Penning a love story is the most difficult task I feel. Not only is
it the most read genre but it also is difficult to write. As an author, I
know you need a force, an inspiration, conviction and the power to
convince while writing a romance. It was therefore a pleasant surprise
when I read A Quest For Spring
early this month and fell in love with it. It is not just a love story
but it is a love story which takes place between two different states-
J&K and Pune.
Now, while it looks like two different states, well,
in reality it isn’t.
J&K is a country within a country and hence,
this story becomes unique in itself. The author manages to retain the
reader attention despite the 400 pages weight of the book.
It is this story and the zeal of author that made me want to quiz her about the book.
Following is the author interview of Monica Dixit Majumdar of A Quest Of Spring.
*This love story is unique and yet very closer to reality. What inspired you to write this story?
The one thought that drove me to write this book was the unseeming
possibility of ending together. I wanted to write about people who
falter and fail in their relationships yet learn to trust again and are
brave to place their faith in the one they have loved and lost. A Quest
of Spring is about people who conquer all conflicts created by the
differences of the faiths they follow, their ideologies, their social
and family backgrounds. This is a book for every heart that has loved
and lost and yet risen again. I have seen so many soulmates drift away,
this book was a way to reinforce my belief that yes all difficulties can
be surmounted and all obstacles can be overcome to be with your
soulmate. And that soulmates eventually end up together.
*Any incident in particular that is been recreated from real life?
There is one incident that I borrowed from real life. The one
incident where Raehan passes on a packet of safety pins to Amolika to
cover the tear in her dress without her telling him about it. I had seen
this happen and I thought it was such a sweet thing that one could do
for a friend.
*How long did it take to complete this novel? How many edits did it go through?
It took me three long years to write this book. Apart from time
constraints I had to put in a lot of research so that the book felt
authentic. As I was writing the book for so long I would occasionally
revise the draft. So the book went through may be two edits.
*You have managed to present a beautiful love story and it is well-researched even. Tell us about your research process.
The challenging part was to write about the conflict in the Valley.
There are not many books written on the conflict. In fact there are only
two books, Our Moon has Blood clots by Rahul Pandita and the other is
Curfewed Night by Basharat Peer. Writing the campus romance was
difficult too as I had never ever been in a relationship. I had to
literally go back to my college days and think hard of how a few of my
friends who were dating behaved. I wanted the readers to feel that
Amolika and Raehan were actually people they know. I listened to the
songs that Amolika and Raehan liked a number of times, watched the
movies they watched, read books on Sahir and also sniffed on to a bottle
of Old Spice to get to know what the fragrance would be like.
Read the entire interview here.
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