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ART & CULTURE<br />
Giving some competition to Doogie Howser, Manjari<br />
wrote her first mystery novel when she was at a tender<br />
age of seven. She wrote novels, more for private and<br />
never with the thought of publishing it. It was when<br />
Rupa Publications introduces, the ‘Rupa Romance<br />
series’ when she sent out two of her novels and as luck<br />
might have it, they both saw the light of day. All the<br />
novels begin with Manjiri outlining her characters.<br />
Once, she has them firmly embedded in her psyche, she<br />
begins work by making notes, conceptualizing the plot<br />
and sketching out sub-characters to go along, before<br />
actually getting down to pen her story.<br />
Manjiri’s strong capacity to imagine and fantasize<br />
her characters and plot lines is more of a reality than<br />
reality itself. Life is a mystery to her and, her my<br />
inherent curiosity about the way the Universe works,<br />
the way synchronicity and serendipity shape our lives –<br />
all of it has a strong influence on my work. She is more<br />
inspired by the machinations of the Universe – and the<br />
process that leads miraculously to results – than the<br />
actual results. So, she actually believes that imagination<br />
plays a strong role in her writings. She was also awed by<br />
the works of Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie. Films,<br />
books, nature, friends, family, dogs, music, emotions,<br />
and the magical journey of life have all inspire her to get<br />
those creative juices flowing.<br />
She regards the pros higher than the cons. Right<br />
from the fascinating process of creating a world of your<br />
own on a blank sheet of paper and of taking ownership<br />
of your creation to seeing your name on a published<br />
book, all of these entail the perks of writing. The cons<br />
construe to the poor exposure authors get, the lonely<br />
process of writing, poor sales and all of the marketing<br />
gimmicks which need to gather more yield. Manjiri has<br />
one advice to lend to all wishful novelists- write if you<br />
believe in yourself, write only if you have something to<br />
say from the heart.<br />
Sometimes it is the people that Manjiri meets in life<br />
that inspires her to base a certain character on them, and<br />
sometimes the character comes alive from fragments of<br />
her imagination which intersects into reality making<br />
her characters believable and not actually real. She<br />
paints her characters as inspirational figures, which<br />
empower the reader in more ways than one. Manjiri is<br />
obsessed and in love with all of her creations. Love for<br />
them to grow, love for them to learn. For her, they are<br />
friends, teachers and mentors on a fictitious journey<br />
together.<br />
MARCH 2017 57