Young author Ira Trivedi's new book The Great Indian Love Story (TGILS) was launched by Penguin in the capital recently.
The story, set in modern-day India where materialistic pleasures rule over emotions, is a concoction of love, sex, revenge, friendship, power and crime.
Her first book What Would You Do to Save the World?: Confessions of a Could-Have-Been Beauty Queen , based on her experiences at the Miss India contest, went on to be a bestseller. Excerpts from a chat:
Tell us something about your new book. What inspired you to write on the subject?
I believe that The Great Indian Love Story is a great read for anyone. It paints a shocking picture of urban India, and reveals a section of society, which most people do not have access to. In the midst of my MBA at Columbia University, I came to India to work on my book The Intern . The time that I spent here was an eye-opener in many regards, and it inspired me to write a story about Delhi. While I was here I met someone whose story inspired me to create the character of Serena and write TGILS .
What are your views on love in contemporary times?
In my view, love in this day and age is much more difficult than love in olden times. As people get more independent, they are less inclined to look for a partner and be with just one person; it makes love and relationships very complicated.
We also meet a lot more people, because people go out so much more, to clubs, to social events. They travel a lot more, so a lot of "options" are presented to us, which makes it difficult to make up our minds.
It has been four years since your last novel. Are you working on other projects?
Yes, I am working on The Intern , based on my experiences on Wall Street. It should be ready early next year.
Both your novels have female protagonists…
Being a woman, I tend to look at things from a woman's perspective.
