Flashback Fiction

“All my doubts were put to rest by the feedback I received from young people who were either not born or were very small around the time-frame of my novel. As little as there is of mobile or Internet-enabled communication in the book,it could sustain the interest of the youngest of readers who read it from cover to cover because they could identify with the youthful aspirations that remain the same the more they change with changing times,” said Verma,about his latest story that traces the life and times of a man who survives heartbreak thrice,hence the title.

“The protagonist is not a reincarnation of Devdaas. On the contrary,he is a survivor. Even after his beloveds beat an unceremonious retreat one after the other,instead of wallowing in self-pity or in the past,he moves on. That is probably why they all come back to him for one last time…and that is probably why the young and raring to go have given me a thumbs-up for the story,characters and the three decades old setting,” says the author,who runs Converge.i,an advertising agency in New Delhi.

His stint with Coca-Cola India gave him the grist to flesh out characters representing the corporate sector,while the formative years he spent in various cities across Uttar Pradesh,chiefly Lucknow,accounts for the dialect and situations vis-a-vis the characters.

“If 40 per cent of this novel has Lucknow,a greater part of my next work,which is still in my head,will be rooted in this city,” says Verma,who is mulling over Hindi translations of both his novels published.

”As of now,writers are more at ease expressing in English and readers too are more comfortable reading as well as using the Queen’s language. That is why you get to read bad or wrong English everywhere,because most of the familiarity with the language is pretentious. It will be some time before things shape up,” hopes Verma.