Delhi-based author Rachna Bisht Rawat just launched Insomnia, featuring stories based on life in the armed forces. Her previous four bestselling books were also helmed on the Indian Army – 1965: Stories from the Second Indo Pakistan War; Shoot. Dive.Fly: Stories of Grit and Adventure from the Indian Army; The Brave: Param Vir Chakra Stories; and Kargil:Untold Stories from the War. The author tells The Morning Standard about what inspires her to regularly delve into stories around the army.
Can you tell us how is this book different from your previous work?
I have been writing stories about wars and war heroes. Not all the characters in Insomnia are heroic. They are ordinary people who have their own weaknesses and failings. Sometimes they rise above it all to perform extraordinary acts of courage and sometimes they don’t. Insomnia is a book more about emotion in its various forms and less about the army. You will meet characters who are dark, twisted, evil and at times brave as well.
Tell us about your interest in writing stories with the army as the subject.
Writing books about the army began when Penguin wanted an author for The Brave. Since I grew up in army cantonments, and spent my life among men and women in olive green, the stomp of their DMS boots is a regular fixture in my life. It is an environment I can easily recreate. Someday, I could do the same for journalism. Structure a story in a newspaper office – another place where I spent a lot of time.
Tell us about the lesser-known aspects of army life.
The easy camaraderie between officers, life in the Siachen glacier, tenures in Kashmir and the North East; the fun custom of ragging new officers by playing pranks on them, customs like the Bara Khana, the atmosphere inside army messes; are some of the things you will encounter in the book. Along with attempted murders and a few ghosts.