Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain!

 Catch the melodies of the rain in this new book...

Remember that old song ‘Rhim Jhim Gire Saawan’? That gently evocative song by Kishore Kumar that takes you back to a time when people sat on the patio, watched silver sheets of rain fall all around them, sipped cardamom tea and remembered the first love of their lives. Bollywood, however, changed all those romantic scenes quite rapidly over the years. Rain soon became the inspiration for all kinds of sensual outpourings, where lovers whispered all kinds of sweet nothings while drenched to the skin under cloud bursts of epic proportions.

Now, why did I bring all that up? The reason is simple enough. I want to introduce today’s book to you that relies heavily on its rain muse to take the story forward, either by the pitter patter of a past memory or the sweet pounding of  a current wave of  emotions.

I have a short interview with the author too, so that will help you understand the book better.

 Love the rain? Sit back and enjoy!

Book of the week: FARAWAY MUSIC by  Sreemoyee Piu Kundu

The story begins on a long-haul international flight, with famous writer and heroine of the story, Piya Choudhury deciding not to sit back and enjoy the “dizzying drone of flight A1 102”but to speak to a young reporter, Sumaya on board the same aircraft about the loves and passions of her life.  And so, over that long journey, we learn about the real Piya Choudhary, the gifted and impetuous youngster, turned journalist, turned PR consultant, turned writer and the many twists and turns in her eventful life. Right from her teenage crushes to her miscalculation of men and their behaviour, to her love affair with her editor Abhir to her marriage to a noted artist David Cicconi, to becoming a famous author herself, the story unravels gently and we, the readers, are swept along in its wake.

 The first thing that strikes you about the book is that it is written from the heart. From the reminiscence of avocado oil, the magical jasmine lights of Jorapur Lane, the single drop of Elizabeth Arden perfume, the rose Chanderi sari, the champagne coloured chiffon – the book is full of vignettes that propel you back and forth in time. It is like the author has transported herself into these worlds once more and drawn out its essence for us to savour just for one brief, delicious second.

Unwontedly, perhaps or intentionally, there are wistful thoughts inserted sporadically into the book. Like the part when Piya says, “We can’t be our mothers Sumaya, no matter how hard we try....All we are is their reflection...and life the mirror”. Or when the author looks back at Mumbai and writes, giving voice to Piya’s thoughts... “Mumbai, a city by the sea, a city of a million people....a city of lights and lust, of stars and stock markets, of soul and sin. A city I left.”

The most admirable person in the book is the Karim Bhai, her friendly cab driver, who was like an angel hovering over Piya right through her stay in Mumbai. When he eventually leaves the story, there is real feeling of loss that the reader feels, just like the heroine herself.

And then, there is the rain. When everything blurs in a curtain of water, where damp monsoon breezes bring in fresh insights or a sad memories, where stories are spun and spool out with the rain as a refrain in the backdrop.

If I have a criticism, it is in the feeling that the story drops in pace sometimes and here, an injection of a few more startling twists would have helped carry the story forward with far greater sense of anticipation.

All in all, an enjoyable book, full of the quirky workings and sub plots in the world of journalists, celebrities and more that the author seems to have experienced firsthand.

Now over to the author, Sreemoyee Piu Kundu...

Where did you get the inspiration for Faraway Music?

Faraway Music is my first novel in and it is the story closest to my own life. I started the story of Piya on the night of the July 26 floods when I was a journalist in Mumbai and stranded in office on a night that was to become memorable later, when all of Mumbai literally drowned. Sitting in a corner of a sprawling Edit Hall, in the mellow after light of flickering computer screens, I remember scribbling a chapter on Piya Choudhury, a journalist and Abir Sen, her editor. No wonder then that the rains continue to be an important element in the book, almost taking the shape of a parallel character. In a larger sense, the inspiration of FM emanates from all the cities I have lived in and left, so many people I have met and lost and those that found their way back.

How much of the book is autobiographical?

It is natural that since Piya's life follows in a sense a trajectory  similar to mine, the parallels will be drawn. I would say that Piya's childhood is very similar to mine.  Having said that I think there is a bit of the author in every book one pens, especially in the first that is most often cathartic and reflective of one's own life and experiences.

Have you worked with an editor like any of the ones mentioned in the book?

Are you asking me if there was an Abir Sen in my life? No. But, the role of TT, another character in the book, is loosely based on a dear friend of mine. However, Abir Sen's portrayal is again based on editors I have interacted with in my own life, whose ruthless ambition and cold ego was legendary.

 What do you like most about your own heroine?

 That she is real. That her reactions are not imaginary, but life-like and that she is a woman of the world as much as she is childlike and vulnerable.  There is a Piya in all of us.

 What is your opinion of Indian authors today?

 Indian fiction writing has definitely come of age. However, the quality maybe questionable as opposed to the volumes being churned out. So, I can say I'm all for the explosion, but I wish publishers would not try and fit all authors into boxes.

What is your writing schedule like?

I write almost all day when I am doing a book. And honestly, being a full time writer makes my life a lot easier as I have the bandwidth to work for long stretches and switch off as and when I choose.

What book are you planning next?

 I am working on my fourth novel Cut! Out next is my erotica, Sita's Curse.