Indrani Sinha is a homemaker, who writes in her spare time. She has taught in the Primary section of various schools in different cities. She loves reading, cooking and listening to old Hindi songs. Indrani Sinha enjoys going for long nature walks and likes to travel and see new places. Her latest book Renee’s Triumph, the sequel to ‘Renee’s Treasure’, recently published by Leadstart publishing.
TBE: Can you give us a quick description of Renee’s Triumph?
Indrani Sinha: Renee’s Triumph is a book about a girl’s journey in life as she matures into a young woman. She has experiences which every girl goes through in her teenage years and learns many life lessons, even as she finds that she has a deep seated insecurity within her.
As a young woman she meets two men, Rajdeep and Kunal, and her parents settle her marriage with Rajdeep. She enjoys marriage and the joys of motherhood, but when conflicting situations arise in the household she is disappointed when Rajdeep does not support her. As a consequence she begins to lose her confidence and then she meets Kunal again, who is, by now, married with a family of his own. He reaches out to her and gives her the support she needs, and soon the two realize they have fallen in love. Kunal knows that in life duty always comes first and so he takes up a job in another city and decides to move there with his family.
Renee accepts his decision with the grace and equanimity of a mature woman, and the two agree to do their duty towards their families.
TBE: Did you know before you started writing first book ‘Renee’s Treasure’ that you wanted to write its sequel ‘Renee’s Triumph’ or did that evolve as you started writing?
Indrani Sinha: I had no thoughts of writing a sequel while I worked on “Renee’s Treasure“. Once the book was published and well received I was looking for a subject for my second book. It was at that point that I thought that it would be interesting to see how Renee faces life situations as she grows up into a young woman, and that is how the idea of this book came up.
TBE: How did you find Renee? What was the inspiration behind this character?
Indrani Sinha: Renee is a composite character based partly on fiction and partly on my own observation and imagination.
TBE: I assume you worked hard on book two. Is there some aspect of the process that you are glad to have learned from the first book?
Indrani Sinha: There were quite a few aspects I learned from the first book. The most important was to have clearly defined characters with their physical features and other attributes worked out before starting to write the book. I also learned from my first book that the second and third drafts have to be tighter and all unnecessary parts have to be edited out. Dialogue writing came more easily the second time and my punctuation improved too.
TBE: Where do you get your ideas to fuel such an extensive imagination and are there particular authors that have inspired your writing?
Indrani Sinha: I am a keen observer of life and I notice things around me minutely. I like to sit in a Coffee Shop and observe how men, women and children dress, how they interact with each other, the expression on their faces when they talk to each other. When I walk in a garden, for instance, I observe the exact shade of the flowers, hear the rustling of leaves, feel the softness of the grass – in other words, see my surroundings keenly. Among authors I admire Amitav Ghosh for the extensive research he does before writing his books and which give a much needed authenticity to all his works.
TBE: What advice do you have for young adults who might be struggling right now with the current social and political climate?
Indrani Sinha: I would tell them to work hard in their chosen field and not to hold grudges against anyone. Always have a positive attitude in life because ultimately things have a way of working out for the best. One has to learn to be patient too.
TBE: Is there third book in this series or what are you currently working on that may intrigue the interest of your readers?
Indrani Sinha: There is no third book in the series. I am working on a book which deals with a young man starting his first job and his interactions with other young people his age.
