Doctors, patients tell stories of their relationship in new book

(New Delhi, Sep 3, 2019) Thirty doctors and five patients from across the world highlight how the bond of trust works as they share their real-life stories in a new book that also gives an inside view of the world of medicine.

Dear People, with Love and Care, Your Doctors: Heartfelt Stories about Doctor-Patient Relationship edited by doctors Debraj Shome and Aparna Govil Bhasker has stories of triumph, empathy, positivity, loss and, sometimes, failure.

The book is also about the modern experiences of doctors and patients – about what has changed and hasn’t, about recording that change and reflecting upon a way forward.

Published by Bloomsbury, the book has a foreword by the Dalai Lama who says that medicine is about love, kindness and compassion, and there is a crucial need of reviving these values for doctors and patients. There is another foreword by the Indian Medical Association.

Besides articles by eminent doctors V Mohan, Pradeep Chowbey, Ravi Wankhedkar, Nitin Kadam, S Natarajan, Lalit Kapoor, Subramania Iyer, Jesse Berry, Wolfgang Gubisch, Gabriela Casabona, Kamal Mahawar and many others, the book has a chapter by Shome and Bhasker on Manifesto of Doctor and Patient’s Rights.

Patients too have written their experiences with doctors and healthcare systems globally.

The authors say there are many discouraging stories of the strained doctor-patient relationship in the media on a daily basis and widespread distrust exists between both, patients and doctors, such that it almost feels like people are at war with their healthcare providers.

“The reasons are plenty and maybe they can be best addressed by a deep introspection by both doctors and patients,” they say.

“Like patients and their families look for doctors who they can trust, doctors also want to treat patients who can be trusted. Breach of trust can be from either side and the repercussions are equally strong,” they say.

According to Shome and Bhasker, the book is a peek into “our lives which are closely intertwined together, the predicaments and ethical dilemmas both doctors and patients face, and most importantly it is about the changing metrics of the doctor-patient relationship”.

Women, debut novelists dominate DSC Prize 2019 entries

(New Delhi, Sep 1, 2019) With the longlist of the 2019 DSC Prize for South Asian literature set to be announced later this month, the presenters said an analysis of the entries shows emergence of debut novelists and strong presence of women authors.

The USD prize, which is now in its ninth edition, has received a record number of 90 entries this year, they said.

The submissions came in from 42 publishers across 55 imprints from Asia, Europe and North America, highlighting increasing diversity and global interest in South Asian writing.

As the prize is specifically focused on South Asian fiction writing, its entries serve as a bellwether of the trends and developments taking place in the literary landscape of the region, the presenters said.

Of the 90 novels received, 37 (or 41 per cent of the total entries) are penned by debut authors. Women authors continue to make their presence felt in this year’s submission list with as many as 42 novels (or 47 per cent of the total entries) written by women, and an additional six women writers involved as translators.

Forty per cent of these women authors are first time writers. More and more first time novelists are writing about this region as the tapestry of South Asian life offers them a rich canvas of emotions and issues which reinforces their own unique first-hand experiences, the presenters said.

Commenting on the diversity of the entries received, Surina Narula, co-founder of the DSC Prize said, “The ninth year of the DSC Prize entries reflect the growing importance of South Asian literature in the global literary scene.”

She said it is evident from the fact that more than a quarter of the participating publishers this year are based outside the region compared to the first year when there were very few entries from outside India.

“There is also an immense diversity of themes relevant to South Asian life reflecting the changing dynamics and aspirations of its people. It is also very encouraging to see entries from many women and debut writers and translations,” she added.

The presenters said a total of 42 publishers from across the world sent in entries of which 30 per cent are based outside the South Asian region in countries like the UK, the US, Canada, and Singapore.

This year, there have been several entries translated from Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Assamese, Kannada and Hindi which offer a glimpse into the South Asian life lesser known.

The DSC Prize, instituted by Surina and Manhad Narula in 2010 and administered by the South Asian Literature Prize & Events Trust, follows a comprehensive process. The entries for 2019 are at present being read by a five-member international jury panel.

The longlist will be announced on September 26 here and the shortlist on November 6 in London. The winner will be announced on December 16 at the Nepal literature festival in Pokhara.

Since 2016, the winner is announced in different South Asian countries by rotation. In 2016, it was awarded at the Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka and in 2017, the prize was given to Anuk Arudpragasam at the Dhaka Lit Fest in Bangladesh. The 2018 prize was presented at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet in January.

Kannada author Jayant Kaikini won the 2018 prize along with translator Tejaswini Niranjana for his work “No Presents Please”.

The previous winners are H M Naqvi (Pakistan), Shehan Karunatilaka (Sri Lanka), Jeet Thayil and Cyrus Mistry (both India), American author of Indian origin Jhumpa Lahiri, Anuradha Roy (India) and Anuk Arudpragasam (Sri Lanka).

Our industrial zones base for Indian firms to expand across Gulf: UAE official

(New Delhi, Sep 1, 2019) Indian companies are now using industrial zones such as KIZAD in Abu Dhabi as a base to expand across the Gulf Cooperation Council as well as increase exports to countries in the Middle East and further afield to Africa, a top UAE official said Sunday.

According to Falah Mohammad Al Ahbabi, member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, there has been significant investment from India in Abu Dhabi Ports’ subsidiary Khalifa Industrial Zone (KIZAD).

“Some USD 90 million has been attracted in Indian investment at the zone since it opened in 2012. We believe this is a reflection of the powerful combination of Abu Dhabi’s strategic location, KIZAD’s logistics efficiencies and the connectivity offered by Khalifa Port,” Al Ahbabi told PTI.

He said Indian companies across the metals, food processing and packaging, pharmaceutical, construction and automotive industries have been household names in the UAE for decades.

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the UAE, where he was decorated with the Order of Zayed, would further strengthen relationship and increase trade between the two nations, which already stood at nearly USD 60 billion annually.

Al Ahbabi, who is also chairman of Abu Dhabi Ports, is of the view that both India and the UAE have extensive maritime pedigrees and a vision for the future that sees the industry at the forefront of global trade through harnessing the latest trends and technologies, from automation to artificial intelligence.

“Indeed, Maqta Gateway, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Ports, has been testing international blockchain solution Silsal with MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company to provide a seamless and secure link between stakeholders across the trade community,” he said.

“Meanwhile, in India, the Sagarmala Programme aims to harness the full economic potential of India’s long coastline, its potentially navigable inland waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes,” he added.

The UAE government has identified more than 400 projects entailing an investment of USD 123 billion over 10 years in port modernisation and new port development, as well as improving port connectivity, logistics and industrialisation.

To help Indian businesses grow internationally, Abu Dhabi Ports is investing heavily into port, industrial and logistics infrastructure, setting ambitious targets to make sure there are right capacity and tools in place, he said.

“Khalifa Port, for example, aims to increase container volume capacity to 9.1 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) over the next five years. And we have committed AED 1 billion (USD 272 million) to expand and transform the Port of Fujairah. These expansions will improve Indian trade and energy shipping routes and help export-oriented Indian businesses grow,” he said.

“We are also working to further improve the ease of doing business in Abu Dhabi, in line with Ghadan 21, the three-year, AED 50 billion (USD 13.6 billion) development accelerator programme for the emirate,” he added.

Last month, Abu Dhabi Ports announced an agreement with All India Plastics Manufacturers’ Association (AIPMA) to support Indian polymer investors through KIZAD Polymers Park, a tailor-made manufacturing and distribution location for the industry.

“We believe this will support the growth of India’s thriving plastics and polymers industry,” Al Ahbabi said.

He said that the partnership between the UAE and India can help boost development on Indian coastlines and enable Indian businesses to expand across the Middle East.

“At Abu Dhabi Ports, we share this vision for the maritime sector, which is why we have launched a five-year strategy to increase capacity at Khalifa Port, the flagship port of Abu Dhabi Ports and one of the region’s biggest maritime hubs.

“We aim to increase capacity from the current 2.5 million TEU to 9.1 million TEU. This includes the new CSP Abu Dhabi Terminal; positioning Abu Dhabi as the regional hub for COSCO’s global network of 37 ports around the world. Trial operations began in April, and full operations are due to start shortly,” he said.

According to Al Ahbabi, the UAE’s strategic location between the east and west is a huge advantage for businesses looking to access the potential of the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Africa.

“The potential of this location is being harnessed through the UAE’s world-class transportation infrastructure with multimodal connectivity by road, ports, and air networks; connecting you to 4.5 billion consumers,” he said.

On the Port of Fujairah, which creates a new gateway to the Gulf from the Indian Ocean, he said it is the only multi-purpose port on the Eastern seaboard of the UAE and is located on the Emirates’ Indian Ocean coast, close to the east-west shipping routes.

“By harnessing this strategic location and improving the port’s capacity and facilities, we are creating a new gateway to the UAE and the wider Arabian Gulf region, increasing connectivity to India, Africa and Asia.”

Penguin to publish Taslima’s 12 new titles in English

(New Delhi, Aug 25, 2019) Penguin Random House India Sunday announced the acquisition of 12 new titles in English by controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, with the first of these books to come out in 2021.

The titles will range from autobiographical writings to essays, fiction, short stories, and poetry.

Nasreen said this body of work represents her dream of an ideal world – one which is equal in all aspects, whether gender, caste or religion.

“With these books, I am sharing my thoughts and ideas in different formats – essays, novels, and poems – each focussing on very pertinent social issues, from feminism to humanism, and giving a voice to the voiceless,” the author said.

“It is an honour to be a woman writing in this day and age, removed from fear and bound by the vision of a society that respects women and diversity. Publishing with Penguin is a huge opportunity for me to take my ideas to a wider audience, perhaps even inspire them to build a world that isn’t based on compromises,” she added.

The 12 books will be published from 2021 onwards under the Hamish Hamilton imprint of Penguin Random House.

Nasreen is known for her powerful writing on women’s oppression and unflinching criticism of religion, undeterred and unruffled by forced exile and numerous fatwas demanding her head. Her 43 books have been translated into 30 languages.

Nasreen had to leave Bangladesh in 1994 in the wake of death threats by fundamentalist groups for her alleged anti-Islamic views. Since then she has been living in exile.

She has also stayed in the US and Europe during the last two decades.

At present, she is staying in India on a residence permit. A citizen of Sweden now, Nasreen has been getting residence permit on a continuous basis since 2004.

According to Premanka Goswami, senior commissioning editor at Penguin Random House India, “Nasreen is one of the most fearless voices of our times. Through her writings, she has always envisioned an egalitarian society.”

Ranjana Sengupta, deputy publisher, Penguin Random House India said Nasreen is not just an “immensely talented writer, but the clarity of her vision records the world with unflinching honesty and compassion”.

Book to tell Flipkart’s story

(New Delhi, Aug 23, 2019) A new book will recount the story of how the Bansals built Flipkart and how internet entrepreneurship was made a desirable occupation.

Written by Mihir Dalal, “Big Billion Startup: The Untold Flipkart Story” is also a story of big money, power and hubris, as both business and interpersonal complexities weakened the founders’ control over their creation and forced them to sell out to a retailer whose dominance they had once dreamt of emulating, publisher Pan Macmillan India said.

IIT graduates Sachin and Binny Bansal founded the company out of a Bengaluru apartment which went on to become India’s biggest e-commerce startup. Established in October 2007, Flipkart began as an online bookstore.

Subsequently, the startup’s reputation grew, so did its value, with venture capitalists in India and abroad investing.

The book was acquired at auction from Anish Chandy at Labyrinth Literary Agency and its screen adaptation rights have been acquired by a leading producer, Pan Macmillan said.

According to Dalal, little is known about the people behind Flipkart and the entire story of its journey as it unfurled during the process of writing the book, was still an eye-opener for him.

Pan Macmillan managing director Rajdeep Mukherjee termed the book as a “must-read for anyone who has ever shopped online”.

Senior Commissioning Editor of the publishing house Teesta Guha Sarkar said the book is a “brilliantly recorded, superbly recounted tale for our times, about dreams and destiny, friendships and failures, ambition and power, as they played out within and around India’s largest internet startup”.

The book will be out in October.

Assam Accord polluted state’s politics, spawned insurgency: Book

(New Delhi, Aug 18, 2019) The Assam Accord of 1985 didn’t bring permanent peace to the state and seemed to have delivered only discord and divisions, says a new book.

Signed between the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and the leaders of the Assam Movement, the Accord polluted the politics of the state and spawned insurgency, claims Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty in her book “Assam: The Accord, The Discord”.

“The common people were caught in a bind; they didn’t know who was the enemy, who a friend – the state or non-state actors,” she says.

According to her, Assam’s is an old story, where each player, in the course of time, has become both a victim and a perpetrator in each other’s eyes.

“Each player is wounded, exhausted, bitter.”

She says she has tried to “present as many facts as possible in order to help the interested reader figure out the complexities of the Assam story”.

Pisharoty rues that the mainstream narrative in India rarely includes Assam, especially when it speaks of the two milestones that have defined the making of the modern Indian polity – the Partition and the Emergency.

“Both events had a bigger role to play than acknowledged in shaping the people and the politics of Assam. Perhaps it would not be entirely wrong to call the Assam Movement an offshoot of the politics that emerged from the Emergency,” she asserts.

“Yet another point to consider is the impact of the Bangladesh Liberation War on the border state. The country rejoiced at the creation of Bangladesh; it became a jewel on the crown of prime minister Indira Gandhi, but the exodus of refugees from across the border evoked old historical fears and triggered widespread unrest in Assam that went unrecorded, unheeded, in mainstream India.

“In course of time, it festered and let loose a tide that is yet to subside,” she writes in the book, published by Penguin Random House.

A six-year agitation demanding identification and deportation of illegal immigrants was launched by the influential students’ organisation AASU in 1979. It culminated with the signing of the Assam Accord on August 15, 1985, in the presence of Rajiv Gandhi.

On December 24, 1985, for the first time in the state’s post-independent history, a regional party – the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) – assumed office at the Janata Bhawan, the state’s administrative headquarters. AASU president Prafulla Mahanta, as president of the newly formed party, became chief minister.

The subsequent years also the rise of the militant group ULFA, the state in turmoil and split in the AGP, then unification and again dissidence.

The book also discusses topics like language movement, NRC and citizenship bill and the surge of the BJP in Assam and its subsequent accession to power in 2016.

She says it was pertinent to set the Assam Movement against the conundrum that the state finds itself in currently – the controversial updating exercise of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), 1951, and the vehement public opposition to insert an amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955, by the Narendra Modi-led NDA government.

She says that the biggest challenge the indigenous communities of Assam is staring at is whether to remain an Assamese, or a ‘khilonjia’ (indigenous) first, or bow to a rising wave prominently emanating since 2016 in the state to be a Hindu first.

“The BJP’s push for the citizenship bill livened up that question in people’s mind like never before. It led several among the Assamese Muslim community too to ponder where would they figure in such an eventuality.

“If the majority of the people opt for the latter in the bargain for a solution to the festering Assam problem, certain vital compromises would have to be made concerning the very veins of the Assamese/’khilonjia’ identity,” she writes.

When Diana wanted to help AIDS patients in Kolkata

(New Delhi, Aug 18, 2019) Princess Diana was in awe of Mother Teresa and wanted to accommodate a small number of AIDS patients in Kolkata after the legendary nun talked about it.

A new book “The Journey of a Wise Man: LM Singhvi”, a pictorial biography of the statesman by his son, Abhishek Singhvi, brings to light many interesting nuggets.

Diana and her husband Prince Charles had an abiding friendship with LM Singhvi, India’s longest-serving high commissioner to the UK in the early nineties.

Published by Palimpsest, the book has rare photographs and documents of historical importance. One such picture shows the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at a spiritual session with a Jain Muni in 1962, offering a valuable insight into his persona given his scientific temperament.

“I read with great interest of your visit to Mother Teresa. I have the fondest memories of my meeting with her and she is constantly in my thoughts,” Princess Diana wrote to Singhvi in a letter dated May 1, 1997.

“I would love to be involved with the house to accommodate a small number of AIDS patients in Calcutta and am deeply touched that Mother Teresa thought of asking me,” she continued.

In another letter from Kensington Palace, dated February 10, 1997, the Princess expressed her keenness to work for India. “If you, High Commissioner, felt that I could help in your country in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me.”

Prince Charles, on the other hand, stressed a special connect to India seeking to bracket himself with the ‘midnight children’. In his letter of August 16, 1996, he wrote, “Having been conceived a few months after the transfer of power, I feel a particular affinity in age with the Republic of India.”

The author, a Rajya Sabha member and a legal expert, throws light on the circumstances leading to his father’s pioneering initiatives on the Indian Diaspora project, institution of the Lokpal and panchayati raj heading two high-power committees.

The book also has essays by former diplomats Lalit Mansingh and Gopalkrishna Gandhi, former CJI R C Lahoti and veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on different aspects of L M Singhvi’s contribution to diplomacy, politics, culture and jurisprudence.

Abhishek Singhvi describes his father as a remarkable man who was a polyglot, knowledgeable about Sanskrit, Hindi and English literature.

Jeffrey Archer back with new series

(New Delhi, Aug 18, 2019) Jeffrey Archer is back, this time not with a detective story but a tale of a detective.

“Nothing Ventured” is the first book of the new William Warwick Series in the style of Archer’s bestselling “The Clifton Chronicles”.

William is a family man and a detective who will battle throughout his career against a powerful criminal nemesis.

William always wanted to be a detective. Much to his father Sir Julian Warwick QC’s dismay, he decides not to become a barrister like him and his sister Grace but join London’s Metropolitan Police Force.

After graduating from university, William begins a career that will define his life: from his early months on the beat under the watchful eye of his first mentor, Constable Fred Yates, to his first high-stakes case as a fledgling detective in Scotland Yard’s arts and antiquities squad.

Investigating the theft of a priceless Rembrandt painting from the Fitzmolean Museum, he meets Beth Rainsford, a research assistant at the gallery who he falls hopelessly in love with, even as Beth guards a secret of her own that she’s terrified will come to light.

While William follows the trail of the missing masterpiece, he comes up against suave art collector Miles Faulkner and his lawyer, Booth Watson QC, who are willing to bend the law to breaking point to stay one step ahead of William.

Meanwhile, Faulkner’s wife, Christina, befriends William, but whose side is she really on? “Nothing Ventured”, published by Pan Macmillan, seeks to answer that. The book will be out on September 5.

Archer, whose novels and short stories include “Kane and Abel” and “Cat O’ Nine Tales” besides the “Clifton Chronicles”, was a member of the House of Lords for over a quarter of a century.

Books revisit Netaji’s life, times

(New Delhi, Aug 17, 2019) Two new books take a look on Subhas Chandra Bose’s life and times with one of them dubbed by his daughter as a “lively history of a person like Netaji”.

“Mahanayak” by Vishwas Patil traces Netaji’s steps from India to Germany, Italy, Singapore, Japan and Burma. Replete with details drawn from the Indian revolution, this is a historical novel that reads like a fast-paced thriller.

“Mahanayak” was first published in 1998 in Marathi by Rajhans Prakashan. Now it has been brought out in English by Eka, an imprint of Westland and endorsed by Netaji’s daughter Anita Bose-Pfaff. The book has been translated into English by Keerti Ramachandra.

“By choosing to present a lively history of a person like Netaji who has certainly led a life which did not lack drama, suspense and romanticism you certainly pay him a true homage. Your treatment of history is in favourable contrast to some so-called factual ‘analyses’ of authors who pedal outrageous non-sense about Netaji’s life after death,” says Bose-Pfaff.

“A novel conveys to the readers a more life-like image of the persons involved. This is bound to touch the readers at an emotional level, thereby bringing to life or keeping alive a history which most have not experienced personally,” she adds.

In the book, Patil recreates the life of a man who was twice elected president of the Congress, and quit to follow his own vision, forming the Indian National Army.

His defiant nationalism provoked anger and distrust.

“When I visited Japan 23 years ago, Netaji’s many companions and comrades like Negishi were alive. For this project, I spent seven years of my life on research and visited all the concerned countries and places wherever Netaji went,” the author says.

“I am delighted with such a fine endorsement to my novel by Anita Pfaff,” he adds.

According to Eka Publisher Minakshi Thakur, “Vishwas Patil’s novel is a well-informed and nuanced portrayal of the life and times of Subhas Chandra Bose. It reads like a novel, a movie script, a book of popular history – there’s something in it for every kind of reader.”

The other book coming up coinciding with Netaji’s 74th death anniversary on August 18 is Shreyas Bhave’s “Prisoner Of Yakutsk”.

After his alleged death in a plane crash on August 18, 1945 and investigation of three commissions to find the truth, numerous stories have been published on the case, over the years.

“Prisoner Of Yakutsk” takes from the conclusion of the 2005 Mukherjee Commission report which concluded that the initial documents were destroyed in a routine coarse by the government and there was a secret plan to ensure Bose’s safe passage to the USSR with the knowledge of the Japanese authorities.

Coupled with a statement by a then Member of Parliament reaffirming that as confirmed to him by a Russian agent, Bose, who had survived the crash, was then captured by the Soviet and imprisoned in Cell no 45 of the Yakutsk prison, the book claims.

“Prisoner Of Yakutsk’ is written as a mystery-thriller with the disappearance of Subhash Chandra Bose at its core.

On Bose’s death anniversary, Ashis Ray, the London-based author of “Laid to Rest: The Controversy over Subhas Chandra Bose’s Death” published last year, took strong exception to reports that Netaji became ‘Gumnami Baba’.

“The so-called Gumnami Baba was a suspected murderer. To even remotely suggest he was Subhas Bose is the greatest insult to one of the leading lights of the Indian freedom movement, who sacrificed his life for the independence of his country,” he says.

“This slander must stop. Indian authorities need to take action against peddlers of such character assassination who make money from spreading calumny and misleading innocent people,” he adds.

In a chapter entitled “Cock-and-Bull Stories” in “Laid to Rest”, Ray writes that Krishna Dutt Upadhyay (the Baba’s real name) “allegedly murdered a colleague called Brahmadev Shastri in 1958 and then vanished from the scene”.

Ray’s book, published by Roli, provides a definitive account of Bose’s death. It has a foreword by Bose-Pfaff.

Ex-diplomat Rajiv Dogra pens story of friendship, love and loss

Zafri Mudasser Nofil

(New Delhi, Aug 16, 2019) Former diplomat Rajiv Dogra, who has penned two books on Indo-Pak relations and the Durand Line, is equally at ease with fiction and has just come out with his third novel.

Dogra, who was India’s Ambassador to Italy and Romania, the Permanent Representative to the United Nations Agencies in Rome and Consul General in Karachi, says fiction comes naturally to him though non-fiction fulfils him.

His latest novel “Second Night” is a story of friendship, love and loss; and, in his words, a “Thousand and One Nights” compressed into one night.

“Second Night”, published by Rupa, is about a woman determined to escape and a man who has vowed to find her. An unforgettable tale of friendship unfolds as three friends come together in Mussoorie to spend the most amazing night of their lives.

“Sometimes we restrict love to a narrow space of man, woman relationship. But human emotions can be rich in a variety of other ways. There is the bond between siblings. And that between friends too,” he says.

“That apart, the question which is being asked in India and outside for sometime is this: is the ‘novel’ dead? I remember a conversation some years ago with British journalist and writer Ian Jack. We were in a reflective mood talking of this and that when he unexpectedly sprang this question at me, is novel dead?

“I recall having replied that as long as there is variety in human interaction people will keep writing about it. And the novel will keep surprising the world with its newness,” Dogra told PTI in an interview.

“Second Night” is unusual in its range, he says.

What prompted him to write a romantic novel?

“I recall my first visit to Verona in Italy. There, the legend maintains that Romeo and Juliet had actually lived in houses that still stand not too far from each other. Juliet’s house draws people from all over the world and its walls are covered by thousands of messages in almost all languages known to man.

“Each one of those messages beseeches Juliet to help the young in their love. I have been there a number of times since, but that first look stayed with me. That amazing phenomenon kept haunting me urging me to write and add a fresh chapter to that splendid theme,” he says.

Ever since Dogra can remember, stories have bubbled over in his mind.

“Fiction snared me when I was very young. I used to lie at night in my engineering college hostel room dreaming not of how machines whir, but how the next story I write might spin. As for non-fiction, my daughter, who is a writer herself, convinced me that I had the stuff. And that I must contribute by taking to non-fiction as well,” he says.

For him, writing fiction is like floating in a dream.

“It is an act of creation and I like to savour it by writing at my pace, when the mood strikes me. Writing fiction becomes a feast in slow motion,” he says.

While writing non-fiction, Dogra becomes completely absorbed in the topic.

“I guess it must be the desire to know more about the subject. This was the case with both my books, ‘Where Borders Bleed’ and ‘Durand’s Curse’,” he says.

He is now writing a book on foreign policy and the legacy of Indian prime ministers and the “subject overwhelms my existence”.

“Second Night”, he says, is about people of flesh and blood; those one sees around every day.

Dogra feels there is a very thin line that separates the real from fiction.

“Something that I have heard in a conversation, a casual passing remark by somebody becomes the feed for my imagination. Characters begin to form in my mind and I start to put pen to paper. The characters are an image of the real.  But only to the extent of being the seed. How it sprouts and what shape a character takes is up to me, and my imagination,” he says.

Dogra uses Mussoorie as the backdrop for his novel. Asked why, he says, “I love the winters of Delhi, but I find its heat forbidding. It drains me. Ever since I can remember, mountains have been the welcome escape for me in summers.

“Our hill stations have a rhythm of their own. And each one has amazing stories to tell; some about ghosts, others about love; requited or unrequited. I have lived in Mussoorie at the National Academy as a young officer, and returned to it many times,” he says.

So when he decided to set “Second Night” among the mists, Mussoorie became an obvious choice.