Scion of Ikshvaku
Amish Tripathi
Westland
Rs 350
Available for  pre-order on Amazon

Ravan wins a war…he enforces a crushing trade deal, sucking the money from Sapta Sindhu to Lanka. Not quite the story we are all familiar with. But then, nothing that best-selling author Amish Tripathi writes is usual. Ready to take readers on a roller-coaster ride again with his new book, Scions of Ikshvaku, the first of the Ram Chandra series of books (at least five, and maybe six, he promises), Tripathi tells Ivinder Gill what readers can expect from his pen for the next 25-30 years (yes, he has it all planned out). Edited excerpts:

First you wrote about Shiva and now Ram. You also have plans to write about Manu, Parshuram, etc. Is there any sort of chronology you are following in your books?

All my stories are linked, but I have no specific timeline in mind. That all my books are set in the Vedic age is the only thing I am sure about. Whether I will move forward or backward in that time is something I can’t say at this moment. I could be writing about the Mahabharat next or Lady Mohini, I can’t say.

Your latest book talks about some sort of economic tussle between Ram and Ravan, where Ravan is bleeding Ayodhya dry. Could you elaborate?

All I can say is that there is a war that Ravana wins. He enforces a crushing trade deal that sucks a lot of money from the Sapta Sandhu to Lanka.

It’s interesting that you introduce Ravan in the story in context of a war that has economic repercussions. What we know is Ram and Ravan fought over Sita and it was essentially the victory of good over evil…

You are trying to prise the story from me (laughs), but I can’t reveal more of the plot. You will have to wait for June 22, when the book releases.

Would you ever place mythological figures in present-day settings, as several writers have done? Ram or Shiva or Krishna in modern-day India?

All my books are set in an era over 12,000 years ago. A book in modern times doesn’t look possible. But 10 years back, I had no idea I would be a writer, giving up my career to take up writing books full time. So I really can’t say what I would actually write 10 years down the line.

Do you think you would ever get bored writing mythology and take to writing something else, non-fiction even?

I never get bored writing mythology, and I hope my readers won’t get bored too. Otherwise I will have to go back to banking.

So you would rather go back to banking than write something else?

That’s putting words in my mouth. I love this, I enjoy it and I will keep writing what I want to write, whether people read it or not.

How did this whole writing thing happen? Did you have an epiphany one day that you have to write or was it an idea that crept up on you slowly?

I don’t know how it happened. I was never a creative person. Others in my family are more creative than me. I am a math graduate, I worked in the financial services for 14 years. There are three kind of writers—some people are born writers, some people hone their skills and develop writing skills and some people have a writing career thrust upon them. I fall in the third category. All I can say is it’s a blessing from Shiva.

So where does all the vivid imagination come from if you are not a creative person; how do you manage all the twists and turns in your books, the non-stop action?

I just sit down to write and the words come tumbling out. Reading my own work, even I wonder: yeh kaise ho gaya? But it’s not a fantasy that I have or something that I have created. All my characters existed before I started writing about them. All I can say is I have discovered the stories.

While writing the Shiva trilogy, did you ever fear a backlash from religious fanatics against the liberties you were taking with the gods and their stories?

I would like to say here that India is probably the best country to be a writer in. I have never faced any outrage against my books. I also think that most stuff we hear about religious intolerance is made up or hyped. It’s all created.

Yes, people have told me they didn’t like my stories, but at the same time they admitted that I wrote with utmost respect towards the gods. Critics have told me they love my stories but not my writing. They would rather have me writing in British Raj-era English.

But, as they say, the proof is in the pudding. Had my books been unacceptable, they wouldn’t have sold millions of copies.