Mallikarjun Mulimani is a versatile writer. He writes novellas, novels, long and short poems including haikus. His books and style of writing, where brevity is the hallmark, influenced by his Engineering background, are unique and highly acclaimed. His writings are crisp, carrying a theme and a message making them highly readable. So far he has twenty-two books to his credit. They revolve around diverse themes: psychology of humans and their milieu, God, love, sex, religion, realization of self, life, and death. They often touch the metaphysical domain.
TBE:Tell us a little about your story and the story world you’ve created.
Mallikarjun Mulimani: The story is about a kid growing up to be a young man in a dysfunctional society with uncaring educational institutions and wayward peers. He has great loving parents who try their best to take care of their young son who develops mental disorders because of society’s conditionings. Rudra lands a job using his parents’ influence, which begins and continues disastrously, again due to the innocent young man being a prey to evil society, but he revolts in an unusual fashion after falling in love with a commercial sex worker. This unconditional love of his helps him to break free of the conditionings he has been subjected to since childhood, and all ends well with his love and family.
TBE: How this story first came to be. Did it start with an image, a voice, a concept, a dilemma or something else?
Mallikarjun Mulimani: A dilemma! Concept and experiences, of course!
TBE: What is the inspiration for your book? Is there a particular theme you wished to explore?
Mallikarjun Mulimani: I believe conditioning should be kept as minimum as possible in life. Conditioning cannot be eliminated, for man is a social animal, but I believe it can be minimised through tolerance and understanding. Conditioning is maximum upon youngsters. The saplings should be allowed to grow tall, straight, and strong in the sun without being subjected to the shade of grown trees. Freedom is the keyword.
TBE: Who are your main characters? Tell us a little about what makes them tick. What appeals to you about them?
Mallikarjun Mulimani: Rudra and Krupa are the main characters characterised by quiet strength cloaked by vulnerability. When the push comes to the shove, the vulnerable cloak falls off and brawny arms shoot out to fight the monsters of society.
TBE: Ultimately, what would you like for the readers to take from your book Life Unshackled?
Mallikarjun Mulimani: Courage to be free from the conditioning and shackles of society.
TBE: You have a way of creating determined women characters who push hard for a particular goal. How did that idea end up being so important in your novel?
Mallikarjun Mulimani: Why not? All have mothers, and women are the stronger half of the world!
TBE: Have you ever learned anything from a negative review and incorporated it in your writing?
Mallikarjun Mulimani: Always. I tend to minimize and I am learning to interpolate and extrapolate.
TBE: In your opinion, what is the most important thing about any book?
Mallikarjun Mulimani: The heart with which the writer writes; that is, the frame of mind of the writer while writing the book. I believe it should be as upbeat as possible, the mood!
TBE: Is there anything you are currently working on that may intrigue the interest of your readers?
Mallikarjun Mulimani: ‘Demystifying God, Eros and Bacchus’ has been published in London by Olympia Publishers. They are currently publishing ‘Whimsical Dice’. They are about the God fallacy and its terrible offspring, religion and its subdivisions. They are about the beginning of life, life, purpose, meaning, love, sex, and educational institutions. The universe too, obviously.
‘Rivers’, being published by Writers Workshop, Kolkata, is a story about enlightenment.
‘Predator & Prey’, an artistic book about life, universe, philosophy, and psychology, is being published by Leadstart Publishers, Mumbai.
Thank you very much!
