Ramayana inspires writer

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Ode to Dignity consists 1650 ballads

Author Vikrant Dutta wants to create a “definitive identity” for himself. The Air Force officer working with the President of India, decided to build this identity through writing. “I realised, barring two or three, including the mainstream writer Mukul Deva, there are not many people from Defence background who write. So, I decided to make an attempt and create an identity for myself through writing,” says Dutta.

An avid reader since childhood, Vikrant, who fed on encyclopaedias, novels, poems and all types of magazines in school library at Rashtriya Military School in Belgaum, decided to set himself a different target. For his creative satisfaction, he chose to write a novel, not in flowing language, but in rhyming Ballads. “I have a good sense of rhyme and so I thought I would write a novel in the ballad form, something which has not been attempted earlier.”
Vikram Seth had written The Golden Gate in iambic pentameter, but it was only Byron who wrote in ballad, the abcb rhyme. Hence, I decided to tell my story through ballads,” says Vikrant, who recently came up with his novel Ode to Dignity.
Vikrant’s novel talks about a young lieutenant who goes to give the news of death of his major to his widow. What ensues is a conversation between the two about their lives, and eventually them falling in love. The novel has over 1650 ballads.
It was not an easy task, but Vikrant held on to his dream and patience. “I set myself small targets and decided to write at least 10 ballads every day. I stuck to the practice and this is how I managed to complete the book in 10 months. My target was to write 2000 ballads, more than what Vikram (Seth) wrote, and I successfully achieved that,” he says.
There were days when rhyming may not work, but Vikrant did not let go till he actually put in a correct rhyming word. “You can’t go back to what you wrote the previous day as there comes a gap in the thinking process. I made sure to complete the target set on the very same day,” he adds.
There was never a moment that Vikrant thought of giving up on his ambitious dream. “There were times I would wake up thinking, “Oh! I did not write any thing today. The jittery feeling would force me to get back to writing”.
And now when Vikram’s book is out, he can’t stop thanking his mother. “She was my real inspiration, who introduced me to Sant Valmiki’s Ramayana written in Hindi chaupaiyan. I managed to do something similar,” says Vikrant, who is now looking forward to present his book to the President. “I am waiting to give her this book and get her feedback,” he concludes.