BENGALURU: I am a bad writer,” insists author Ashwin Sanghi, “What I’m good at is story-telling,” says the author whose latest offering is the Vault of Vishnu. “I write several drafts before I’m happy with it,” he says, giving us a clue into his writing process. Ashwin was the guest at The Indulge Time Pass hosted by author and senior journalist Kaveree Bamzai. Speaking about India and China, he talked about how the two great nations had so much of exchange. “The thought struck me when I was mixing sugar into a cup of tea and it was then that I realised that both tea and sugar, chai and chini, come from China,” he says.
“In fact, when you visit the temples of Shaolin you find the statue of Bhodhidharma and how Bodhidharma is better known in China, than it is in India. Also, the origins of Kung Fu come from Bodhidharma and he is very much Indian,” says Ashwin. “My idea was to popularise some of these concepts through my paperback novels. I may have achieved something.” Replying to Kaveri’s question on the security establishments in his writing, he says, “When I was writing the Vault of Vishnu, I thought, is this going to be a piece where everyone is on the same side? But that’s not the case, there’s a lot of grey areas and that’s what makes the characters interesting.”
Talking about the powerful women in the book, he said that Shakti is an important part of his life. He spoke about the five women in his life: “My mother, and my elder sister who pushed me to do what I wanted to do. The third person is my wife, who got me to write my book, The Rozabal Line. The fourth is my Rakhi sister, while the fifth is Ma Saraswathi herself, because when I look at what I’ve written, I realise I could not have written it without a divine force.” Speaking about his childhood, he said, “In Marvari households, the two magic words are debit and credit.
As long as the child grows up hearing them, he will grow up to be of some worth in life. Sanghis have been traditionally selling cars and auto parts since the 1920s. Growing up in that environment, one constant factor in my life, besides this, was my maternal grand granduncle who was very fond of reading. He would send me one book every week to read and during his lifetime he sent me over 300 books. And in return, every time he expected a letter from me about what I had read, why I liked or disliked it,” he explained. Kaveri wrapped up the session by asking what his next work of fic- tion is going to be and what he has been working on during the lockdown.
H e r e - sponded, “My old habit is never to share, till it comes out in print.” But he does reveal to us, “I’ve been working on two projects, the first was my own, not commissioned by anyone. I wanted to write a webseries using a story that I had in mind – for which I had to write an entire universe. I did that in my first 30 days. That is sitting with my agent now.
During the next 30 days, a client came along and wanted me to visualise a series that they were working on which had a historical element. They wanted it to be cutting edge and thillerish – perfectly suited to me. Over the next three months, I will work on a collaborative work based on mythology, but I can’t reveal anymore now. Once I’m done with that I will start the next book in the Bharat series.” So watch out for these new offerings from the author even as you tune into our Time Pass sessions.