Chennai

Hatching the perfect plot and narrating a story in a gripping manner are essential to get your readers hooked to a book, says master storyteller Ashwin Sanghi. In his latest work of fiction, The Sialkot Saga, Ashwin once again weaves together threads of the past and present, history and mythology, business and politics, while dangling you ceaselessly over the cliff with his chilling multi-layered narrative. “Just like my earlier works of fiction, I have revisited a certain historical period. But instead of ancient India, my story is set in the post 1947 era – referred to as modern history by academicians. If I had to give you a gist of the story in a single line, I would say, it is based on games played by individuals in the world of business,” says Ashwin, in an interaction prior to the launch of his book at Starmark Stores, Express Avenue Mall, on Friday. His oeuvre includes, The Rozabal Line, Chanakya’s Chant, The Krishna Key, Private India (written along with James Patterson) and his only non-fictional work till date, 13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck.

Ashwin Sanghi is a part-time entrepreneur now and a full-time writer. “I belong to a business family and writing was never  a full-time option,” he says. He started writing after completing his MBA at Yale University, beginning with a few business articles across newspapers. But this was not really his métier.

“In 2005 I visited Rozabal, a shrine in the heart of Srinagar: legend has it that the person buried there is Jesus Christ himself. I was fascinated by the story and began researching it,” Ashwin recalls. His wife casually suggested that he weave together all the disparate theories he had unearthed — and that was the genesis of The Rozabal Line.

It took him two years to write it. Then came rejection — by 47 literary agents and publishers. “I felt dejected and even doubted my ability to write,” he says. Then in 2007, he went ahead and self-published The Rozabal Line under the pseudonym, Shawn Haigins, an anagram of Ashwin Sanghi,  managing to sell 800-900 copies only in a year. But it was noticed by Tata-Westland, and finally, in 2008, they published it. “It was such a high. From 800 copies, suddenly my book was flying off the shelves. Within two months, 4,000 copies were sold,” he says.

His next two books, Chanakya’s Chant (2010) and The Krishna Key (2012), became bestsellers. The first remained on AC Nielsen’s India Top 10 for over two years. In 2014, he co-wrote Private India with popular fiction writer James Patterson, which, again, was immensely successful. “It was a remarkably different book. James is a great storyteller, and he would say, can we increase the thrill quotient and disclose this a little later. It made the process of writing so exciting,” Ashwin recalls.

That same year saw him come out with his first non-fiction book, 13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck. The seeds of the book were sown in Chennai.

“I had come to the city for a literary festival three years ago and was retelling how my first book had to face so many rejection slips before it got accepted finally. I also said how that was when a family friend had told me that success was 99 per cent about luck. I said, still one per cent was about talent and effort. He smiled. No, that one per cent was just bloody good luck!

A member of the audience felt that going by what I had said, one should stop making any effort and wait for good luck to shine. I realised then that this was something that needed detailed explanation, and that’s how 13 Steps came to be,” he says.

So did he have a secret mantra that struck a chord with readers? “Any author who knows the secret mantra would be a multi-billionaire! I believe that the only thing separating many good writers from success is the stubborn and thick-skinned approach of getting up after every failure and rejection. Rejection is part of the process of getting published. If you have a fascinating tale to narrate and can do so well, you will succeed,” he says.

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