NAW Interview with Tanmay Dubey

An IT professional based in Gurgaon, Tanmay Dubey is a voracious reader and an avid storyteller. In a career spanning more than ten years, he has been fascinated by several aspects of the corporate world and this book is a result of those observations.

When not busy spinning a yarn, Tanmay can be found reviewing latest Bollywood films on his popular Facebook page Tanmay s Movie Adda . He is also an enthusiastic cyclist, a randonneur, and loves running marathons.

NAW- How did you become a writer?

I am a mechanical engineering graduate and has done MBA from ICFAI University. I am a vociferous reader since childhood and loved telling stories. As a child, during summer holidays I along with my cousins used to create a story and draw our own comic books and would share it with friends. During college I wrote short stories in my college magazine. After completing almost a decade in IT industry, I felt a void inside me growing by continuously working and travelling day in day out. When my daughter was born few years back, I was very happy and decided that I would not let this void overcome me and would pursue my hobby of writing for which I was really passionate.

NAW- Tell us about your book, Just Six Evenings. How did you get the idea for it?

I graduated from college at a time when Indian IT industry was booming. As a young graduate I was intrigued and captivated by the dream of working in this industry and the success and money that it promised in return. But as Life goes on you realize that no success come to you by paying for its price.  I developed this idea into the book.

NAW-Tell us about the characters of Atul and Priya. How did you develop the characters?

Atul is that middle class Indian boy for whom to be declared successful in life means getting a decent government job or a job in a big company. His whole upbringing is about being chased to study well and score good marks so that someone will offer him a job, a means of living, a social status someday.  This desperation to become successful drives the entire personality of Atul. Be it being arrogant to her lady love by claiming to his friends that he will woo her in six days or being ethically incorrect in his job.

Priya is that ambitious, independent and straight forward girl who has lost her father and the responsibility to drive her family is on her shoulders. She looks tough from outside but is palpable in her heart. She wants her love to be supportive and stand by him in thick and thin

I developed both the characters by observing men and women whom I met having similar thought process as my characters.

NAW- Did you draw heavily on your real life experiences while writing the book? How much of it is real life and how much is fiction?

Yes, I draw heavily on my real life experiences while writing the book. I would say 80% of the book is based on real life instances and 20% of it is fiction.

NAW- Unlike the other books in the market, you haven’t sugar coated your book and it deals with some murky business. Were you apprehensive about how the book will be received?

I wasn’t apprehensive about the response that the book would get when it is released. At the core of its heart, the book talks about the dark side of a shining and growing India. Not only  the book tries to throw light on the murky business of Indian corporate world it also gives a message of being ethical to all the youngsters who aspire to join this bandwagon.  One of the dialogue of the book says, “It’s not what abilities we have in us, but what choices we make in life defines us”

NAW- How did you research for the book?

The research for the book was primarily drawn from my own life experiences in the IT industry and various relationships I had had in my life

NAW- Tell us about your publishing journey. How did you get published?

With tonnes of Indian writers  writing in English mushrooming nowadays, to get published by a big publisher was difficult. As they receive lots of manuscripts daily they take awful lot of time to review your work and then select it. After waiting for almost one year after finishing my project I decided to self-publish my book. The publisher promised me moon and then cheated me. But the good part was that my book was out and received praise from its readers. That gave me courage to approach publishers once again. Rupa Publications are a great bunch of people and have a knack of identifying new talents. They bestowed confidence on my manuscript and decided to publish my book.

NAW- Please name your favourite writers. Are there any you would like to name as inspiration?

Robert Ludlum

Fredrik Forsyth

JK Rowling

Stephen King

Dan Brown

Amish Tripathi

ChetanBhagat

I am inspired by the success of ChetanBhagat and Amish Tripathiand Writing Style of DAN Brown and JK Rowling

NAW- Can you tell us a bit about your upcoming projects?

My Second  book is a social message to Youngsters in our Country. It’s a story about 3 friends and asks a question to the young generation of our country.

– My third book is a suspense thriller.