Landmark, Forum Mall saw the launch of Samarth Prakash’s debut novel, Rainy Days . The novel narrates the story of a love made wiser by experience — a love that has been taught to wait for gratification. The protagonists Raghav and Megha could be anyone of us — youngsters with dreams, ambition and a thirst for success. Amidst resounding professional success, we locate Raghav’s disappointment in love and betrayal by Megha, who he considered his soulmate. Samarth Prakash, an engineer with amazon.com, draws from personal experience to flesh out Raghav’s professional journey. This novel is the author’s attempt to intersperse romance with philosophy and make it accessible and relevant to an audience that turns its nose up at romance.
Saturated with philosophical and gender stereotypes, the novel is hardly a revelation of any sort. Raghav and Megha are portrayed typically and the language used borders on the simplistic. An interesting story runs parallel to the main plot — the story of Raghav’s professional life. He does try to convey a strong, sound work ethic, but one gets the feeling that the story is a half-hearted attempt to portray a naïve and idealistic view of activism.
When asked why romance, Prakash confides, “I did start off with something that was very different. However, I realised that I needed more experience to write on a different theme. Given the relative simplicity of the genre of romance, I hope to reach out to a wider reading audience.” He is of the opinion that romance is the popular genre with youngsters in India.
When asked about Raghav’s rather fantastic professional success, the author responds: “I’m a huge fan of Indian movies that border on the fantastic. I’ve attempted to create a movie in words. I didn’t want the story of Raghav’s professional life taking away from the main plot.” Keeping public opinion in mind, Prakash writes a love story that ends in tragedy. He believes that stories that end tragically leave an indelible mark in the minds of reader and has a deeper impact than happier stories. When asked about certain dangerous clichés about adoption and heartbreak that he has endorsed, he assures us that they are not his personal beliefs and are a projection of the plot. Dr. Thimappa Hegde, well known neurosurgeon and inspirational speaker congratulated the young author on his first book. Dr. Hegde spoke affectionately about bookstores and how readers gravitate to various parts of the store in search for reading material that appeals to them.
Prakash has an optimistic view about young authors who want to publish. “It is definitely not easy to find a publisher, but with the growing number of publishing houses, it is significantly easier to get published today than it was ten years ago,” he concludes.
