In the wake of attending a course on Shakespeare and creative writing at Yale University, Simar Malhotra was inspired to pen her debut novel, “There is a Tide” (Rupa Publications) to be launched today. The Class XII student of Step by Step International School, Jaipur said: “I always kept a diary and while attending the courses I jotted down a couple of my experiences. On return I read them and thought I could weave a story around it.”
The novel is about a girl whose life revolves around her loving parents and two older brothers and how a conspiracy shatters her world. “I started writing without any intention of publishing though I kept working on my Yale experience and wove fiction into it. Realising that I can develop it into a proper story I finished the whole narrative,” said the budding author. She added that “it also includes my observations as to how I see the world though I crafted it and included my imagination into it.”
Simar made a special mention of her cousin who she said “played the role of Pole Star by encouraging and goading me to get back to the book on occasions when I decided not to pursue it.” On completion of the story, she was keen to see it in print and confessed that she even thought about self-publication.
The female protagonist in the story attends a summer course in Yale and there is vivid description of the university. “Yes, I based that on my experiences and it shows in the representation of the college, campus and gymnasium but a majority of the incidents there are fictional.” She commented, “My stay there was the five most amazing weeks of my life which spurted me to write the book. It had a profound effect on me in more than one ways.”
The story which she started in 2013 was completed in May 2014 has shades of romance in it. Asked if it was deliberate, she said, “As I never intended to publish so had no target readers in my mind. The inclusion of romantic element came naturally since as a reader I am fond of reading romance and hence I included it but definitely not with the objective to titillate,” said Simar adding, “I feel that the story will appeal to young adults.”
The narrative has several incidents highlighting certain unique traits of Indians, like the difference in our behaviour depending on whether we are at home or abroad. “Despite knowing certain basic civilities we choose to ignore them. Though we observe them when we are on a foreign soil,” observed Simar. Similarly, she points out the ritual of parents accompanying their mature children when they go to attend a new institution. “It happened when I went to Yale. I was accompanied to the university by my parents and cousins,” she admitted.
Confessing on why she finished the story on a happy note, she remarked: “I wanted to make the readers feel that problems should not bog us down and that we can overcome it.”
