Soup curry
Author Raksha Bharadia, editor of the bestselling Indian Chicken Soup series, set out on the “Westland-Landmark Chicken Soup for the Indian Soul Tour” at the Landmark bookstore in Gurgaon on Sunday.
The tour, which will see Bharadia conduct workshops, sharing the “secret formula” to write a chicken soup story, travels to Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Chennai, and will conclude in Hyderabad on May 21.
Excerpts from an interview:
Q. What triggered the pan-India tour?
A. As a chicken soup series compiler, I am always on the lookout for fresh authors, and each one of us have not one but many chicken soup stories within us, stories that are not just inspiring for the readers, but cathartic for the writers themselves. This workshop is an attempt to help people identify those stories lying dormant and persuade them to pen them down.
Q. Publishing in India is becoming very vibrant now. How often are you approached by people wanting some tips to pen down their own stories?
A. Very often. From the stories that I have received so far (more than 3,000 by now) I do believe that people are receptive to suggestions and willing to put in the work if they know exactly what needs to be done. We have at times worked through 3-4 drafts before a story got finalised. Needless to say it is as gratifying for me as it is for them.
Q. What is the age group and the professional backgrounds of people who frequent your workshops?
A. Since chicken soup titles span across all ages (we will eventually have a “kids soul” and currently I am working on “golden soul”), culture, economic strata etc and also since most of us, whether writers or non writers, do hold this desire to express our innermost influences through the written word, I am expecting a motley bunch.
Q. Do you see a lot of potential in the youngsters who are part of your workshops?
A. Absolutely. For one, they are the ones who are caught in this flux more than any other age group and I also see a sense of honesty in them which works very well for chicken soup series.
Q. The series has done incredibly well. What do you think are the ingredients of its success in India?
A. I think because the readers identify with the issues, challenges, blocks that the stories bring forth and thus do not feel “alone” in facing what they do.
Also, these stories give them a sense of hope and motivates them as well to try different routes to a situation or a problem as shared by our contributing authors.
Q. How was the experience of working on the Mother’s Soul?
A. Mother’s Soul was extremely gratifying and if I had to sum up in one line I would say that ‘Mother’s role makes an ordinary person ‘extraordinary’! Truly, if unconditional love is there on this earth it is in a mother for her child!
Q. What do we expect the Father’s Soul?
A. Humour, those unexpressed emotions written and unashamedly confessed to, tales of remorse and change…
Q. What are you currently working on?
A. I will begin work on Chicken Soup for the Indian Golden Soul. Besides the chicken soup, I am working on a few other projects too.
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