Antara Sarkar

Antara Sarkar is a dynamic person with a vision of a beautiful society, where people courageously follow their dreams, are supportive towards a common goal and respect human values. She hails from Siliguri, a small town along the foothills of Darjeeling. Her father, Amit Sarkar, is a retired service holder in BSNL while her mother, Rina Sarkar is a homemaker.

She studied civil engineering from NIT Durgapur; she is a structural engineer by profession and a writer by passion. She lives in Delhi. Cocktail is her first book, published by Leadstart publishing, with the purpose to inspire people to listen to their hearts and not the noise that drowns it out.

TBE: Tell us about your book, can you share with us something about the book that isn’t in the blurb?

Antara Sarkar: Cocktail tells you how one can stretch one’s potential and do unimaginable things. It tells you how one suffers when he does not have someone to love and trust. There are many differences among us but there are certain basic emotions that we all possess.

We all love to dream. We all love to imagine ourselves in different situations. It may be as small as dining in a good restaurant, or traveling and studying to a distant land or helping the needy. I have portrayed those basic human emotions and human values.

TBE: From where did you draw inspiration for your stories in Cocktail?

Antara Sarkar: It may sound dramatic or weird, but I have drawn the inspiration for writing this book from my own life. This doesn’t mean that all these incidents have happened in my life. But it means that I have gone through those emotions. I have portrayed those emotions through the stories that I have created.

Here I mean the emotions of loving someone, the emotions of separating oneself even after loving someone, the emotions one has when he/she decides to go for a feat and much more.

TBE: Which is your most favorite story from your book? and why?

Antara Sarkar: Although all my stories talk about different situations, realisations of various aspects of life, while making the readers thoughtful, I have a special spot for ‘Goodwill path’.

Here is the educationist who went to the remote village, inspired the school teachers to help him in his endeavour. It shows the kind of passion one has to reform a society and improve people’s way of living. It also shows the process of fulfilling that mission which is larger than life.

TBE: Do you think that people in general are as ambitious as the people in your stories?

Antara Sarkar: My stories have focused on various colours of the protagonists’ characters including ambition. When one of them craved for emotional dependency, it is one of those shades. When one of them has shifted to a different city for a job due to personal reasons, it highlights the same need to hold onto someone.

Nishant is a dreamer, an initiator who walks before others to make a path for others. Sanchita left the life of metro-city to live in her hometown. So, my characters take that courage to embark on the journey which they dream of. In reality, people are not equally courageous. The story of cocktail is to inspire people to be as courageous and to have clarity of thoughts as my characters.

TBE: Most of your characters in the book are career centric, I think It’s an artistic choice, but is it also a reflection of your worldview?

Antara Sarkar: As I said, it is not only about one’s career or ambition, it is about living one’s life thoughtfully. It is about showing courage. It is about putting extra effort in executing something. So that there is no space for repentance.

TBE: What do you hope your readers take away from this book?

Antara Sarkar: I want the readers to analyse the stories, and the thoughts of the characters which direct the flow of the stories. I want the readers to pick up some of the qualities of my characters whichever they like, the qualities which make my characters the heroes.

TBE: Do you read much and if so, who are your favorite authors?

Antara Sarkar: I do not know whether I should say that I read much as there are many people who read much more. But yes, I have read books of many authors. Sharatchandra Chattopadhyay, Paulo Coelho, Chitra Banerjee, Rabindranath Tagore are few of my favourites.

TBE: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Antara Sarkar: I like having good conversations with my friends and family members. Conversation with strangers also interests me as this is how I come across their perspective of life and how they perceive and react to day-to-day events.  Sometimes I enjoy sharing my thoughts through my YouTube channel wiseant.

TBE: In your opinion, what is the most important thing about any book?

Antara Sarkar: The most important thing is how the author is showing the thoughts of the characters which direct what those characters do; the thoughts behind their actions.

TBE: What was one of the most surprising things you learned during the creation of your book?

Antara Sarkar: One of the most astonishing things about writing is that it helps to bring the inner you. As I went through the journey of Cocktail, I kept understanding myself better. The psychological turmoil, the interplay of emotions creates a complex web in our lives. While portraying those, I could open up the windows through which I could see and understand others. Pre cocktail and post cocktail, I am an entirely different person – it was an inexplicable feeling.

TBE: Is there anything you are currently working on that may intrigue the interest of your readers?

Antara Sarkar: Social evils like dowry, human trafficking still prevails in many places in our society. I am engaged now in creating stories on social evils, portraying how this darkness of social evils is destroying people’s lives. This will be my next book. But the cherry on the cake is my website www.wiseant.in for writing short stories and to capture my fleeting thoughts.