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‘Ideas are like notorious thieves running in front of you’
Writer Uddhav Kanhai opens up about his debut novel, #Jokerstash, and the rigours of writing. In his words, “Procrastination, lethargy and clouds in your mind are the reasons which break the flow.”
For a writer, an idea is like a child that needs nourishment and time to bloom. And such is the case for Mumbai-based Uddhav Kanhai, who recently came out with his debut novel, #Jokerstash. A suspense thriller, the book has its share of twists and turns, and delves into the world of tech and hacking. And well, a reader must expect some cliffhangers that aim to grip the attention.
Kanhai, who develops ideas like “birds incubate eggs”, travels to the past to share how this novel took birth, and narrates: “In 2019, I got this idea. I was in Mumbai and those days there was news of some hacker. Just then I felt like writing about technology and hacking. I sat down and wrote a vague idea. Then I kept it aside, but somewhere in my subconscious mind it was alive and breathing. In late October, I picked it up again and made some changes with plots and added few twists. In November, I wrote the entire first draft. Time and again, I kept on editing and rewriting. It took me eight drafts and 18 months to finally present it to the world.”
“I made an altogether new world with imaginary places and fictitious characters. Fiction has always been my way of saying a thing to reality,” says the storyteller, who has a tale behind the name of his book as well. “Joker stash is the name of a virtual shop on the dark web, where hackers deal and sell card details. When I was researching, I saw this and loved the name,” he reveals, adding: “All my novels will be in hashtag.”
His story follows multiple characters that are entwined in suspense. The protagonist is an anarchist hacker named Joker, who decides to take on the billion-dollar influencer industry, and plans to conquer and destroy everything. And one of his targets is the prime minister! Kanhai says, “This suspense would grip the reader. The urge to know the truth about the characters... The Joker enters the tunnel because of the circumstances, but is there a light at the end of the tunnel?”
The Vrindavan-born writer, who hails from a family of artists, is thankful to his grandfather, also his ”muse”, for inspiring his career choice, and adds: “Unlike many people who do not encourage their children to pick an artistic field, my grandfather always told me to be artistic and imaginative. I saw him converting ideas into masterpieces (as an artist), which fascinated me the most. But it was the journey I was interested in, not the outcome. My grandfather taught me to be creative, and I grew up in a house where everyone was an artist. I started making paintings; the emotion was peerless when I saw my thoughts on canvas. So creativity runs in my genes, and I realised it in the sophomore year when I was living in Mumbai and pursuing Bachelor of Management Studies, when I wrote a line. That was my start. And writing became my thing since.”
His favourite writings include Sidney Sheldon’s book Tell Me Your Dreams, and the Oscar-winning movie Parasite, but as an assistant writer of a daily TV soap, he says scriptwriting “is a completely different world”. “I wrote the novel before I entered the film industry, so my works as a scriptwriter didn’t help my book but in fact, it was vice versa as my completion of my debut novel gave me confidence to write more and more. With that fire, I entered the world of script writing,” says Kanhai, who is presently developing a few web series and podcasts as well.
One who doesn’t “believe in the concept of writer’s block”, Kanhai shares that “During the whole lockdown, I wrote every day. I wrote three more novels, many short stories and developed a few web series concepts. Nothing stopped me from writing. There were moments when I thought that this is garbage, but kept on writing. There were moments when I was confused about the plot and the action. I wrote my first draft and kept it aside then after a month I pick it up again and read it... If you are passionate about one thing then you need to meet and talk to that thing every day. I would urge the new writers to not believe in writer’s block, too. If you have a clear idea in your mind, then you wouldn’t stop scribbling. Procrastination, lethargy and clouds in your mind are the reasons which break the flow. Ideas are like notorious thieves which are running in front of you. You need to pursue and catch it, which needs time.”
Author tweets @Nainaarora8
