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Play the book
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Anshumani Ruddra’s The Enemy of My Enemy, allows readers to decide the ending
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Interactive writing Anshumani Ruddra
The Enemy of My Enemy is probably aimed at kids who wait as eagerly for a Harry Potter sequel as the newer version of PlayStation. Or even people with no patience for either. The Enemy of My Enemy by Anshumani Ruddra is touted to be India’s first multi-player gamebook, where the middle and end of the story is determined by choices the reader makes in the initial stages (pages).
The book revolves around hero P.R.D. Jhabvala’s adventures. The sun has stopped in its tracks. Japan is swathed in permanent daylight and the rest of the world is plunged into darkness. A young lady in Tokyo, believed to be the reincarnation of the goddess of the sun, is the cause. Jhabvala, hence, is entrusted with mission Land of the Rising Sun. The readers, divided in two groups – Knights of Order and Crusaders of Chaos – are to aid Jhabvala in his decision-making.
“In most books the storyline progresses from point A to B to C. Here, at every juncture the reader gets to make choices. There are multiple endings and multiple storylines,” says Ruddra. Similar to a game of Snakes and Ladders, your next rise or fall gets determined by your present luck, only here you weigh your options instead of throwing the dice. The choice you make will decide which page you go to from the present.
At the book launch held at Landmark, Citi Centre, recently, the author gave the young readers a tour through the book by making them actually play it. The audience chiefly comprising school students and accompanying parents and class teachers, played the Knights and Crusaders. Rock-Paper-Scissors determined which team got to make the first choice in each stage.
In the question-answer round that followed, kids displayed their propensity for things direct and embarrassing – “Do you read your own book after you write it?” and “What if somebody says your book is not nice?”
Coming to his own gaming preferences, Ruddra says, “I’m still very old school. I grew up playing Age of Conquerors and God of War I and II.”
Besides The Enemy of My Enemy, Anshumani Ruddra has also authored several short stories published in anthologies. Karadi Tales’ audiobook Crickematics!, which was voiced by cricketer Rahul Dravid, was penned by Ruddra.
On the experience of writing a non-linear interactive book, he says, “I spent four months to figure out the structure of the book and four weeks to write it. I started off with three beginnings. I had to have a flowchart so that I didn’t confuse myself.”
Why P.R.D. Jhabvala of all names? “Jhabvala was the hero of a book I started writing a long time back but which I know I’ll never complete.”
The next book in the Jhabvala series is scheduled to release in December. “It’ll be a longer book and characters will be much more developed.”
The Enemy of My Enemy has been published by Scholastic and is priced at Rs. 90.
SHALINI SHAH
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