Creme Magazine, March 2017.

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