"I am a bad writer," insists author Ashwin Sanghi, "but what I'm good at is storytelling,"
The Vault of Vishnu author was the guest at The Indulge Time Pass, a The New Indian Express webinar, hosted by author and senior journalist Kaveree Bamzai.
"I write several drafts before I'm happy with it," he said, giving a clue into his writing process.
Asked about India and China, he spoke about how the two great nations had so many links.
"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 said. "In fact when you visit the temples of Shaolin, you find the statue of Bodhidharma and Bodhidharma is better known in China, than in India. In fact the origins of King Fu come from Bodhidharma and he is very much Indian."
"My idea was to popularise some of these concepts through my paperback novels, and if I can do that I may have achieved something," he went on to add.
Talking about the powerful women in his books, 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 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, 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 (guiding me)."
Speaking about his childhood, he said, "In marwari households, the two magic words are debit and credit. As long as a child grows up hearing it, he will grow up to be of some worth in life. Sanghis have been into cars and auto parts since 1920s. Growing up in that environment, the one constant factor in my life besides these were my maternal grand uncle 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 it or disliked it."
Kaveri wrapped up the session by asking what his next work of fiction will be and whether he has been working during the lockdown.
He responded, "My old habit is never to share, till it comes out in print."
But he then went on to let on that "I've been working on two projects, the first was my own, not commissioned by anyone. I wanted to write a web series 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. The next 30 days a client came along and wanted me 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. The next three months I'm working 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."