My book

I am going to write a book. I am fairly sure it is NOT going to get published in Mills and Boon, which is where I will first send it to because they have some kind of audition going on to find India's next great Mills and Boon writer (did you even know India had a Mills and Boon-India edition? I didn't. Checked out the books that have been published under its aegis- exactly the same story lines as the British/Aussie ones, except with Indian names... and maybe with brown skin. I say maybe, because that really is not a sure deal with these things- for all you know, the heroine will be described as being "tall, fair with green eyes", with a name like Ashtanga, so that non-Indian readers will be familiar with it).


My mother-in-law and I had a conversation about this some time back when she was here in the US. We share a deep love of romance novels. I had mentioned to her that I wished there were at least one book with an Indian hero. The only romance stories with Indian heroes in them are the truly ghastly ones in Women's Era and frankly, I get completely sidetracked with the spelling and grammatical mistakes and can't pay attention to the story, which is probably pedantic and pedestrian anyway. That's one thing my story will not have: spelling and grammatical mistakes. I might throw in a few split-infinitives here and there (because I don't know what they are, but believe that they are not in vogue), but I make a solemn promise here and now: my book won't make any self-respecting person who likes words and grammar cringe or wince. Of course, it may make its readers cringe or wince for other reasons, but that's something I do not promise not to do. See? I keep achievable goals for myself.

So where was I? Oh right, I was whinging about the lack of truly great Indian romantic heroes and my mother in law said, "Well. What do you expect? Your hero will probably want curd rice and pickle for dinner, and he'll keep shedding hair all over the place and burp and fart and expect his wife to do pretty much everything around the house" (she didn't say those exact words, but you get the picture). Hmm... she had a good point. But then again, novels are fiction, not fact. And in my novel, I can pretty much make my guy into whatever I want. He will be the epitome of a romantic hero- courteous, considerate, courageous, compassionate, funny and handsome... hey, kind of like my husband, without the burps and the farts and the shed hair!

Actually, our great classical books and stories have some pretty damn good heroes, except they are not in the modern mold. I just have to pick up a convenient one and tweak him here and there. Let's see: I don't think I would pick Arjuna or Bhima, for obvious reasons. Maybe Yudhistira, but he's a gambler and those guys are always a bad bet. Maybe Nakula or Sahadeva, about whom I know nothing except they were good with animals (... not bad... maybe I'll make my guy a veterinarian). Or how about Harishchandra- the king who valued truth above everything else... maybe after his stint as a grave digger? Or maybe Chandra Gupta, with his daring and cunning and political machinations... or am I thinking of Chandragupta Maurya? Who was the king who was made king with the help of Chanakya? Can't remember whether he was a Gupta or a Maurya. Or... a truly radical thought... I could just go right up to the heavens and pick Krishna... all the elements of the great romantic hero are in Krishna: he's handsome, affectionate, funny, wily, enigmatic, loves everybody and everybody loves him. Too much of a playboy, perhaps? There's good potential there.

Anyway, lots of decisions to be made and lots of writing to be done. I love being busy with such projects!