that he is the most unlucky guy but as the story progresses he realises that Lady luck was about to smile at him. The book is like one big adventure which has all the ingredients of a typical Bollywood masala movie. It has 2 Sweet/ naughty love stories, eccentric father of one of the female protagonists, treasure hunt and unexpected twists with a very happy ending where the hero comes over all obstacles and situations by a resource, determination and some good fortune. Hence the tagline – A love story bollywood ishtyle.

4. Me: Tell me how much of the book is realistic and how much is fiction?
Kshitish Padhy: The book is semi autobiographical. Most of the time, I have exaggerated true incidents and combined it with elements of fiction to carry forward the narrative  Percentage wise you can say that the book has 60 % realistic incidents and the rest is fictional.

5. Me: What were the most hilarious, saddest and your favourite part of writing your book?

Kshitish Padhy: I started writing this novel when Raj comics decided to start its English novel division. But when I was through with few chapters, the project got shelved and I lost all motivation to write this novel. Perhaps it was the darkest phase of my life. Even after finishing the novel, I had to wait for over a year before the book could be published which was pretty frustrating.

The most hilarious phase of writing this novel was when I discussed the script with my colleagues and my friends who would try to twist my story and have fun. Sushant wanted me to include his name and character in the script. When I narrated the plot of the MMS incident everyone teased Sushant for an entire week but he never complained.

My favourite part of writing the book was that every evening my wife would come back from her office (after working for over 12 hours) and the first thing she would ask from me was my progress on the script. She would read everything which I wrote during the day and evaluate it and give me feedback. For us this book symbolised the promise of a better future with me becoming a bestselling author and pampering her like a princess. This was one thing which kept me going despite the initial struggle and the long wait for getting my novel published.

6. Me: How you and Ritwik – Male protagonist from the book—are same?Kshitish Padhy: Both of us are scriptwriters with high inertia of rest, romantic at heart and impractical when it comes to love, ready to walk the extra mile for the people we care and adventurous in nature.

7: Me: Do you have a colleague like Sushant, from the book?

Kshitish Padhy: Though Sushant is my colleague who is an excellent artist, the character in the book is a work of fiction. In reality Sushant is a very humble and soft-spoken guy who has never strayed in his life. He was gracious enough to let me use his name and character and take huge liberty in the characterisation.

8. Me: What was your inspiration for the character of A.K Khurana?
Kshitish Padhy: My friend's father-in-law - a true combination of talent and eccentric behaviour which can get on your nerves. I won't take his name else .....

9. Me: Have you ever been on real treasure hunt? Do you believe in hidden treasure?Kshitish Padhy: No. yes I really believe in hidden treasures and hope that I become a part of a successful treasure hunt.

10: Me: What are your favourite comic characters? Have they influenced your book or yourself?
Kshitish Padhy: Batman, Super Commando Dhruva, Tintin. Though my writing style has been influenced by scriptwriting principles for comics, I was not particularly influenced by these characters for this particular novel as the genre is different. Personally I do aspire to imbibe the best traits of these characters in my life.

11. Me: I’ll give you a word and you have to describe it in a word/few words or a sentence.

a) Law of averages: my debut novel
b) Love at first sight: it exists
c) Dhruva (Comic character): dream project
d) Pinky (comic character): sweet and adorable
e) Lady Luck: intent on wooing her till I get my big break

12: Me: Thank you Kshitish for stopping over Saturday Coffee for my blog. Law of averages is an amazing book and can’t wait to read your next work but before leaving, give us your favourite quote from your book.
Kshitish Padhy: 

I am not lazy; my inertia of rest is high

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About The Author:

Law of Averages is the debut novel of Kshitish Padhy. Kshitish is a versatile scriptwriter, novelist and translator working on various genres like mythology, superhero fantasy, teen fiction and fiction for young adults. After starting his writing career as a translator at Raj Comics, he has contributed to the scripts of their flagship characters like Nagraj, Super Commando Dhruva and Bhokal. Completing a brief stint with Campfire Comics, Kshitish is currently working as the lead scriptwriter for Vimanika Comics and on mythological titles like Shiva and Dasavtaar. He is an avid reader of comics and children fiction and is a huge fan of Harry Potter, Tintin, Daredevil and Batman. He loves action movies high on special effects and detective thrillers. Kshitish currently resides in Delhi.

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