Tuesday, September 13, 2016

INTERVIEW with Namrata about her book METRO DIARIES-2



Question: I love the title, what inspired it?

I worked as an investment banker for a decade where I used to travel regularly. Needless to add I met various people during those travels. Some of these stories are real while some are imaginative but the characters are absolutely real. Like a mother daughter sitting across me, conversing in their mother tongue and I try to decipher what they possibly could be talking about. Metro Diaries was a segment on my now-defunct blog Memoirs of Me with a tagline where fiction meets reality. The name was born during one of those travels and it stayed with me till I brought it to life. After seeing the response to that segment on the blog I felt encouraged enough to bring out a first book with this title and subsequently carry it forward.

Question: Given the choice do you like public transportation or prefer to drive?

At times it does feel good to go on long drives all alone but if it is a daily commute and most importantly long distance then yes public transportation.  Who would want to miss out a chance of meeting so many new people and get to know their stories?

Question: Years ago before we all lived staring at our phone screens, a lot of friendships and romances started on buses and metros, do you think we have lost valuable social interaction or it is nice we have the freedom to be together yet isolated?

Unfortunately yes, we lost out on a lot of things. We lost out of manners, we no longer offer seats to elders or people who need it more than us. We no longer exchange smiles. We don’t notice if someone is carrying a heavy load and might need help. We overlook if someone has fallen down. But most importantly we lost out of magic in our lives. The magic of stolen glances, secret smiles, knowing nods and those caring hands stretched for help. We have become too mechanical in our existence.

Question: Coffee or tea?

Ah! Coffee anyday – anytime- any hour!

Question: Favourite time of day for writing?

Night. Preferably after midnight, like the stillness and the quietude.

Question: Anything else you want to share with our visitors?

Never let someone else define your dreams for you. They are yours for a reason. I allowed that and wasted a decade of my life trying to see it from their perspective only to realize that if dreams were mine, the perspective also had to be mine. I might fail, so the mistakes will also be mine but then so will be the lessons and the victory. Since the day I took things in my hands, life seems much more adventurous and inviting for now I pave the way ahead.





About the Book:





Give life another chance. Laugh a little longer. let go of your past. Hold onto what you love. In short LIVE rather than just exist!

Some told, some untold, some heard and some unheard - this collection of stories will make you look at life in a different light and make you ponder over its definition of it till now.


Goodreads I Amazon





Quotes from Metro Diaries 2:

All the money his parents earned sadly could never buy a moment’s peace for any of them as they kept drifting away like lost constellations into the space. Together they surely were in a way, but light years away in every manner. There was absolutely no connection between them. They just were like every other thing that existed in the universe… the oceans, the sky, the earth, the stars, the sun and the moon. You couldn’t change anything about them even if you didn’t like the way they were. – The Last Kiss (Metro Diaries Part 2)

You are enough in everything and anything you do in this world. Others are here to serve as a distraction so that they reach their goals before yours and become winners. – The Last Kiss (Metro Diaries Part 2)

At times in life we always see what we are being shown and not what lies behind that cloak of disguise. We believe all that comes our way without doubting that there could be a trick or maybe just a hallucination. – Charlatan (Metro Diaries Part 2)

Life they say is a like a jigsaw puzzle and we are all like those pieces trying to find where we fit in. – Labour of Love (Metro Diaries Part 2)

Perhaps she had forgotten the thumb rule for survival here. There is nothing called yours here.  No will, no desire, no dreams, no ambitions….nothing. Not even your name. – The Plummet (Metro Diaries Part 2)

What else do you do when you are a teenager? Life seems to be one long party full of fun and frolic with your best friends all around. You just know your world is full of rainbow colours; sweetness of chocolates filling it and abundant beautiful dresses to doll you up.  Love and relationships take a different meaning altogether now making you look at everything around including yourself in newer light. – Love v/s hate (Metro Diaries Part 2)

I always felt I knew what I wanted in life. But today I realized how wrong I was. I was chasing mirages as the reality kept going away from me and now I am left with nothing in hand – Rags to Riches(Metro Diaries Part 2)

People make memories and then reach a phase where memories make people! – Mou Athena (Metro Diaries Part 2)



About the Author:



Namrata is A Lost Wanderer who loves travelling the length and breadth of the world. A published author in various anthologies and magazines she enjoys capturing the magic of life in her words. She is forever in pursuit of a new country and a new story.




Contact the Author:
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