Subhechcha Ganguly 
Saurabh Thapliyal is an analyst by profession and a poet cum author by heart. His keenness to manifest thoughts into words drew his attention to come forward and share his work with others. He has contributed to a few anthologies and got two solo books published on his name. His belief in the power of words is truly reflected in his fundamental principle of life where he says, “What you say is definitely important but how you say it is the most supreme.” Let us know more about him in this Exclusive Interview of Interview Times
Q1) Tell us about the time when you felt inspired to set your foot in the writing field.
Ans: I think the fire was always there, it only needed a spark. During my masters, I remember we had a Hindi poetry competition in our college and one of my faculties insisted me to participate. I used to write a few couplets before this but never bothered to publicize those. Since I had a great connection and deep respect for my faculty, I decided to give it a try and bang! It went hit. I actually won the competition. That incident boosted me up to write more poems and gradually I even started posting my work on social media. Later on, I started getting opportunities to contribute in various anthologies and that’s how I got published in compiled books. Working in compilations made me more comfortable with writing and I kind of started liking it. So, I took a leap of faith and finally decided to become a part time solo author.
Q2) How did you get the idea of the book “The Bubble of Hate and Communal Differences.” Tell us a bit about the book and also attach the link for purchase.
Ans: I wanted my first piece to be on something which remains close to my memory. In Feb. 2020, North East Delhi experienced a terrible incident where protests against CAA-NRC turned violent and two communities of the country went against each other. Since, I live in that part of Delhi, I witnessed and observed the nasty face of the society very closely during riots. It was shocking to see such things happening in the 21st century and that too in the national capital of India. We all remained locked in our houses for 4-5 days until it could actually be controlled. While following the news reports and articles, I realized that this was not a sudden reaction of public. The problem is that nowadays, people are actually being fed with lies and negativities against each other just to achieve political gain. A systematic way has been devised to do wrong acts under the veil of righteousness. Since, hatred is not an innate nature of mankind, I wanted to reiterate the dangers it brings to the civilizations. This is how I came up with this idea of “The Bubble of Hate and Communal Differences”. The book starts with a historical journey when India used to be an undivided nation and how did it experience the transfer of power from one ruler to another. It also highlights how we have adjusted with the changing times. Then it discusses the modern India and the changing national political environment. The book also emphasizes the widening gap between two communities of India in recent times and tries to preach compassion, peace and harmony.
- Purchase links
Q3) What are the challenges you have encountered in the process of writing from the first stage of ideating to the last stage of publishing.
Ans: Nothing can be achieved without perseverance. It’s always easy to start something but difficult to continue and take it to the boundary line. I also faced the same challenge throughout but there were other struggles too which I encountered. The first challenge was to convert the idea into a book. I had the theme but I did not know how to actually structure it out. When I outlined the structure, I was worried about the size of the content. I did not want to write a heavy book with bundle of lectures. Neither I wanted to finish everything in one swipe. I had to maintain the balance so that the message is conveyed in the best possible manner. When the draft of my manuscript was ready, another challenge was to decide a suitable title. I chalked out many options, discussed with a few close friends and then finalized it. Publishing did not come to me as a challenge because I already had the publishers with me.
Q4) What would be the advice you would want to give to the young writers of today?
Ans: In general, I would say that never give up on your dreams. You may not have favourable circumstances, enough resources or any other support today but if you put your efforts in the right direction, you will definitely achieve them. There will be a new excuse every day to give up but there will only be one reason to work on your passion and that is, “You need to do it else it will never happen for you.” Specifically to the young writers, I would recommend to read more than write. You can write a good line only when you have read hundreds of great ones first.
Q5) Also tell us about your book “Abhi Baki Hai”. What inspired you to write this book and also attach the link for purchase.
Ans: “Abhi Baki Hai” is a compilation of 21 Hindi poems and Ghazals written by me. The font is also in Hindi and the book due to number of limited poems is also very small. As the name may indicate, “Abhi Baki Hai” tries to touch the broken hearts filled with unsaid desires. The book targets those who somewhere at some point of their lives loved a person but could not make the life together. It gives a voice to those whose emotions are intense but don’t know how to express them.
Honestly, it was not planned. I had never decided to publish anything like this. However, the book came into light as part of a challenge where writers were required to submit 21 poems in 21 days. As I told earlier that I had started writing poems during my college days (of course my heart also broke then ;p), I decided to uncage some of the pieces from my diary and make them available for everyone.
- Purchase links:
- Amazon – https://www.amazon.in/%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%AD%E0%A5%80-%E0%A4%AC%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%80-Abhee-Baakee-Hai/dp/9357218394/ref=sr_1_2?qid=1686154411&refinements=p_27%3ASaurabh+Thapliyal&s=books&sr=1-2
- Flipkart – https://www.flipkart.com/abhee-baakee-hai/p/itmfb7f94056b153
- Bookleaf publishing – https://www.store.bookleafpub.com/product-page/%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%AD-%E0%A4%AC-%E0%A4%95-%E0%A4%B9
