I believe that everyone has an extraordinary story to tell. Finding its way out to the world is what is missing. This is the gift of writers. We try to see the unseen and hear the unheard.
1. Tell us more about your background and journey.
I was born in India and raised in various cities across Northern and Western India. Moving around had a sense of adventure for me, and it made me realise the power of diversity. After my engineering degree from then MNREC Allahabad, I took up a job from campus interview that allowed me to travel and visit many countries in Asia and Europe. On my 26th birthday, I boarded a flight to London to start a new entrepreneurial journey. After a personal crisis that altered my life, I stayed on in London and studied MBA and LLM along with pursuing corporate life. I was always engaged in helping start-ups grow and raise funding. London was great and very hectic with all that I was doing.
10 years ago, I made a life choice to move to Switzerland. This provided me with the calmness and clarity of thought to not only absorb my surroundings but also structure my thoughts to be able to create original ideas. I was able to ask myself ‘Who am I?’, ‘What is the purpose of my being’ and I was able to have a frank conversation with myself.
2. When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?
I have always wanted to be a writer at some level. In my early teens, I wrote an essay in Hindi that I thought was good enough to publish (it was not!). I have had a million ideas in my head – no different to anyone else. But turning those ideas into 100,000 words was always elusive. I have scores of 1-page stories with titles on them lying in a physical and virtual bin all over the place.
When I was ready, the universe called out to me and all I had to do was to provide it with a channel with 10 days locked up at my home, and with a laptop in my lap. This is how ‘The Boy from Allahabad’ was born.
3. Is it a financially stable career?
Like any creative profession, this is not about money. With years of writing, a lot of hard work and incredibly good luck, one may strike a financially stable career with writing. I write because I love it. It makes me have clarity in my mind, it makes me happy. When I am in the ‘zone’ of writing, it is bliss. Money is okay, but I will never write for the financial side of it.
4. Who is your favourite writer and why?
Jeffrey Archer. I find his style of writing very simple and informative. Even though I know it is fiction, my mind races to picture what would it be like to be a character in his story.
5. Where does your inspiration lie?
In real life, in simple people. I believe that everyone has an extraordinary story to tell. Finding its way out to the world is what is missing. This is the gift of writers. We try to see the unseen and hear the unheard.
6. What piece of advice would you like to give to future aspiring writers?
Prepare yourself. Keep thinking. Keep the ideas going. Even if you hit ‘writer's block’, never give up. One day, when you are ready, you will know.
7. Which is your favourite book and why?
‘Love Story’ by Erich Segal. It is a short, sharp story that makes you fall in love and breaks your heart in a beat. I read that when I was young and impressionable. I cried (don’t tell anyone)
Ruchir was born in India and after living there until his graduate studies, he worked in various countries in Asia and Europe before settling down in London. He currently lives in Switzerland.
Ruchir has an engineering degree, an MBA, and LLM in Corporate Finance Law. He is keenly interested in topics of Humanity and Human psychology
- Interviewed By Pratibha Sahani
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