Exclusive Chat: Sujata Parashar - Hindustan Times
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Exclusive Chat: Sujata Parashar

Divya Goyal, Hindustan Times | By, New Delhi
Mar 01, 2011 08:02 AM IST

"I tried to identify and focus on the mostly ignored aspect of parent-child relationship", says Sujata Parashar, about her latest book.

"I tried to identify and focus on the mostly ignored aspect of parent-child relationship", says Sujata Parashar, author of the national bestseller

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In Pursuit of Infidelity

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, about her latest book

In Pursuit of Ecsatsy.

Q.1.What inspired you to write this novel? Did any cases from your NGO (Empowering Minds) contribute in the story of the novel?

I quote our former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam - "A nation's wealth is the young generation of the country". Unquote. These words triggered a thought process in my mind. As I tried to study them more closely, I found many of the youths have got into misguided trail, presumably due to lack of proper guidance. This fact made me come up with the Subject matter of the novel. Empowering Minds, further gave me the scope to interact with the youths at close quarters.

Q.2.Even as you address the problem of drugs trafficking and the vulnerability of the youth towards drugs you do not deal with the problem of drug addiction, why?

The aim of my book was to deal with the root cause of today's youth getting attracted to and indulging into immoral practises as also to highlight the invisible gap between the youth vis a vis their parents and its larger impact on the society.

Q.3.What do you think has brought about the distance in the ideology of parents and children?

Futuristic expectations of the parents from their children are at great variance with the dreams and aspirations of the younger generation compounded by the lack of compassionate understanding and guidance by the parents.

Q.4.Why did you choose your victims from affluent families when children from destitute families are equally, if not more, vulnerable to drug peddlers?

Inspite of getting the necessary family, social and economic support, the educated youth are still getting swayed by negative forces around them- be it drug peddling or any other criminal activities. Even though, these youths are expected to show others the 'light of the day'. This made me wonder what the missing link is in the social system. And so I tried to identify and focus on the mostly ignored aspect of parent - child relationship.

Q.5.What importance do you attribute to the title? [The title could have been In pursuit of Freedom, since that's what the protagonists are striving for]

The title reflects the storyline at a glance. In this case, 'Ecstasy' projects two contradictory meaning. One has a positive connotation and the other has a negative one. It can be interpreted as 'total freedom' in one way but ironically; it also denotes the 'drug' - which can very well mislead the youth's idea of 'total freedom'.

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