This article was published on:
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120722/spectrum/book5.htm
Author: Narendra Kaushik
Joygopal Podder, a fundraising director with ActionAid, has churned 11 crime thrillers in 22 months and finds an entry in Limca Book of Records as a speed writer
Reviewed by Narendra Kaushik
IT was a freak incident — a believe-it-or-not kind —sometime around mid-2010 that pushed Joygopal Poddar, Director (fundraising) ActionAid, to become one of the most prolific writers of crime fiction in India.
His wife, Priti, was diagnosed with septicaemia and had a brush with death, thus making him realise the impermanence and fragility of life. The incident made him realise that it was time for him to create a legacy which could survive even after his death. He decided to go back to his original vocation – writing – that he had quit in 1983. He used to contribute to children’s magazines and wrote stories which stopped after he joined multinational Brooke Bond as a fundraiser.
On May 1, he returned from abroad and wrote the first chapter of Deceivers, his first novel, which revolves around the social sector. He was so determined to write that on next morning he delayed going to his sister’s place for the latter’s birthday celebration to write the second chapter. He did not wait for the publication of the first and started writing his second book The Inheritance, a thriller on takeover battle and industrial espionage at a corporate house. In fact, his first book was accepted after 23 rejections only when he was about to wrap up his third The Millennium City, the first crime thriller (story of a serial killer) based completely in Gurgaon, his native place. By June 2011, he had already penned five books within nine months of publication of his first book, forcing the Limca Book of Records to certify him as a speed writer of crime fiction. Poddar (now 52) has since not looked back. His 11th book Merchants of Dreams has already been released less than 22 months after the first was published. This is a new record crediting a book under his name every two months. He has already completed his twelfth book Vanished and has put together 20,000 words of his 13th book, Goddess, loosely based on life stories of Elizabeth Taylor, Madhubala and Marlyn Monore ready. Poddar has plans to break more records and write so many books that he is all over the bookstalls at railway stations, airports and metro stations. He hopes the books will then bring him money. Seeing his books stacked at bookstalls gives him immense satisfaction and it delights him when his friends mail him the photographs of rows of his books. “I don’t believe in book reviews. For me, the books should be there in shelves. They must be distributed at stations and airports,” he says flipping through the pages of The Millennium City, his most successful book until now. Poddar believes that books sell by the writer’s name and hopes that one day this will be the case with him too.
His chapters are short. But there is enough drama to keep the reader engaged. All his books are mysteries, a genre he has been particularly fond of since childhood when his family returned to India from England. “I grew up reading thrillers written by Harold Robbins, Sydney Sheldon and James Hadley Chase etc. During school days, I would often go to Delhi Public Library, British Council Library and the American Center,” he recollects. Many of his books read like fairy tales, with the protagonists becoming rich and famous with a sudden stroke of luck. Writing has made him cut down his frequent visits to cinema halls but has helped him churn yarns about the dream world. Four of his books – Superstar, Mumbai, Dreams, Beware of the Night and Merchants of Dreams — are set in Mumbai. “Earlier, I would go for movies twice a week. But nowadays it is once in two months as I am always desperate to finish off my current book.” Real-life incidents creep into his books. For instance, dialysis is a common theme in two or three of his novels because his wife goes for dialysis thrice a week. Most of his books are set in Gurgaon but the plot takes the characters frequently to different cities. He writes at least for an hour every evening. Writing for him is the biggest destressor.