Investment banker and poker enthusiast Prateek Shukla’s second book Gamble of Love ( Buddha’s House of Mirrors is his debut book) is a spy thriller, but it is much more than that. Delve into it and find that the author looks at life and millennials’ internal conflicts through a spiritual lens. That is a lot of layering you think, but then you discover that the poker fiction in the young-adult thriller genre weaves parallel stories of two orphans – Alia and Suhana — prodigies in poker and the science of explosives. The fast-paced narrative has poetic nuggets with a spiritual undertone in a suspense-filled espionage story.
London-based Prateek, (his pen name Shuklaji takes after what his friends and family address him), was born in Varanasi to a lineage of spiritual masters and teachers. “Scribbles of the past remained with me,” he says by way of explaining his fascination for storytelling, despite a career in finance. Since childhood, he has written stories, poems and ghazals, which gradually turned into blogs and articles.
Prateek thinks being spontaneous helps him straddle both banking and writing. Through all the changes and his multiple interests, poker has remained a constant, he says. So it’s no surprise Gamble... combines elements of spirituality and mythology with the thrill of a poker game. Poker was added as an element in his book owing to the changing narrative around the game in India from a gambling sport to a sport of skill. “As a poker enthusiast, I wanted to help voice my support for the game along with the prominent voices from poker community who have provided reviews for the book.”
In an email interview, Prateek Shukla shares his inspirations and the role of spirituality in his writings. Excerpts from the interview.
book cover
How did Gamble of Love take off?
‘The dots just connect when I look back’ paraphrasing Steve Jobs, holds good for me. I have always debated spirituality, mythology and history with my parents who encouraged me to create, rather than just critique. Since I had the structure of the story in mind, it took a month for the first draft. Millennials have opened the discussion around consciousness and spirituality more than the previous generation for we are more connected as the world is getting smaller; combine that with my poker enthusiasm and you’ll realise my love for writing.
Were the characters and the worlds they inhabit inspired by real life?
The setup was inspired by my debut book Buddha's House of Mirrors. Alia converses with a Buddha to make sense of her anger towards the divine for making her an orphan, though with a gift in numbers. Any spiritual quest is a self-introspection on identity. The various character arcs in the book are inspired by the spiritual threads. The questions these characters raise, the solutions thereafter and the abstract analysis of their decisions are inspired by real-life conversations with spiritual masters and readings of translated versions of Vedas and philosophical and religious schools of thought.
My aim was to make sure the characters fit their age but explored their mature side, becoming accountable for their choices and introspect different emotions as they step into the adult world.
Were you sceptical of millennials connecting to the book’s spiritual tone?
Spiritual theories and thoughts are always open to debate and embrace diverse opinions, thereby, the ease or difficulty of their application depends on an understanding of their contextual depth. Reading the Gita and Vedas, Buddhist theories and principles behind Vedanta, listening to spiritual talks and stories, one needs to take time to introspect and that is something I see millennials doing with ease. We see dialogues around self-awareness with debates on religion, atheism, mythology – with intriguing queries on identity.
The book’s language is simple and the fast-paced short narration has poetic snippets and ghazals. I am confident of keeping the readers hooked.
Stories that weave history and spirituality with the thrill of a game like poker and a spy story in a young adult genre, have been successful in getting millennials’ approval, more so given the rise of OTT platforms.
Can you explain how you tried to balance various elements — poker game, spy thriller, spirituality and more — in the book?
I worked a lot in the development of four characters to give them their individual journeys towards a central plot, which helped shape a balanced narrative. While Alia sets off the story talking to a Buddha, underlining the spiritual narrative, Suhana brings out elements of mythology. Jackie and Karan help pace the thriller narrative around a criminal circle and the introduction of a spy network to dismantle it.
Your two books have a spiritual tone. Do you lead a spiritual life?
Experimentally, yes! I have always been open to learning spiritual and religious schools of thought and experimenting with their application in life. Nevertheless, as a human, I too go through ups and down with different emotions and make mistakes but the tools of meditative awareness and observation through a spiritual lens help me move faster and work towards creating something of my own – two books and many more to come!
(‘Gamble of Love’ Author’s Channel, ₹259)
