Hi Shubira, congratulations on the launch of Girl of Destiny!
Readomania: How did the idea of such a controversial story seed in your mind?
Shubira: Truth as they say is stranger than fiction. I had observed this phenomena of Shama’s (name changed) unusual and somewhat tumultuous childhood. Though I did not pay much attention to it at that time, it remained in the back of my mind. Later when I began writing, the thought struck me that I should write about Shama. But I was not writing a biography. I made a story of the entire episode, adding and deleting many aspects of my observations.
Readomania: Your story begins in the late fifties and ends around the nineties. Any specific reason for this?
Shubira:I suppose that the world has advanced so much that such a bizarre situation would have turned into something totally different in today’s time. Where is the time in today’s world to think so much about feelings and actions? The fifties and the sixties were slow ululating times with caring people, parents, friends, siblings and servants. Besides, some of the happenings actually began in the late fifties.
Readomania: Your protagonist Shama spent her formative years in the jail premises. You have described the jail premises and its inhabitants rather well. Did you have any first-hand experience of this life?
Shubira: I do have some experience of staying in the jail premises. One of our relatives was a senior jail official. We used to visit his home(s) wherever he was posted. One round of any jail premise was mandatory for us. That is how I came to know about the hierarchy of prisoners and other people too.
Readomania: Did you write down the plot points and chapter sequences of Girl of Destiny or did you just let it flow organically?
Shubira: Oh I had a tough time writing about Shama and how her destiny shaped her. Everything went for a toss once I began writing about her and her environs. Mundane characters would begin to take centre stage, sometimes nature would become the focal point. The tangents in the story ruled and tortured me. But how can you go ahead with the main characters out of the limelight? For me there was no plot except the initial stages of Shama’s life. After that it was just characters from the air and making them look plausible.
Shubira Prasad
Readomania: The story deals with many kinds of emotions—love, sense of betrayal, arrogance, cheating, anger and affection. Were these emotions part of your writing strategy?
Shubira: Not a strategy as such, but I knew that a girl with Shama’s background was bound to become arrogant and rude with secrets of her own, more enhanced with her beauty. With no one to guide her but everyone at her beck and call, it was bound to spoil her. But she had exemplary people surrounding her, right from her stepparents to her siblings and the servants too. These were her role models. Children learn from examples. That is why in spite of being so antithetical, she had her good points too.
Readomania: Which character and which part of the story were most tricky and challenging?
Shubira: Shama was the most challenging character in the story. Her beauty surpasses every girl in her generation. People become her slaves just by looking at her. That combined with her abnormal childhood makes her an intriguing character to sketch. She is loved by all but has nobody to call her own. She is surrounded by loving and caring people. She has steely determination, but at the same time is rude and arrogant too. There are many tricky parts in the story, but I found her divorce with her first husband Vicky the trickiest. Then her marriage to Abhay was also challenging when she was carrying someone else’s child.
Readomania: Who are your favourite writers, and what is your preferred genre as a reader?
Shubira: I have many favourite writers in English as well as in Hindi and some translations of Bengali and Russian too. In fact my list keeps on increasing and changing. Devaki Nandan Khatri, Narendra Kohli, interpretation of the Geeta by Dr. Radhakrishnan, Rabindranath Tagore, Dostoevsky, Ayn Rand, Somerset Maugham, Aldous Huxley…the list is endless. My preferred genre as a reader is fantasy, space and universe. All this is in our Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas too. I have read Jeffrey Archer, Robert Ludlum and other such writers and some Westerns too.
Readomania: How has reading influenced your writing? What else do you indulge in apart from writing?
Shubira: My father was a voracious reader. I have inherited his legacy. Plus, I was a lonely girl in an all-male household, with brothers and cousin brothers floating around, I turned to reading. Books were in plenty in my father’s collection, my school too had a wonderful library. All these different kinds of readings influenced me a great deal. Later, when I got married, I discovered to my delight that my husband too had a sizable collection of books. We are now trying to convert our personal library into a public library.
Being in an all-male household, my mother was worried. I was already a tomboy. So then I was taught classical music, classical dance, stitching, embroidery and other such so-called feminine activities. What has remained with me is knitting, gardening and cooking. These are my stress relievers.
Readomania: Which character influenced you the most in Girl of Destiny?
Shubira: Shama for one naturally. Then Abhay. They don’t make men like him anymore. His love and patience for Shama, his friendship with Ved, his respect and caring for elders, even servants is an example to follow. But he was still a human being when he finally runs out of patience and leaves Shama.
Readomania: Shama is moody, snooty, arrogant, stubborn, makes you wince, and yet she is relatable when one thinks of her background. Did you etch her character with this thought in mind?
Shubira: No, not at all, it just happened. I did get some pointers from some real-life events. In course of my writing I realized soon that Shama was going to be an anti-heroine.
Readomania: What do you think of the male characters of the story? Who is the sanest of all?
Shubira: All the male characters in the story are sane, loving and caring. Abhay can be termed as the sanest. I feel even Ved with his weak personality would have had a normal personality had Shama not badgered and manipulated him with her demands.
Readomania: You are an academician, an astrologer and a writer. Which profession do you favour the most and why?
Shubira: All of them are so interesting. I love teaching. When you are successful in making a child understand a difficult point, it gives you a great high. I loved interacting with my students, some of them are now good friends too with grown-up children of their own.
I am very much interested in the working of the planets and the universe. You make and read a person’s horoscope and you get to know so many things about that person. Some aspects apply and some don’t. It is very gratifying when the person complies with the remedies which I suggest and gets the desired outcome. On a lighter note, a man was wrongly blamed and suspended from his job. Apart from some remedies which I told him, I suggested he wear yellow whichever way he can. He visited me after a couple of days wearing yellow pants, yellow shirt, yellow belt, yellow everything! I couldn’t help smiling. He again came to me after two weeks or so, with a big box of sweets. Not only was he reinstated, he got his arrears too.
Writing too is a very satisfying profession. For me now it is like breathing. If you are happy you write, if you are unhappy you write. In times of stress, writing comes to my help. It is cathartic. I don’t have to write about my stress, just the fact that I have written something, anything, provides relief. Writing is like moulding coarse unrefined clay into a beautiful flower, leaf by leaf, petal by petal.
Readomania: How was the experience of getting published by Readomania?
Shubira: Readomania is a no-nonsense, no fuss and an excellent publishing house. It works fast, asks pertinent questions and goes about its work in a professional manner. I am very impressed by Readomania. Later, after my book was released, I was added to Readomania’s group of writers on WhatsApp. This is such a nice way of connecting with so many writers where everyone discusses their books, events and achievements. It gives you a feel of a go-getting book club.
Readomania: What are you working on next? Are there any new books on the horizon?
Shubira: I am working on a couple of stories and short stories too. Some of my readers are asking me to write a sequel to my trilogy on the war between humans and demons. I might do that too. The world is a canvas just waiting to be painted by various artists.
Readomania: Thank you Shubira! Do keep us entertained with your creativity. We wish you the very best for everything in the future!
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