Besides several awards for literature,
Amish Tripathi has bagged a handsome number of praiseworthy adjectives for the philosophies, eloquence and thought-provoking perspectives he presented to his readers. After his debut series
Shiva Triology, '
Scion of Ishvaku' the first book of the 5-part Ramachandra series was released in 2015. With the second book of the series releasing end-May or early-June, Amish and his readers are excited about the activities designed around it.
How does the second book place itself in the Ramachandra series?Ramachandra series is very interesting considering its narrative structure. In this series I have experimented with something called multilinear narrative structure. 'Scion of Ishvaku' was a narrative from the birth of Ram to the kidnapping of Sita, the second part is a narrative from the birth of Sita to the kidnapping of Sita, the third part is the narrative from the birth of Ravana to the kidnapping of Sita; the remaining two parts are a common narrative taking the characters together towards the end. The idea of this structure is essentially to give and get an in-depth understanding of the major characters.
What made you think about this multilinear narrative structure?During my childhood I was remarkably moved by the narrative structure of 'Roshomon' by Akira Kurosawa. The entire idea of one incident being viewed from different perspectives by the main characters is thought provoking. Main characters and their radically different point of views muddles the concept of truth. This multiple truth combined with the characters make a multilinear story. Unless you understand what drives the main characters, you don't really understand what the truth is.
Your philosophy and your books have always reached young readers. How is the spirit of Sita's 'girl- power' influencing your upcoming book's marketing strategy?While writing I don't really think about the marketing part. I just write. When this book took its final shape, the team had some really interesting ideas around it. Sita Mata was a self-made independent woman. To take the essence of the book, we are ideating activities and events with self-made women: women who have risen from humble backgrounds and made it on their own with great determination and strength of character, not because their family helped them or they were born with a silver spoon. These events are to celebrate their strong characters and through them we celebrate Sita Ma.
