Portrait of a Village | Lifestyle News, The Indian Express

Portrait of a Village | Lifestyle News, The Indian Express

Written by Divya A |Updated: February 2, 2019 1:05:18 am

Portrait of a Village

Eighteen-year-old Srushti Dhoke on her debut novel, which is a fictionalised account of real-life stories she heard from her grandparents

Srushti Dhoke with the book.

She has not been able to meet Ruskin Bond yet, but 18-year-old Srushti Dhoke says it was a dream-come-true to have the legendary author write a foreword for her debut novel, Tamarind Ache (Rupa Publications; Rs 299). The book, which was recently launched in Nagpur and Chandigarh, is a fictionalised accounts of the tales told by her grandparents when she would visit them during vacations at their small village in Maharashtra. Daughter of a senior cop based in Chandigarh, Dhoke is currently a freshman at Boston University, Massachusetts, US, studying economics and mathematics. Excerpts of an interview:

You were contributing articles to newspapers earlier, so what prompted you to write a book?

My grandparents live in a village in Maharashtra. My family and I try to visit them at least once every year, so the rural setting has always been a part of my life. However, I was brought up in towns and cities, and I realised that city folk mostly think of villagers in terms of the issues that they face, and fail to see other aspects. The rural stories that my grandparents and parents have told me, along with my research, made me feel that rural life in Maharashtra needed to be documented in the way that the people living it see it. My journey with writing was greatly encouraged by my family, specially my father.

How does writing effect your studies? Or are these two completely in separate compartments?

I wrote the book when I was still in school. I would only write during holidays and vacations, so my studies weren’t affected a great deal. When I write, I have to get into a space in my mind wherein there is no room to focus on anything else, then it’s just my story and I. So I would say writing and studies have been in different compartments right from the beginning.

Is the story inspired by some people you know? Does it have any personal elements?