Reversing the order

In the immortal story of Meera’s love for Krishna, she broke all societal boundaries to pursue her love and believed that there is no world except the one which has her beloved. Such was her devotion that ultimately, she was contained in the statue of Krishna. But what happens if the same old characters fall in love in the 21st century, and use the old method of expressing their love instead of social media or other modern sources of communication? Not just that, how would the world react if Krishna were to fall in love with Meera and write letters to woo her? All these questions have occupied Mumbai-based author Nitya Prakash’s mind for a few months before he breathed life to his seventh semi-fiction book Letters to Mira. “We’ve all had that letter we’ve written, never meaning to send (it). But we wrote it anyway, knowing we would never send it. It’s the same old immortal love story but this time Krishna falls in love with Mira,” says 30-year-old Nitya, who was also a recipient of the Karmaveer Puraskar Award in 2016.

In the 101 love letters that 21st century Krishna writes to Mira, a beautiful love story unfolds in the form of these words. The author revives the old form of expressing love in this age through his book. “It is an honest attempt to bring back the old form of expressing love to your loved ones and to read the old form of expressing what’s in your heart,” says the author.

The book talks about the positive and negative flaws of both the characters and the writer makes an attempt to put the exact picture of a normal 21st-century human being than portraying them as devotional or pure characters of the previously available literature. “I have shown both the sides of the characters with all the flaws that a lover and beloved would have as individuals,” confirms the author.

Letters To Mira By Nitya Prakash Publisher: Pratishthaa Publishing House Cost: Rs 200 Pp: 175

Despite the reversed storyline and the 21st-century plot, the lovers in this book too don’t meet at the end. “There are only two ends in a love story, either they meet or they don’t meet. Since in today’s age, love has lost its charm, my Krishna too knows that they can’t be together, just like in the old story Meera knew she can’t meet her beloved,” he confirms adding that if you’ve ever known love and heartache, you will see and find yourself in this book.

Letters to Mira is also being launched in New York on February 1, and has many Indian readers welcoming Nitya’s reversed 21st-century tale. Hailing from Lucknow Nitya finds this opportunity a great platform to connect with readers worldwide. “I think Indians staying abroad warmly welcome Indian writing and art and it feels nice when I have readers waiting for my book there,” he smiles. When asked if writers from the small cities have challenges in finding visibility, the author agrees, “Getting visible is difficult but you find people who have respect for literature in small cities, unlike metros.” Nitya believes he has a sense of literature in him because he was born and raised in Lucknow. “It is the city that has produced many well-known writers and had witnessed the first progressive writer’s movement in 1936,” recalls the author who is working on his next book titled False in Love and his first Hindi book Ek Tha Shayar.