It was a book reading event at one of my favorite libraries, Easy lib . Easylib is doing great job where they are bringing book lovers , authors and the readers at one roof . The book reading was by eminent author Shashi Deshpande from her latest book Shadow Play .
Shashi Deshpande is a well known figure in the literary world . She has been writing from many decades , have also won Sahitya academy award and having heard her before , I had made up my mind to attend this event .
The event started with a introduction by Vani Mahesh , founder of Easylib . And after that Mrs shashi Deshpande read few excerpts from her latest book ” Shadowplay” . The crowd was an eclectic mix of writers , editors and book lovers . What followed was an animated discussion on the process of writing , the blurbs from the book and the inspiration behind the book . When one asked her how does the characters in the book start doing or behaving in a certain way and not the other way round , are there any parameters which makes her decide that . She pointed that though she creates the characters but slowly they start doing or behaving in their own way and she only acts as a medium . I found that very intriguing .
The discussion then followed through the current indian fiction scene and some of the acclaimed work done by the indian writers . Many present there felt that there has been exponential increase in people expressing themselves and many new authors have come in the block but that is not the same case with readership . There was a stimulating discussion that the standard of writing has decreased and there are books in market with very poor English or poorly edited . In fact few people felt that the quality of writing has deteriorated in the recent times . What do you feel about the current Indian Writing scene ? And where do you see it going ?Has any indian book inspired you lately ? I would love to hear your views too .
The evening ended with people getting signed copy of the book from their favorite author . It was lovely being a part of such thought provoking discussion and listening to one of my favorite author . A decade ago or so reading had really dwindled due to advent of Television and other electronic gadgets . But slowly with a change in indian fiction scene when many acclaimed authors came up with novels incorporating indian sensibilities , there has been an increase in both readership and authors . I feel this is a good sign and it will only get better with time . I am an optimist after all 🙂
A Creative Bay 
Thanks for blogging on Shashi Despande. Her advice and observations are priceless.
Cheerz
Vishal
🙂
Nice to read this post! I have always enjoyed Shashi Deshpande’s writing. At places the narration in Shadow Play, however, was a little bit different than most of her previous books, or so I thought at least. But nonetheless very capturing and provocative storytelling.