Author Interview- Kajol Aikat (Unsocial Amigos)

Hi, guys! Today, we have with us author of Unsocial Amigos, Aikat for an interview. Before we get on to the main interview, let me give you some details about the author and the book. 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

A story that lives inside a diary written by Raj Roy- a young teenage boy, about the most eventful stage of his life- the period of his companionship with his love lady Puja Chabbra. Raj is carefree and mischievous and Puja is contrary to what Raj is. They are college mates who eventually become best friends. And, with the passage of time they eventually fall for each other. Everything goes just perfect, until they get into a live- in relationship in a small city like Ranchi, where people have more interest in looking and judging into other’s collars than to mind their own. They (people) are quite conservative about liberal actions. Though Raj and Puja consider their relationship no less pure than marriage, people out there take this the other way round. That is, Raj and Puja are pretty much uncouth and uncivilized to the people out there. Their own college becomes critic of their relationship while the rest of the society is no less travailing. Moreover, adding to their misery, they find no support from their families and find one of their friends betraying them. Eventually, all of this leads to their suspension from college, restrictions from home, breakage of fragile relationships, and finally, a severe incident of trauma with Puja! This relationship makes Raj and Puja go into turmoil of hardships, trauma , accidents and a sacrifice that ends up having their lives changed forever!

BOOK LINKS: FACEBOOK / GOODREADS / AMAZON (IN) / AMAZON 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Aikat is a twenty years old post graduate student, currently residing in Ranchi and is pursuing his MBA from BIT, Mesra, Ranchi. Aikat has a keen interest in art and literature. Born and brought up in Hazaribagh, his hobbies include reading, writing stories & poems and drawing. Aikat, on a personal ground, believes in rational thinking and possesses hatred towards conservative & hypocrite ideologies.

His first fiction title Unsocial Amigos was digitally published in April 2014. The book has garnered a good response from readers and has been rated 4.6/5 on Goodreads. Aikat has been a recipient of Mahatma N.D. Grover Award in the field of literature for Unsocial Amigos. 

AUTHOR LINKS: FACEBOOK / GOODREADS

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: 

Hi Aikat! Welcome to The Readdicts. It’s great to have you with us on our blog today and we hope you have a nice time answering the following questions we have for you. 

1)  Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Aikat: Starting by name, it’s Kajol Aikat, though I prefer using Aikat as my pen name. I’m twenty at present. At a personal level, most of the stuff I like are somewhat related to art and literature. Sketching and writing are two things I can’t leave doing. Doing photography, watching (good) movies, and reading (all sorts of) books act as favourite pastimes. Also, I am a huge comic book nerd. On religious grounds, I’m agnostic.

2)  Tell us about your book, Unsocial Amigos.

Aikat: Unsocial Amigos is a story of our times where two friends- Raj and Puja eventually go into a live-in relationship in a small city like Ranchi and face social discrimination regarding the same. The story ends up telling how their relationship ends up changing their whole lives forever. In short, Unsocial Amigos is a love story at core, which eventually puts forward the narrow perspective of people regarding the live-in relationships. Along with that, the story also tells that how love can change a person and teach him to live selflessly.

3)   What inspired you to write your book?

Aikat: Well, many things do. This story has seen my growth as a writer and as a person. I used to write short stories and poems. A few life events and issues acted as a driving force to sit and pen down a romance fiction novel. Eventually, many people, especially Mrs. Sampa Dutta, my high school English mentor, motivated me further to work on the script. So, all of those somehow combined as an inspiration.

4)  Are any of the characters in your book inspired by someone you know or are they complete results of your imagination?

Aikat: Yes, there are. For instance, the female protagonist, i.e., Puja, is. Having said that, the story has nothing to do with my personal life or anyone related to it. It remains completely imaginary and fictional.

5)  What kind of research went into writing your book?

Aikat: After having decided to write a romance fiction on live-in relationship, I went to contact a few such couples via social media. I also contacted concerned people who could give me proper knowledge about the same. Also, I referred to news and articles for learning about legal aspects of live-in relationships in India.

6)  Did you always want to become an author or was it something that you eventually thought of or realised? If not an author, what did you want to be when growing up?

Aikat: Writing and drawing were my childhood interests. So becoming a published author was no less than a dream-come-true. If not an author, I would have been carrying on with my MBA career then.

7)  Tell us why readers should pick up your book.

Aikat: This book is a love story, and I hope readers will enjoy reading it. Along with that this is an important book as the story itself delivers a social message. I tried my best to bind up a story that can touch hearts and garner love. And yes, readers won’t get bored while reading it, I bet!

8)  What advice would you give to aspiring young writers?

Aikat: A writer evolves only when he keeps on writing. So, read more, write more.

9)  What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Aikat: Watching movies, listening songs, reading books or sketching stuff.

10)  Give us glimpse into any normal day of your life.

Aikat: Normal days are usually, well, normal- I wake up, eat, go to college, banter with friends, watch movies on my laptop, reading books or comics, write and draw things, do Facebook or  surf internet and when the day ends, go to sleep.

Thank you so much for taking the time out to answer our questions, Aikat. We wish you all the very best for everything you do in life. 

I hope you guys liked this post just as much I did. I also hope that you are now looking forward to Aikat's book. We'd like to thank Aikat for doing an interview with us. And thank you, readers, for stopping by!