Parting of the Strangers by Sattam-Dasgupta Interview


SATTAM DASGUPTA is an author of book PARTING OF THE STRANGERS
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About the author:

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Sattam Dasgupta is an engineer and an entrepreneur whose career spans across chip design and software. To date, he has been awarded five patents for his ideas. Sattam’s unwavering passion is people – the most complex of all problems and most fascinating of all opportunities. Growing up in Kolkata in one of the most turbulent and violent periods of the city’s history; witnessing the best and worst in people, played a compelling role in shaping his interest in human dynamics – especially, the changing ethos with time and circumstances. Sattam loves curiosity, wit, debates, technology and Tibetan mastiffs.

Interview:

1: One character from your books, that you like the most.

SD: Rahul, the implicit or explicit protagonist across five of the stories in my book ‘Parting of the Strangers…’, is one of my favourite characters. Rahul is sensitive yet resilient, trusting but not gullible. He is emotional yet rational enough to have a reign on his feelings. Most importantly, he has a class which always keeps him just beyond the realm of his adversaries.  

2:What is that dream goal you want to achieve before you die?

SD: Haven’t zeroed-in on one yet. Till now, just living my life and soaking-in the variety and vagaries is engrossing enough.

3: How did it feel when your first book got published?

SD: Exhausted and elated. 

4: What is your motivation for writing more?

SD: The fascinating complexity of human mind and the dynamics that it triggers.

5: Do you pen down revelations and ideas as you get them, right then and there?

SD: Absolutely! My mobile is the repository of a myriad of observations, thoughts and realisations. I capture them in my phone and let the technology archive them in the cloud.

6: Although all books say that all the characters in the book aren’t real or related, but are they really all fictional and made up?

SD: I guess almost all the characters are inspired by real-life experiences – either my own or of someone I know. However, none are really an exact image of any particular person. Rather each of them are a collage of snippets of more than one person in real life – across time and geography. Of course, the paranormal ones are completely plucked out of imagination.

7: What other genres do you enjoy reading?

SD: Fiction and science fiction. ‘Wuthering Heights’ is one of my all time favourites.

8: Which of your novels best describes you as a person?

SD: I so desperately wish it was Rahul ☺

9: Have you ever written a character based on the real you in some part?

SD: Definitely – consciously or subconsciously there is a bit of me hidden in the many characters across the stories. However, it may seem more pronounced because I like to narrate through the eyes of  the protagonist – typically the main one. I love the constraints it imposes in conveying the nuances of  the story. However, isn’t this the way we all experience our lives – without the benefit of a third person’s perspective of it? 

10: Can you tell us about your current projects?

SD: I do have a few ideas. However, I have not yet sat down to seriously work on anything in particular. I guess, the first question I need to answer for myself is whether it is going to be a novel or another collection of short stories.

11: What are your hobbies, passion other than writing? 

SD: Being an entrepreneur, my other passion is technology and in figuring out ways to use it to improve our lives. It is a constant cycle of keeping abreast of the innovations and looking for patterns and trends. I am working on one idea which I believe can make a very significant difference to the probem of literacy.

12: What does literary success look like to you?

SD: When discerning readers pick-up my book, read it and think it was a time well spent.

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