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Message from the mountains
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Businessman Arun Syal aims to tell a tale of selfless love through his debut novel, “Whispers from the Mountains”
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A SIMPLE TALE Arun Syal with his book
Fiction is no more the forte of writers. Rather, it’s for all those who have a message to convey or a story to tell. Of late, bureaucrats and management professionals have tried their luck with the pen. Now, it’s a businessman from Chandigarh who has explored his flair for words. Arun Syal, engaged in the transport sector, recently came out with his novel, “Whispers from the Mountains” published by Abhishek Publications.
The story he wants to say is fairly simple – the purity of love. Written in a frill-free language, the narrative is straight forward, with the writer taking almost every instance to prove his point. The Westerner John Anderson learns the values of selfless love and compassion through Muskan, the eleven-year-old girl in the small mountain town of Matiana, close to Shimla.
“About 25 years ago, I visited my father’s orchard in Shimla. There I saw a small girl who smiled at me innocently and went away. That smile remained with me for all these years,” says Syal, on the starting point for the book. Coincidentally, it is Muskan’s “angelic face” that draws John’s attention too.
Virtue and compassion
Muskan, on her part, turns out to be the paragon of virtue and the pride of the people of her town.
About the concept of a Westerner as the protagonist, Syal says, “They are new to Indian culture. Actually, there are many aspects to Indian culture. It becomes a learning experience for John”
Though the author says he wants the book to be enjoyed by readers across age-groups, he has particularly zeroed in on the student readers.
“It teaches them not to be self-centred. The language used is simple, so that children can read and understand it. I first made my 14-year-old daughter read it,” says Syal.
The man believes it is not impossible to take along business and writing. “If one really wants to do something, it can be done,” he says. After winding up his first novel in three months, he is already working on his second. “It will be a story about human relationships in the hills,” says Syal.
P. ANIMA
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