The Storyteller's Tale| Author Interview : Sunil Mishra's Transit Lounge

#KnowThyAuthor

Stories are our staple diet. Each one of us grows up on them. And sometimes, without us realizing anything, they grow on us; a little each day. A large part of us is made up of those tales which either we have heard, or told. 

So what makes a good storyteller?

It will always be this: the keen desire to tell the story, to make others feel one with the uniqueness each character of that story stands for and how they shape our line of thought.

As a dweller of the scintillating wonderland of stories, I have always been too keen to understand what goes in the storyteller's mind and heart, why they choose the words they do, how their thoughts are wired. And as an attempt in the same direction, when I ran into this opportunity to #KnowThyAuthor with Sunil Mishra over his debut book "Transit Lounge", I dived for it headlong. 

Transit Lounge is a contemporary book consisting of short incidents, observations and reflections while the author traveled to 30 countries across six different continents during the last 15 years. The book is a personal account of travels to places in Africa, South America, Asia, Europe, USA, Australia and New Zealand - pretty much around the globe. The book is a compilation of small incidents and events that occurred during such travels - like losing an air ticket, dealing with difficult custom officials or getting mugged in a prime location in a foreign country.

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Collaborating with him over emails, here is a brief account of the author's interview.

1. Please tell us about Yourself.

I am software professional with over 20 years of experience. I am currently working with Infosys and earlier worked with McKinsey, Accenture, Iflex and Tata Steel. I am an MBA from IIM Lucknow and B.Tech from IIT (ISM) Dhanbad.

As part of my work I used to travel to different countries and that constituted the basis of my current book “Transit Lounge”.


2. How/Since when did you develop an interest in books.

I read books but not as many as I would have wanted to read. I started writing my current book sometime in 2007 and completed first draft in 2009. I was not successful in getting it published in my first attempt and I had dropped the idea. I tried publishing it again last year and was successful this time.

3. You have a very demanding full-time job, when do you write.

I write mostly during the weekends and late evening during the weekdays. I have not been regular at it. The key according to me is idea, time has not been so much of an issue.


4. Please tell us about your book Transit Lounge.

Transit Lounge is a contemporary book consisting of short incidents, observations and reflections while travelling to 30 countries across six different continents during the last 15 years. The book is a personal account of travels to places in Africa, South America, Asia, Europe, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. It was interesting to observe all these different cultures and people from an Indian’s perspective. The book is a compilation of small incidents and events during such travels.


5. How was the book conceived, what inspired it? Was it like You always maintained a journal during your travels with an intention to compile it into a book later on, or the idea came to you in a flashing instance, and the pages added up as you started writing. How long did it take for Transit Lounge to be in the shape it is now.

I used to write personal notes of individual travels, anything that I would find interesting. As I started blogging about some of these travels, I received positive reviews from my friends and well-wishers. It is then that the idea of collating this and publishing it as a book occurred to me.

I am extremely thankful to my friends who helped me overcome the initial hesitation and inertia to write this book. I also learned that getting a book published is probably one of the most difficult nuts to crack. As mentioned earlier I started writing sometime in 2007 and tried publishing in 2009 but did not get any publisher. I re-started the process last year and got it published this time. So it has been fairly long process for me.

6. What is your writing process in general: are you old school in terms of writing in ink on paper or you directly write on the laptop. What is the typical creative flow like.

I write on laptop directly as I find that more convenient. According to me writing itself is a learning process and evolves on its own.

7. As a regular writer, do you know what you are going to write today, or you just start off and let the ideas flow.

I think the writing process is pretty organic, many a times I don’t know how the things will eventually shape up. It is important to keep writing.

8. Do you ever suffer from the Writer's Block, and how do you overcome it?

Yes, I do suffer from the writer's block. I think the best way to overcome is to read related books. (Excellent advice, thanks so much Sir!)


9. Are their more books in the pipeline, what are they about.

Yes, I plan to write more books. My second book is a corporate fiction and is near completion. I hope to publish that sometime soon.

10. Have you considered exploring the realm of fiction, fantasy or any other genre, what do you think about it.

Yes, as I said earlier, my next book is a fiction. I read somewhere that there are three rules in fiction writing and the first one is "there are no rules". The other two rules do not matter. Fiction allows a writer to be highly creative and tell a story.

11. What kind of books do you like to read/ favorite author/favorite genre.

I read books but not as many as I would have wanted to read. Some of the classics I like, are Siddhartha by Herman Hesse and Animal Farm by George Orwell. I also like books on Indology. Among the contemporary writers I like Sanjeev Sanyal’s writing.

12. What do you do when not in office or not writing. What are your hobbies?

I do blog on Linkedin and sometimes write articles on digital technologies. I have also written a few articles on the changing role of mainstream media in the new digital world.

13. Any social commitments outside of work?

Nothing specific.


14. How do you unwind after a long, busy day.

Spending time with family, writing and reading books do help unwind.


15. A philosophy you live by.

Purpose of life is a life of purpose - quote from Robin Sharma "A monk who sold his Ferrari"

16. A message for our readers.

"The world is a book, and those who don't travel only read one page." – St. Augustine

Another one on traveler versus tourist – "The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see." - G.K. Chesterton

My attempt to write the book has been to capture the traveler’s account, I enjoyed writing it and I hope it is equally liked by the readers.

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I have done Book Reviews before, and I love those books that make me want to review them as soon as I start reading, or even before I start reading. Like I mentioned in the beginning,  we consume stories, and they consume us. Transit Lounge is something I grew particularly fond of immediately after reading the blurb. 

One specific observation from this book was when the author ruminated this: When people in foreign lands ask us questions about India, expecting us to have ready answers, that is when we truly realize how less we know about our own country. This very sentiment makes me wait eagerly to finish reading Transit Lounge.

I hope Dear Readers, that you enjoy reading this interview, and the book subsequently, as much as I enjoyed drafting this post for you. 

Till we meet again, have fun @ Transit Lounge...!!!