No one knows what it's like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes.
These lines from The Who's song 'Behind Blue Eyes' made Gaurav Parab wonder if there would be something intriguing in a person with blue eyes, or let's say light eyes.
A blogger and an avid storyteller, he began weaving a story around such a protagonist with green eyes, with quirks and eccentricities that he seems to have inherited from his forefathers.
Gaurav named his protagonist Rustom Iraqiwalla, as an ode to the old Parsi community in the then Bombay. “I started writing about Rustom, a self-centred guy with green eyes, looking for a chance to redeem himself,” says the Pune-based writer, whose debut novel is titled Rustom and the last Storyteller of Almora (Hachette; Rs. 399).
The novel is a genre bender; dark, witty and attempts to connect at a spiritual level in some ways. “It would have been easier to write a love story set in a college campus and find a publisher but my ideal reader is a clever guy or a lady who wants to take a slightly deeper look at life,” explains Gaurav.
Gaurav is a marketing manager with a leading technology film and puts in 12-14 hours at work. For the last three to four years, he cut out all distractions and wrote early mornings and late nights. “Now I've programmed myself to write, which means I sleep only about four hours a day,” he says.
The plot focuses on Rustom, heavily in debt, wanting to end his life because his grandfather's will states that he will inherit the family wealth if he commits suicide in a public space, using the family's gun! The plan goes haywire and Rustom finds himself seeking solace at an ashram in Almora, headed by a Baba who solves problems through storytelling.
Gaurav peppers the narrative with character traits of people whom he has observed. “The characters of Rustom and Baba have a few elements of people I've met over the years,” says Gaurav, who resisted the urge to draw more from his own life for the book. “My dad was in the army, just like in the case of Rustom, and I happened to travel to different places and study in 10 schools. Unlike Rustom, I am not rich,” he laughs. “I live to travel and used my experiences of visiting the Himalayas in the book. And my wife hails from Almora, the place where the ashram is located in the book,” he adds.
Gaurav's fascination for the mountains reflects in the book, and he keeps the reader guessing if the spiritual guru is for real. “I have immense respect for those who go out seeking the truth. These days, with the number of fake gurus, there was a temptation to give the Baba character a different spin,” he admits.
When he sat down to write the story, it didn't seem difficult. The old art of storytelling which he picked up from elders in the family came in handy. But Gaurav was stuck when he had to describe Rustom's state of mind before the suicide attempt. “I took two weeks off work, checked into a hotel, switched off my phone and tried to get into Rusty's (Rustom) head. I could understand him better,” reveals Gaurav.
He had his reasons to choose a Parsi family as the focal point of the story. “These days you don't get to read about many characters from the Parsi background. I don't know if the story would have turned out this well if I had chosen any other community. The slightly outrageous nature of the plot, with lighthearted eccentricities, suited these characters well. And they are an integral part of old world Bombay,” he explains.
Gaurav says he was “mildly confident” about the acceptance of his book but is overwhelmed with the feedback he's been receiving online.
As he basks in the positive feedback, he reveals that he has finished the first draft of his second book and credits his family's support in his journey.
