1. Could you give a brief summary about The Recession Groom?
The Recession Groom is a romantic comedy that tracks the fascinating journey of a young Indian IT professional across the period of global credit crisis and his adventures to find his perfect partner. It is an international story with a thick Indian flavor.
2. What was your inspiration for writing The Recession Groom?
I was in London when the global economy started moving into a recessionary phase. The newspapers were full of stories about bankruptcies, foreclosures and redundancies. What I saw around me inspired me to write this story.
3. What is your favorite book and who is your favorite author?
‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne. ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ by J R R Tolkien. ‘Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell’ by Susanna Clarke. ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen. ‘The Color Purple’ by Alice Walker. And many others.
4. Did you know how The Recession Groom would end before you started writing it or did you go along and eventually figured it out?
The Recession Groom had a very uncharacteristic ending and I had no idea it was going to end that way. In fact, I had to change the ending many times before the right one came along.
5. Could you give a brief description of your favorite scene in The Recession Groom?
In this short extract, the novel’s protagonist, Parshuraman Joshi, is a recently redundant Indian IT professional who has found part-time work at a bar in California. It is his first day, and his Manager, Snorty, a quirky American-Indian Sikh, is teaching him how to cook ‘Spicy crab’ for a customer. Parshuraman is a vegetarian and is obviously repulsed by the whole idea but since it is a part of his job, he has to learn it anyway.
Snorty led Parshuraman to the kitchen at the back of the bar and gave him a hand-me-down apron. 'That’s yours," he said, and glided towards a water tank to pull out two live blue crabs. 'Look at these beauties!' he said with a hungry look in his eyes. 'These ones came in this morning. Here, take these.'
'Whoa! I’m not holding those things. I’m a vegetarian,' Parshuraman said, shrinking away.
'The crabs don’t care whether you’re a vegetarian or not. And hey, it’s a part of the deal anyway. You’ll be cooking these yourself from tomorrow. In fact, let’s start from today itself.'
Parshuraman drew his face into a mighty frown, taking the crabs in his hands. ‘Ew! Ew!’ he kept repeating as he moved his fingers around the thick shell, twisted the crustacean around, saw its claws and felt the claw fingers, before Snorty took it back from him.
‘Fresh and juicy, isn’t it?’ he said to Parshuraman. ‘Okay, all you’ve to do is to clean the crab, put it in hot boiling water until it turns red. Get the seasoning sauces ready in a deep skillet, blend those in with the crab meat and it’s done.’
Parshuraman shuddered at the recipe. ‘You shouldn’t be putting a living creature in hot boiling water, Snorty. It’s bad karma.’
Snorty pummelled the shell of the crab, ripped it apart from the body with a sharp knife, removed the claws, cleaned the gills, jiggled the meat in his hand and looked at Parshuraman. ‘Voilà, it’s not alive anymore. Any problems now?’ A few swift movements, a dash of seasoning and the dish was done within a matter of minutes.
6. Beside your characters (and if this was possible), which fictional character would you like to sit down and chat with?
I wish I could be friends with Bilbo Baggins and have long chats with him. I wish I could accompany him to the mountains and hear him say these lines:
I want to see mountains again, Gandalf, mountains, and then find somewhere where I can rest. In peace and quiet, without a lot of relatives prying around, and a string of confounded visitors hanging on the bell. I might find somewhere where I can finish my book. I have thought of a nice ending for it: and he lived happily ever after to the end of his days (Lord of the Rings; J R R Tolkien).
7. Where could those interested in reading The Recession Groom get it at?
The book is available on Amazon.
8. Have you thought about writing in a different genre? If so, which one?
The Recession Groom and its two sequels were all rom-coms. My latest novel is a crime thriller. I want to now explore horror.
9. What is your writing schedule?
I wake up early in the morning and work through the day, getting up for lunch and tea breaks. I am a sucker for books, so I catch up on some reading before I go to sleep.
10. Do you have any upcoming novel you’d like to talk about?
I just finished writing a crime thriller and I would like to wait a bit longer before I start talking about it.
11. Last question, which novel (beside mine or yours) have you read that you believe would make an excellent movie?
I have been waiting to watch a movie based on Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist for a long time now.
This has been a wholeheartedly excellent interview and I hope you all felt the same. Take your time to check out Ms. Vani's The Recession Groom. Also,if you want to know more about Ms. Vani and her work go to her website: vaniauthor.com/ Take care and have a blessed day.