In conversation with Akila Agrawal, author of Marriages not made in Heaven

When one thinks of writers and lawyers, two very different images usually come to mind..One sitting in the corner of a cafe looking wistfully into the distance, waiting for inspiration to strike; the other in a crisp suit negotiating contracts or in a gown rushing down court hallways with purpose..Akila Agrawal, Partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, has bridged the gap between the two worlds with India’s latest answer to Jane Austen, Marriages not made in Heaven..When one tries to think of lawyers who became successful authors the likes of John Grisham, Scott Turow, David Baldacci and Meg Gardiner spring to mind. In India, most recently we had How Gourango lost his O, written by Senior Advocate Sanjoy Ghose which, as Namit Saxena writes in this review, narrated a story of a litigant who fought a case at different levels.The common thread in these works is that when lawyers turn to writing, they draw from what they know best: the legal world. There is, more often than not, a courtroom, a wily lawyer, a vexing crime, a law-breaking detective with a heart of gold and a system that corrupts all but a few of the main protagonists. .Agrawal's foray into the world of writing fiction, however, is a refreshing departure from that. .Marriages not made in Heaven tells the story of the Chopras. Anand Chopra and his wife Nita have three daughters - Payal, Simran and Nisha - who all have vastly different personalities. The book opens in the Chopra's living room, where Nita is perusing the matrimonial section of the newspaper to find suitable husbands for her daughters. The very first sentence, "Nita Chopra ran a fleshy finger down the classified section of the Hindustan Times," immediately brings about a mental image of the living room of the Bennets, the family that Jane Austen's 1813 book, Pride and Prejudice, is centred around. However, as the book progresses, one will find that Agrawal's book, its characters and their stories, are not based on the classic work, but are unquestionably her own. .In a conversation with Bar & Bench's Giti Pratap, Agrawal speaks of her experience writing about Payal, Simran and Nisha, and what the future holds.Edited excerpts follow..Giti Pratap (GP): What made you turn to writing fiction after a long career in corporate law?.Akila Agrawal (AA): I read a lot, I have been a voracious reader all my life. And I think somewhere down the line, I decided that I wanted to write. My post-retirement plans are all about writing. I ended up taking a break when I moved jobs so I started writing because I had time on my hands. This book has taken me a long time and after I finished it, I didn’t have any plans of going public with it. But then I shared it with some of my friends and they really liked it and they said I should publish it. At that time, I didn’t know much about this industry. Now, I have learnt a lot about this world. In hindsight, I should have known about it before. I self-published the book because I wasn’t applying my mind about selling the book and all that. But it has picked up good reviews and a lot of people have appreciated it and written back to me, which has made me confident about the book itself..GP: Is there something about being a good lawyer that makes one a good writer, or makes one want to write?.AA: I think it is the other way around. That is, being a reader makes me a better lawyer. I think reading fiction gives you an insight into people and being a lawyer is about dealing with people. Every negotiation, client meeting, it is all about relationships and people. I think reading fiction really helped me understand people a lot better, in all my relationships, including my work relationships. So being a reader makes you a better lawyer and being a lawyer makes you good with words, because you are reading for a living. You are more articulate than most people. That helps you put down your thoughts better. And in that way, lawyers can make good writers. But the imagination part may not be everybody’s cup of tea. At least that is what I hear from my lawyer friends..GP: Did you always have a dream of writing a book one day or is it something that developed over the years?.AA: It is something that developed over the years. My greatest way of de-stressing is reading. I don’t watch much TV so I like to read a lot. And if you think about it, every reader is a closeted writer at heart. A lot of people who read who I know want to write at some point of time as well. We all think we have a book in ourselves, something we all dream about. .GP: Who are some of your favourite authors to read?.AA: I read only fiction. I hardly ever read non-fiction books. I am very partial to the classics. I’ve read all the classics - Bronte, Austen, Dickens, Hardy. Right now I am re-reading Madame Bovary. Everytime I read it, I find something different. I recently saw a movie or TV show on Lady Chatterly’s Lover so I read it again. Every time you read a classic, you get a new take on it. I also read a lot of mainstream fiction - Sophie Kinsella, Elizabeth Strout, etc. I also read Indian authors like Jhumpa Lahiri and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. .GP: Many online reviews have noted a strong influence from Jane Austen, especially Pride and Prejudice. Was it a conscious decision to pull from that style of writing, at least in the first few chapters, or was it a happy coincidence?.AA: It was a conscious decision to adopt a Jane Austen-ish style. As a first-time author, it is easier to write based on something that you like a lot. Pride and Prejudice is one of my favourite books. The book is not exactly fan fiction of it nor is it a desi take on it. There is no Darcy. It was loosely inspired because when I read Austen, I feel a lot of what she wrote about is still so relevant. But my story deviates from it after the first few chapters. It takes a life of its own. .GP: One of the things about the story that I found to be most refreshing was that it has an open ending. There is no comfortably tied-up conclusion, there is no imposition of the author's sense of morality to the story. Was that a conscious choice?.AA: It was a conscious decision. I just wanted to leave it open because there was a lot of debate on some of the stuff in the book amongst the people who read it. Some people who read it think all three women wanted to get married for the wrong reasons. I don’t agree with that. So I just wanted to put it out there that people get married for a variety of reasons and love need not be the most important reason. Of course, you would want to get married for love, but you could do it to go abroad, to secure independence from your family, to climb up the social ladder. It’s all fine. Each to her own. I just wanted to put it out there, a slightly different perspective. And frankly. I see this a lot. A lot of younger people get married for a variety of reasons and I understand and commend it because that is just their way of life. I didn’t want to tie all loose ends because I think a good book leaves a bit to the reader’s imagination. .GP: What made you decide to choose a topic that is so far removed from your area of expertise? There is not even a single mention of a lawyer!.AA: Yes, it is not related to the legal field at all. At that start, I have mentioned mergers and acquisitions, if that helps. But there is nothing on law. I like John Grisham and I have read a lot of his books in my younger days. But frankly, it doesn't excite me and I think it is more difficult to write his kind of fiction. We are always studying human nature in our own way, and as women, we study it more closely than men. So it is easier to write about something which is relating to human nature, society, how we perceive it or how our friends perceive it. It resonates with most people. A lot of people who have read this book have come back and told me that they know people like the characters in it. I think this was the easier starting point. I would like to obviously experiment with more topics moving forward that are more challenging..GP: Is the book autobiographical to any degree?.AA: It is not autobiographical. I am a South Indian. I have been living in Delhi for the past 20 years, it is my home. So I have always had this outside-in view of Delhi. I was fascinated by Delhi, I love Delhi, I love the people in Delhi and I’ve aways observed them as if I am looking from outside. I am from Coimbatore. I didn’t have an arranged marriage. None of it is drawn from my own life, because it is not interesting enough for a book I would say..GP: Why the use of a pseudonym? Do you intend to continue writing as Vathi Agarwal, not Akila Agarwal?.AA: I will be continuing to write under the pseudonym. I just wanted to keep it separate. I have compartmentalized my life. I have a separate computer for Vathi, I have a separate computer for Akila. Weekends are for Vathi, weekdays are for Akila. I am quite enjoying this compartmentalised existence. I didn’t want to use my name because I very much intend to continue being a lawyer all my life and I wanted to keep that separate.My sister’s name was Thilakavathi; I lost her five years ago in an accident. My mother’s name is Sarasvathi. They both have 'vathi' in their name and they are both amazing women. I just thought I should use their name instead of my own. .GP: Do you have any advice for other lawyers or law students who might be interested in writing their own books?.AA: I’ve learnt a lot about writing but what you need to understand is that writing a book and then selling the book are two separate things. Writing is the easiest part of it all. If you are passionate enough about it, you don’t need to quit your job or take a sabbatical. You can just write 200-300 words a day, maybe 500 over the weekend. But you have to be disciplined about it. If I can do it, I would like to think everybody can, but I don’t want to simplify it that much either. I know everyone has their own time pressure, different home environments, varying degrees of support from friends and family. I also think you should not give up your day job, because selling your book requires a lot of money. That is what I now realised but didn’t know before. I plan to seriously promote my book from next month onwards, because I didn’t know it was necessary earlier. I thought if I write a good book, people will read it, and it would sell by word of mouth. But that is not the case in reality. This is actually unfortunate for people who are trying to write for a livng or for those who are very young and want to write without much financial backing. There are huge entry barriers to selling books in India. It is an unfortunate situation and the advice I would give to people who want to write and also want other people to read their books and for their books to reach more people, is that you need to obtain some funding..GP: What does the future look like for Akila and Vathi Agarwal? Can we expect a sequel or maybe a screen adaptation?.AA: I like my lawyering profession. I have no intention of giving up on the law any time soon. I enjoy my work as well. As far as this book is concerned, there will be no sequel, but I have started on my next. It is too early to reveal anything about it, but it is similar to Marriages not made in Heaven in the sense that it is also a social commentary. I am not opposed to this being turned into a movie, but I think it would lend itself better to an OTT series..Marriages not made in Heaven is now available nationwide at Bahrisons, Crossword, Midlands and WHSmith book stores.