Going on a solo journey when you are going through troubles in your daily life can teach you a lot, is what Richa S Mukherjee, tries to prove in her new book titled Excess Baggage. She has already authored the hilarious thriller, Kanpur Khoofiya Pvt Ltd, soon to be personified into a web series, and I Didn’t Expect To Be Expecting, which is another humorous take on what it means to be an independent woman.
Excess Baggage is the story of love, hope and takes a route of self-discovery, coated in intense laughter. The story features a mother and daughter who are constantly at loggerheads due to the baggage of their painful past and the incongruent choices that they have made through life.
When the quarrelling women unexpectedly become travel partners, they go on a journey that will eventually force them to reevaluate their lives. The book is peppered with wanderlust and witticisms, and just as Kanpur Khoofiya Pvt Ltd, it is set to get adapted into a movie.
Talking about infusing humour in the book, Mukherjee points out that it is easier to tackle difficult issues through writing laced with humour. “My writing gravitates to humour due to this facet. The ideas come organically. I am very absorbent of the things happening around me and I pick up ideas on the go,” she says. Mukherjee penned all her three books while moving in and out of Delhi.
“I lived in Delhi for a considerable part of my life, and have written in parks and heritage sites, especially poetry in Delhi winters. I especially miss Nehru Park, and Lodhi garden of the capital city. Now as I am in Mumbai, I miss this part of my life a lot,” says the ex-journalist and poet, who has also started to dabble in screenplays.