Herald Café: They say that the art of storytelling is an innate tendency that is genetically ingrained. Is this true? Despite being a successful entrepreneur, you opted to move into fiction writing. Hence, the question is, was there always a need to recount the tales from the depths of your imagination?
VishwasMudagal: Storytelling
is as much an art as it is a science. Although I’m inclined to believe that storytelling
is not everybody’s cup of tea and it needs qualities you are born with, it is
also true that it can be acquired as a skill like any other form of art by
practice and perseverance. And nobody is a born master; you have to work
towards becoming a good storyteller.
Although
I knew I would write a book someday, I didn’t know when and what I would write.
My debut novel, ‘Losing My Religion’, happened out of the blue under very
interesting circumstances.
HC: Is
the book in any way tied to your own personal life experiences?
VM: ‘Losing
My Religion’ is influenced by an episode in my life that changed everything. In
2009, my internet start-up was going through a rough phase. Although we had
managed to get good user traction to our website, we couldn’t monetise it
effectively. To top that, the core team had almost dismantled and I was almost
bankrupt. It had taken a heavy toll on me emotionally and I didn’t know what to
do next. After spending two years working to the bone on this business, it
wasn’t easy to just move on. And I didn’t have the energy and the money to
start a new business.
One
of those days, I spoke to an ex-colleague, who was taking a sabbatical and
going on a year-long journey on his bike across India. I was amazed! I wanted
to do that myself and kill all the tension inside me and then look at
everything else later on. But I couldn’t do it for many reasons.
A
bizarre idea struck me, that of writing a book on the situation I was in. I was
so excited suddenly. I usually follow my heart and act on instinct. I decided
to make the protagonist of the book go on a journey; I could live that life and
that freedom through him. On May 22, 2009, I wrote the first chapter and, I’d
like to believe, my life changed.
The
book is about a failed bankrupt Indian entrepreneur who accidentally meets a
crazy American hippie and decides to quit everything to tag along with him on
an unplanned journey across India. What happens next? That’s the story of ‘Losing
My Religion’.
HC: Are
there deeper implications to the title of the novel than the obvious?
VM: ‘Losing
My Religion’ is not about religion people traditionally think it to be. It’s
about a person who loses faith in himself, and in the ideals he thought were
unbreakable.
Here’s
the dialogue from the book to emphasise more on the title – “At times you have
to lose your faith in something, be absolutely stone-cold broke in your belief
in belief, so that you can take the jump. Leap out of the existence you have
wrapped around yourself and take the plunge without thinking of the
consequences. You’ll fall, no doubt. But sometime during that, you’ll witness a
miracle taking shape around you. That’s called ‘Losing My Religion’.”