Past Forward

To be fair,the first-time writer wasn’t fully aware of the ways of the publishing world. He followed his wife Preeti’s advice of circulating the first chapter of his book. “That generated interest among the readers and thus a demand,” says Amish. Since no campaign is complete without the popular social networking sites these days,it was obvious that Amish fell back on them to spread the word around. The trailer based on the book posted on YouTube,accompanied by Toufiq Qureshi’s music,too played a part in triggering interest in the book as did his regular posts on Twitter. His personal visits to bookstores in different parts of the country further pushed the product.

With a refreshing candour,the 35-year-old says that he even tried to follow “the corporate rules” while writing the book. “I had set a timeline for every chapter till Preeti advised me to drop it and just go with the flow,” he says. That apart,he had to tackle a not-so-logical flow of the story. “It got better only when I stopped controlling it,” he says. In fact,Amish soon developed ideas about creating a trilogy with Lord Shiva—who is humanised in the novel—at the centre. The second part of the trilogy,The Secret of the Nagas,will be out next year,and the third,The Oath of the Vayputras,will subsequently follow.

During the interview,he gives many instances of his family’s involvement in this book. In fact,the idea of writing a novel came during a conversation with his family as they watched a mythological show on television together. “First,I attempted a book on philosophy. But my sister told me that nobody will read one. So my writing started taking the shape of a fiction,” he says.

The author has no qualms about admitting that he has no prior experience of writing—barring penning poetry which only his wife appreciated. What worked to his advantage was his love for history and the mythological stories he had grown up listening to by virtue of being the grandson of a Banaras priest,also the head of the mathematics department at Banaras Hindu University. This explains the trilogy’s premise. The book is set in 1900 BC in the near-perfect land of Meluha (more popularly known as the Indus Valley Civilisation). Shiva reaches here as an immigrant and is hailed as the saviour against evil forces.

However,working on The Immortals of Meluha has transformed him. “I now have developed ideas for books on the Ramayan,the Mahabharat,Akbar and Dara Shikoh,” he says. The biggest change in him,however,came with this atheist turning into a believer and devotee of Shiva.

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