‘I Am an author by accident!’

Author Bulbul Sharma believes her tryst with authoring books was truly serendipitous. “I am an author by accident! As a painter, I signed up for a job as an illustrator for a daily, where people used to tell me stories for me to make illustrations. But a fleeting thought that someone should probably pen these stories down is what set the ball rolling,” she recalls.

Her writings therefore, come straight from the heart of an observant artist who takes to the pen to express and explore where her musings and imagination lead her.

Murder at the Happy Home for the Aged, her recent read, which is pegged as a ‘cozy new murder mystery’ is a product of just that. “I wrote this book to get the younger generation to celebrate the mental ability and power of senior citizens, which most youngsters overlook or rather, have no regard for,” begins Bulbul, who shuttles between New Delhi and Goa whenever she can.

A fiction, like most of her other works, this book deals with a rather dark plot-line: The tranquility of the Happy Home for the Aged is shattered when a body is found hanging in the garden. The inhabitants of the home are at first perplexed, and then decide to come together to solve the murder that has suddenly brought the violence of the world into their Goan Arcadia. The book is set against the backdrop of the lush landscape of Goa.

Speaking of her love for the sunny state and the former Portuguese colony, Bulbul adds, “I love the Goan winters. Love the people — generosity and gratitude, which are deeply embedded in them. This book has been written to share my optimism with young adults and just about anyone who is young at heart. I don’t write books for a particular age group. Therefore, it’s always about striking a connect with the reader through a book and nothing otherwise.”

Most of her books take long, but this one came through rather early. “It just took me a year to finish the entire process of writing this book, I hope people get the idea behind a new murder mystery,” states the full-time author. Though writing taking up much of her time, there’s an avid nature loving side to her. “I’m a bird watcher, and I love spending a lot of time in the mountains.”