Father-son duo Ravi ‘Nirmal’ Sharma and Kartik Sharma have shared interests. Both are engineers (Ravi from Delhi College of Engineering and Kartik from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi) and love reading and writing. Together, they’ve written two books. The first one, The Quest of The Sparrows (2011), won them critical acclaim.
Even their second novel, Dare Dreamers (2018) by Rupa Publications, is much liked by young readers. It’s an inspiring story of an investment banker Rasiq and his journey to make it big in the world of business.
Talking about Dare Dreamers, both unequivocally say this book is their way of encouraging people to dream. Ravi says, “There’s little joy in following social templates. These trap people and make them insecure and disgruntled, while dreams give a meaning to life.”
The duo has also created a Dare Dreamer song, available for viewing on their YouTube channel and Facebook page. “Everyone has unique talents, which can turn us into superheroes. Each one of us is capable of doing something spectacular and amazing,” adds Ravi.
Inspired by Avengers?
“No. Our novel features real-life superheroes, who are all around us,” says Kartik, adding, “Our superheroes are driven by their own exceptional talent. That quality is in you, me, everyone. We just have to connect with it and believe in it. We love the Avengers but are definitely not awed by their other-worldly superpowers.” An Army jawan who risks his life saving people stuck in floods or a pilot who lands a plane safely with damaged landing gear are the real superheroes, feels Kartik.
A novel idea
The idea for the book came from their observing of the stark realities of life in India. The two mulled over the remarkable alacrity with which food delivery guys reach their customer in time as opposed fire brigade vans and ambulances that are usually delayed; how the large time windows between tests and results impact the treatment of TB and AIDS; and how every aspect in the world has a startup idea. “Except that no one cares about saving lives. That was when we hit upon the idea for the novel – a start-up for saving lives in record time,” Kartik adds.
Both had their own unique ideas. “A surprising number of ideas were stupid and hence shot down. But we followed the good ones,” says Ravi, adding that once the final draft was ready, it was impossible to discern who has written what.
“In this novel, the first part has my experiences as an investment banker, while the rescue missions were based on my father’s research,” chimes in Kartik, stressing that working on the initial drafts and connecting the work of two into a cohesive narration was a joint exercise. Kartik, adds, “Now, we don’t know who wrote what because the end result is seamless. Like water flowing in a river from two tributaries.”
Same interest, different tastes:
Though both love reading, each has a separate list of authors. Kartik loves the ‘slice of life’ works by Milan Kundera and Kazuo Ishiguro, while Ravi loves the works of Arthur Hailey, Jeffrey Archer, Agatha Christie and Frederick Forsyth.
“Recently, my son gave me Midnight’s Children and Cloud Atlas which hit me like tsunami. I will be reading more from Kartik’s list,” says Ravi. If it is travelling and meeting new people for Kartik, it is technology that gives Ravi a kick.