A graphic designer and copywriter by profession, Vibhuti Bhandarkar began blogging a few years ago and ended up churning a fast-paced and delightful collection of ten short stories, Not Totally Unbelievable. Talking about her life and her passion for writing, Vibhuti told us upcoming work as well. Read on.
Tell us a bit about your professional and personal background
I was born and brought up in Mumbai, India. I was a student of G.D. Art at The Sophia Polytechnic in Mumbai and I arrived in Pune only in 2003. I pursued my career as a professionally qualified Graphic Designer & Copywriter here, in Pune. Having worked on many big Adv’ campaigns and assignments for the Advertising Industry in Pune I had more than 3 years of work experience in my kitty when I turned to Feature Journalism in 2007. I have contributed to The Times of India Bi-weekly Supplements-Eastside Plus & Westside Plus, Pune and Femina too.
What got you interested in blogging?
My mother and later even my father-in-law used to tell me stories, from their life’s experiences. Some were entertaining tales, some based on close encounters with the paranormal. We would have long hours of tête-à-tête and soon there would be others huddling around us listening, contributing and enjoying these story-telling sessions. I was always inspired to put these stories down on paper for I’ve always been a very passionate and prolific writer. I was itching to offer the world all the tales they’d shared with me. I also had a string of experiences myself. That’s how in 2006 I discovered blogging as the best possible media to get an audience for my writings, almost immediately and easily.
How did you stumble upon the idea of penning short stories? Did blogging contribute in any way to writing a collection of short stories?
When I got blogging to hone my creative writing skills, I was still exploring my writing capacities and capabilities. I was trying my hand at different genres of Story writing and was also posting a lot of poetry. Numerous accolades from fellow bloggers and writers from around the world strengthened my belief in myself as a storyteller. Within no time I had numerous blogger awards in my kitty won at jury based story-writing competitions organized by reputed Indian Blogging portals. It was as if God, through myriad strangers online, was showing me what I was cut out for. My niche was short story writing. Yes, if it wasn’t for blogging I would never have had the confidence to work towards my dream of becoming a published author some day.
How did you freeze in the title “Not Totally Unbelievable”?
When I was compiling the collection of my short stories I wanted to bring together only those stories that were closest to my heart. I picked 10 short stories narrating the extra-ordinary experiences in the lives of the seemingly most ordinary people from the Occident, Orient and India. These pieces of fiction are essentially true stories written out of my personal, my mother’s and my father-in-law’s experiences. I was convinced that these stories would compel my reader to believe in the mysterious, magical powers and forces around us, within us. And that’s how I locked down on ‘NOT TOTALLY UNBELIEVABLE’ as the title of my book.
Among the 10 short stories and the characters therein, is there anyone character that is the closest to you? Or inspired from someone you know?
This book is dedicated to 2 of the most precious gems of my life- my late mother and my late father-in-law whom I lost very suddenly through a twist of fate.
The 3rd story in the book titled ‘What If?’ is based on my mother and storytelling can’t get more real than that. I have tried to capture her personality in my words.
The 4th story in the book ‘A tryst with Cyclophobia’ is the only story in the book with a humorous intent. It is purely based on my father-in-law- Daddy. It gives us a tongue-in-cheek moral which Daddy truly believed in that everything is ordained to happen, there’s a higher power- GOD in even the silliest happenings in our life.
Though the rest of the fiction stories and characters are as real as them, my mother and Daddy will always be the closest to my heart. It is impossible to select one over the other.
Your take on full length novels vs. short story collections.
Full length novels are written for the voracious readers. There are more characters, experiences, imaginations in the story telling. There are various layers to the story-telling and make for an involving read. One can only do justice to a novel and its writer if one has ample time on hand to read the book at length.
Short story collections make for light and quick reading. They are written to bring an immediate effect on the minds of their readers. It is much more challenging for a short story to capture its reader’s imaginations within such minimalistic descriptions and restrictive constraints of word counts.
My shelf is a fully mixed bag. The novels demand my time so there’s a time and mood to wait for picking them up. The short story books are always ready for me when my mind needs a short jog down the lane of amusing imaginations. I love them both.
Name some of your favorite short story collections and writers (Indian as well as international writers)
Khushwant Singh, Rabindranath Tagore, R.K. Narayan, V.S.Naipaul, Guy de Maupassant, Salman Rushdie
If you had to choose between being a copywriter/graphic designer and a full time writer/author…what would be your pick? And why?
THEN I was happy being a copywriter because it gave me a different creative high. It was exciting, liberating and challenging to play with words and catch the reader’s eye with crisp sentences and apt words. It was all about the IDEAs I could come up with. I was single then and had all the time in the world to do as I please.
NOW I have more roles to play. I’m a wife and also a mother of an extremely naughty and energetic 3 year old son. My family is my priority, above my career options. I will therefore pick being a fulltime writer/author over my previous Avatar. It gives me the convenience to stay in touch with my creative genius and enjoy a balanced personal life too.
Among your peers, whose work have you liked the most?
By peers if you mean the authors whose books have been published recently, over the past couple of years, I enjoyed reading Amish Tripathi’s ‘Immortals of Meluha’ and am a big fan of Ashwin Sanghi’s works.
Also must mention that am looking forward to reading my Editor Mr. Oswald Pereira’s recently published novel ‘Newsroom Mafia’.
What next do we read from your desk?
I am currently working on a fiction novel for young adults, details of which I cannot reveal at this point. I am halfway through the book and am fervently working towards finishing it. Since I have a great inclination towards the occult I promise my readers its going to be steeped in magic, mystery and adventure.
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