Young Indian Writers hold readings

MUSSOORIE, 9 Oct: On the 3rd day of the Mussoorie International Writers’ Festival, underway at Woodstock School, the three young writers Advaita Kala, Anita Jain and Mukul Deva read out a few paragraphs of their works to the audience consisting largely of staff and students. Mukul Deva read from his latest Book ‘Lashkar’.
He disclosed on the occasion that the book was written after the Sarojini Nagar bomb blast case and it dealt with what could have been done to avoid the incident and the handling of the whole affair.
Speaking to Garhwal Post, he said, “The head should be cut first.” He said this in reference to dealing with terrorism from the top and just catching petty terrorists was not the answer to the solution. He further added that his experience in the Army was helpful in writing this work of fiction. Mukul Deva also said the writers’ festival was a wonderful experience for young writers like him. His book ‘Lashkar’ will also hit the Hindi language market next year.
Deva is an alumnus of La Martiniere College, Lucknow, the National Defence Academy, Pune and the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. He was commissioned in December 1981 into the Sikh Light Infantry of the Indian Army. He took premature retirement after fifteen years of service, including ten years of active combat duty operations in India and overseas. He is now an entrepreneur settled in New Delhi. His previous published works are ‘Time After Time’, ‘It all happened’, S.T.R.I.P.T.E.A.S.E. - The Art of Corporate Warfare, M.O.D.E.L. - The Return of the Employee’, ‘Women in Indian Cinema’, (Co-authored with Wanti Singh), ‘Lashkar’. Mukul's next book ‘Salim Must Die’ is releasing in January 2009. Racing along with the unpredictable and untamed tiger of reality, the book is the second Force 22 novel and a fast-paced sequel to the bestseller ‘Lashkar’.
Anita Jain read out her paragraph from ‘Marrying Anita’, her bestselling memoir. It describes her experiences and adventures as a 30-something New Yorker frustrated with Western dating norms, on her journey to Delhi to find a husband using somewhat more traditional methods, where she discovers a vibrant, cosmopolitan New India, in which more than half the country is below 30. The book chronicles her life in this New India, where instead of a marriage arranged by aunties, she finds herself among a generation that enjoys bar-hopping, not to mention bed-hopping, rock backs and Westernised dating.
Anita Jain was born in New Delhi and moved to the US when she was six months old. Her parents are now settled in the suburbs of Sacramento in northern California. After graduating from Harvard University in 1994, she worked as a financial journalist in Mexico City, Singapore, London, New York and Delhi, where she currently lives. Following this, Advaita Kala read out from her bestselling fiction novel, ‘Almost Single.’ Advaita Kala’s book is also one of the bestsellers in recent times. The session ended with Stephen Alter thanking the guests and the invited audience on the occasion.
Advaita Kala is a Garhwali woman writer, who has an English best seller to her name on her debut. Kala was born in Dehradun and completed her initial education at Welham Girls High School. Subsequently, she moved to the United States to pursue a liberal arts degree. ‘Almost Single’ is her debut novel, released in August 2007. It is presently in its sixth reprint and has received wide international coverage in publications like the Washington Post, The Independent, Arab Times, LA Times and so forth. Almost Single will release in the United States in February 2009. She presently lives in New Delhi and works with Time Magazine.
Tomorrow, Mukul Deva, Geoff Page, Bruce Berger and Anita Jain will attend a session at LBSNAA, here.