Interview with Nikhil Rajagopalan

Nikhil Rajagopalan’s interests are very different from the degree (Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from VIT University and a Master’s degree in Bioscience - Infection and Immunity - from the University of Leeds, UK) he holds. A complete anthisesis to his academic interests, Nikhil in his spare time simply loves writing flash fiction on his blog and has been regularly posting blogs since 2008. In his posts he explores the kind of love, relationships and friendhsips that exist today. He has contributed a story for the short story collection Down The Road

When he isn’t writing, Nikhil is found sketching, learning Japanese or sitting down with a good novel.

BookChums chats up with Nikhil Rajagopalan about his subjects, style of writing and his favourite authors

You blog about the shallow ‘friendships’ on social networking sites, estranged relatives, walking alone on a path, are happy when you do not have to take anything at face value and can intelligibly critique all that you saw. Why do you prefer to write about such unhappy, dark side of relationships?

Well, some of the blog readers can get the idea that I'm a dark and mysterious person, aloof from society judging by the posts that I've been writing. But we have to come to terms that the world is not all sunshine and butterflies; relationships can go sour, families can be torn apart by misunderstandings and lack of trust in each other. I would simply like to explore that dark world from a literary point of view; to flesh out the sadness and angst that are a part and parcel of any relationship.

You hold a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from VIT University and a Master’s degree in Bioscience from the University of Leeds, UK. So how did short stories happen and that too ones that concentrate on human feelings and the emotions?

I have a rather unconventional approach to writing fiction. I always start with the ending and I work backwards to the start. This way I know exactly how the story ends, but I'm free to come to that ending from a variety of angles. And I don't base my short stories on personal experiences or those of others. I may be walking to University, on the 50A bus back to my apartment, sitting at the Dubai Creek at dusk or just simply listening to my iPod, when an idea hits me. Once that happens I get to work and type out a draft and save it. I come back to it later in the day after thinking about the plot and make any necessary changes. Then it gets posted to the blog.  I write stories about emotions because they are deep and complex and we get to probe and explore those complexities using nothing but our words.

Why have you chosen to write flash fiction? What are the challenges of writing with extreme brevity?

Flash fiction is brilliant because it challenges the author to blow away the reader's mind while keeping a check on the word limit. The author has to be terse in his writing,but simultaneously elaborate on the story,plot and the characters. But with a lowered word count, the author sometimes may be unable to communicate his ideas effectively and the reader may be confused about what the former has to say.

Flash fiction or short stories is a form of writing that purists do not particularly like. However some say it is meant for youngsters on-the-go. Comment.

I disagree. This seems to imply that youngsters have little time on their hands to spend reading or that they have short memory spans. In my humble opinion, short stories are to the point and make an impact just as good (or even better) than conventional pieces. Flash fiction and short stories are just different styles of expression.

You mention that you particularly dislike the very simple writing style of a popular best selling author as it hardly creates an impact and does not challenge the reader. Your favourite author/book and why?

The point must be noted that an author need not use the so called "GRE words" (a misnomer for advanced vocabulary) to make an impact on his audience, but the plot must be deep and compelling. Take one of my favourite authors Haruki Murakami. In Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the Shore the language is very simple, but the reader is compelled into reading the book again and again to interpret hidden metaphors. A good example is in the former book, where Naoko can be seen as Death and Midori can be seen as Life, and at the end of the book, Watanabe calls out from "this place that was no place" (likened to the metaphorical deep well that Naoko was afraid of being trapped in) ,choosing Midori (Life) over Death. Of course that "popular best selling author" is not a postmodern novelist, but the above point can be adopted by him in his future works.

Some of my favourites besides Murakami's works are Atonement by Ian McEwan, Consequences of the Heart by Peter Cunningham and the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien. The sweeping prose and the vivid landscapes truly capture the imagination.

Apart from writing what are your other interests?

I enjoy sketching and colouring the sketches with Photoshop. I'm learning basic Japanese myself, but haven't had the time to enroll in classes.