24 Mar 2018  |   05:24am IST

QUITE LITERALLY, A WORLD OF HER OWN!

At the age of 17, when most teenagers watch or read about alternate universes in fiction, Simmy Kors has created a universe with its own language and mannerisms for her debut novel, ‘The Zenas Cure’. In a chat with Café, the young author talks about the book and her love for writing

 

Very rarely does a student take the learning from school and those around her to apply it to create a piece of literary work. Simmy Kors, a 17-year-old, recently released her debut novel, ‘The Zenas Cure’, at the hands of Patricia Sethi Pereira, in the presence of Prasad Pankar, in Panjim.

Simmy Kors was born in New Jersey, USA and lived in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, also in the US. “Later, when I was in Grade 2, I moved to India, where I studied in Punjab for a year. Then I completed my Grade 3-5 in Pathways World School, Aravali. Some of my best memories are from that school. After Grade 5, I moved to Dubai along with my brother and mother, and stayed there from Grade 6 onwards. Now I’m in Grade 11, studying in the American School of Dubai. I have great teachers and I am really grateful for my school’s support and assistance in helping me on my journey with my debut novel, ‘The Zenas Cure’.” Simmy visits Goa very often because her uncle, Raj Bhandare, lives here along with his wife, Sneha, and their family. “I’ve come to Goa many times so this place feels like home.”

In her book, Simmy has created the realm of Kedar, a universe parallel to our own, that exists on the other side of the mirror. In Kedar, every individual is born with milk-white eyes, with no irises. At the age of five, they develop an iris colour based on their leading attributes, which, in turn, determines a lot of things.

Offering a synopsis of the book, Simmy explains, “Beware of Kedar! The parallel universe that exists on the other side of the mirror, a world where people are divided by the colour of their eyes and the powers that come with it. These are the Iris Divisions. Some may heal while others seek destruction. When cancer patients across America wake up cured seemingly overnight, it’s almost too good to be true. The only evidence tying the events together is that one name that always seems to be left behind – Reva.”

To write the book, Simmy had to put together an entire new world with characters with different abilities. “Thinking of an imaginative world wasn’t so challenging as I come from a very academic family. In fact, I’m sort of the outlier. My mother, Dr Shweta Bajwa, studied medicine, originally in Goa, before moving to the US and completing her studies at Slone Kettering Memorial, New York. The rest of my family is filled with cancer researchers and lawyers. Then there’s me, the writer. I’ve been very fortunate to have my family’s support, and their academic background really helped me add logic to the fantasy. So it’s not only imaginative, but realistic,” she says.

Simmy adds, “My teachers at The American School of Dubai helped me a lot as well when it came to giving me ideas for my writing. Even though nobody knew I was writing a book, my teachers really inspired me. Most of the concepts are just tailored topics I’ve learnt from my classes with them. So I never really faced any direct challenges, as, in a way, I always had mentors to guide me, even if they didn’t know it at the time.” She has been working on ‘The Zenas Cure’ since the age of 16 and completed it in seven months.

The novel catches the attention of the readers immediately and Simmy finds most of her readers in young adults. “My target readership is young adults. But many of my readers are also adults. It wasn’t what I expected but I do believe ‘The Zenas Cure’ has something for everybody, regardless of age,” she concludes.