Interview with Maneesha Agrawal
Hello Readers,
I am back with a new interview. Today, I talk to a recently published writer Maneesha ji. Let us have a brief talk about her books and life.
Can you please introduce yourself to the world of literature?
I am MVG (Maneesha Agrawal) author of the Book “From Zero to One – The story of Manu”.
When did you start writing?
I started writing probably at the age of 11years, when I wrote a hindi poem for a children’s weekly called Baalmanch. I was invited to write for this publication which was a venture of the famous Nehru Baal Samiti.
When you published first?
My travelogues started getting published firstly with a magazine subscription called Travel Links. It was in 1999. But as the editor and Co-author, I got my first book titled “Corporate Failures of India” written by Sh Narendra Kumbhat published by Revti Publications, launched in March 2015.
Describe Maneesha in day to day life?
My day begins with a schedule that my work decides. If I have none, I like to spend my time at my favourite library, Rabindra Bhavan, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi.
What are your hobbies apart from writing?
I like to sketch in my leisure time apart from reading. I also like travelling to different and obscure places within my homeland….knowing the history attached to it or to the people there, is something that I always find myself involved in.
Tell us more about your book ?
My book is a perception….of a calamity mentioned in nearly all the major ancient texts of the world, that saw greater part of the human civilization washed away from the planet thousands of years ago. My protagonist Manu struggles to raise a fresh habitat on the banks of river Beas, which we now know as Manali (which actually derives its current name from Manu – namely Manu’s Sthali – the land of Manu).”
How he finds his way against the odds, and meeting his soulmate kamayani there, how he justifies his being the progenitor of a new race known after him (us Manavas literally meaning the followers of Manu) yet at the same time being the first human being in love makes the rest part of the chronicle.
How do you manage your writing time?
Maybe I can not answer as to what I usually do to manage my writing time. It’s so because I do not write as per a formal schedule. Sometimes it is in the morning, or often at night. Or it can go on for the whole day…. extending to very late hours at night! To say the fact I, do not write when I want to….I write when I have to
Your favorite writer and why?
My favorite writer(s) is essentially a list. Starting from Jaishanker Prasad and Hazariprasad in hindi, extending to Anthony Chekhov, Tolstoy, Maxim Gorki and Oscar Wilde, and the likes of Dickens, Austen and Ruskin Bond in English. I also like reading Rabindranath, Bankimchandra and Saratchandra. I find their work promote a transcendent sanctity into the human sensitivity that gets transferred onto the reader’s psyche while reading them. As per me, this should be the reason for any author to write a book.
What are your upcoming projects?
My next book is going to be an extension to the story of Manu. It’s an interesting research on the famous Caucasius mountain range, linking it to the plane of the Vedic era clans exhibited in my first book. It’s slated for a June 2017 launch, so it’s quite early to talk about it right now.
Any tips to the upcoming young generation.
I want to say just a word of advice for this already much creative upcoming generation of young writers “Read good quality literature first, before you decide to write”.
Maneesha in one sentence.
“I believe in what I write… And I take my honesty very seriously”. I think this is just the description of the person that I am.
Thank you Maneesha Ji for your time. I wish you all the best for your future endeavors.