Jumping Onto The Bandwagon

At first there was only Chetan Bhagat. Now a trend has started and we are hearing of new writers coming out of the woodwork. Penguin India has brought out the Metro Reads series and Rediff is carrying interviews of the authors and excerpts from their books. Nearly all of them have common responses regarding how they always wanted to write and how they took up full time jobs but remained a writer at heart.

Don't get me wrong; I really admire these guys and girls. They wanted to do something and they achieved it. I am also one of them and I also dream of being a published author. Reading about them gives me the encouragement to chase after my dreams. That's not what this blog post is about though. What attracted my attention was this sudden spurt of amateur authors. In one of the Rediff interviews a reader had posted the comment that this is just because of the overwhelming popularity of Chetan Bhagat as everyone now wants to emulate him, hoping to earn fame and money.

I wonder if this statement is true. Are these aspiring authors (including me, I may add!) just dazzled by fame and popularity? Did Mr. Bhagat really start a new trend? Or are these people merely following their dreams as he did? It seems to me to be a mixture of both. Writing a book always appeared to be an uphill task, meant only for those who are poets, visionaries, philosophers all rolled into one. We read the novels by Amitav Ghosh or Anita Desai, marvelled at their literary finesse and sighed inwardly, deploring ourselves that we could never be that 'good'. Probably we just buried our secret hopes of becoming an 'author. 'Then "Five Point Someone" changed the scenario. All of a sudden we woke up to the reality that its not the deep thoughts or elaborate imagery only that sell a novel, its about how good a raconteur you are and how you can connect with your readers. That is Mr. Bhagat's USP; all his books hit a chord with his readers. Now we have new writers drawing upon their experiences of working as a software engineer or of being in love to pen down stories that have a place in this real world.

Be encouraging people, not everyone dares to reach for their dreams. A proliferation of amateur writers may lead to the danger of the same stories being rehashed over and over again. But maybe, just maybe, a rough diamond may be discovered in this wave, which, when polished, can go on to became the shining glory in India's crown. And just to tell you, I really hope that this diamond will be me!