“Creative writing works in mysterious ways. There are days when you follow a process, and go about it in a disciplined way. But there are days when nothing works,” says author Siddhartha Gigoo, whose collection of short stories “A Fistful of Earth and other stories” was recently launched at Café Turtle in Greater Kailash-1 in New Delhi by writer and publisher Urvashi Butalia.
Carrying a blue side-bag on his shoulder, the author-cum-poet remembers the time when he used to write a column for an English daily published in Jammu. “I started writing very early on. I used to write poems. In 2011 my novel, ‘The Garden of Solitude’ was published. Then this March, my second book ‘A Fistful or Earth and Other Stories’ came out. I’m a slow writer. Sometimes a passage takes a month. This is how it should be,” he says.
Crediting his family for his story writing skills, Siddhartha says his grandparents were marvellous story-tellers and his parents taught him literature. He also praises his wife for the support she provides. “My wife, Aishwarya Pillai, helps me wriggle out of tricky situations during writing. She reads my drafts dispassionately and is my fiercest critic. She taught me how not to get swayed easily.”
He says his daughter, Amia, ten-year-old, tells him to write in a way that children will enjoy. “Don’t write boring stuff. Be funny. One is always a learner,” he says.
Doesn’t he take a break while writing? “I take small breaks while writing at nights, and go to the balcony and look at the stars. There are marvellous events and conversations happening all around us.”
Asked about how he manages to write as he is working for a private firm, the author says he writes during the night because days are “chaotic and noisy”.
Nikos Kazantzakis, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Dostoevsky and Garcia Marquez are five novelists whom he admires. “Had it not been for their novels, I would not have been able to frame a sentence. I learnt by reading and re-reading their novels. Their novels are great teachers. One gets to learn about life, this world, human relationships, and most importantly, how one must live,” he says.
