About the Book
Publisher: Highbrow Scribes Publications
A single night of frenzy changes the destinies of two friends, Nishant and Mudassir, forever. While Nishant lands in a refugee camp in Jammu, Mudassir ends up devastated on his friend’s forced exit. Fighting against his doom Nishant comes out of his misery and reaches the US while Mudassir’s tryst with the circumstances in Kashmir lands him in Pakistan. Fate has to bring them together again only to be caught in a death trap of deceit and treachery.
Prashant was born in Kashmir and spent the first eighteen impressionable years of his life in Srinagar before bidding a reluctant adieu to the place.
An engineer by qualification, he calls himself an accidental writer stuck in the corporate world to cater to his worldly needs.
He is married to Meeka and they celebrate their silver jubilee of togetherness this year. Their two kids have already flown the nest - Daughter is pursuing MS in the US while their son is doing his Blech from III Kanpur.
He stays in Thane with his wife and father.
We interviewed the author about his debut book, The Jehlum Boys, exploring friendship, identity, and resilience amidst Kashmir's turmoil, and much more.
Booknerds: How did you approach developing the characters of Nishant and Mudassir to authentically reflect the complexities of their friendship amidst the communal tensions in Kashmir?
Prashant Pandita: The story goes back to 2003/4 when I was posted in Bangalore. While travelling somewhere in the South (I don’t remember the place properly –it was either Chennai or Vizag ) in my hotel room, I came across an Outlook magazine with a familiar face on the cover. Upon reading the cover story, I realized that the guy was my classmate, and the magazine had called him a terrorist. That got me thinking about how such a nice boy could become something like that. I knew him personally; he was one of the nicest boys in our class.
Life moved on, and I came to Mumbai, but it would have certainly remained somewhere in the back of my mind. So when in 2018 I thought of writing a book, that article was the first thing that came to my mind and I again began pondering over that incident. I thought maybe he had become a terrorist but wanted to come back to the mainstream and could not do it – that is when another protagonist was conceived, and I began weaving a story around these two boys with Kashmir as the backdrop. Since I was brought up there, the friendships and the religious complexities along with it came naturally to me. Some of the anecdotes of these complexities, particularly the humorous ones, are inspired by real-life incidents of my own or close friends.
Booknerds: The communal riots of 1990 are a significant historical event. What inspired you to set "The Jehlum Boys'' against this backdrop, and how did you ensure historical accuracy while crafting your narrative?
Prashant Pandita: Well, I did not need to refer to any history books or data for it. I was born and raised there and was there in January 1990. Most of what I have written is a first-hand account of my experience or someone close to me who was also there. When I conceived the idea of two friends of different religions getting separated and taking different paths in their lives, I could not think of any other event that would have justified their separation and misunderstanding to the extent written in the book. And I genuinely feel that many such friendships would have been shattered in January 1990.
Booknerds: How do you balance the portrayal of violence and conflict with moments of hope and resilience in the book, and what message do you hope readers take away from this balance?Prashant Pandita: If friendship is the core of the book, then hope and resilience are the strongest undercurrents of this book. I would say that they are the building blocks on which The Jehlum Boys is standing. Despite going through so much violence in their lives, it is their resilience against all odds and hope that keeps Nishant and Mudassir yearning for each other.
I think the book’s concluding line says it all – Only a Nishant can bring Mudassir back - This one sentence summarizes all the hope, which is the premise on which Jehlum Boys is written.
Booknerds: In what ways did you intend for "The Jehlum Boys'' to comment on broader themes of identity, belonging, and the impact of communal violence on personal relationships?
Prashant Pandita: When I began writing the story, it was only a story of friendship, where one friend sets out to get his friend, who is in trouble in a foreign land, back to his country. However, after conceiving the basic outline of the story, I realized that though friendship is at the core of this story I will have to at least touch on other broader aspects to make the story more relevant and plausible and give purpose to both the protagonists for their life missions – So aspects like Kashmiri Pandits losing their identity and roots and the toll communal tensions take on interpersonal relations became the milieu of the story.
Booknerds: How did you navigate the challenges of writing about such a sensitive and emotionally charged period in Kashmir's history, particularly in ensuring that the narrative remains respectful and empathetic towards all parties involved?
Prashant Pandita: It was clear in my mind right from the start that I was not going to preach anything in this book, and this book is about friendship and how far friends can go for each other. It could be of any place and any period, but since I belong to Kashmir and could relate to the place and events better, I chose Kashmir as the backdrop. The purpose and core of the book is friendship, and I did not want to dilute that; hence, I have tried to focus on that aspect alone. Had I dwelled a bit more, than what I have, on other darker aspects, that would have made the story more complex. To be frank, as a debut writer, I did not want to try any complexities other than the ones restricted to friendship.
Booknerds: Can you share any specific scenes or interactions between Nishant and Mudassir that you found particularly challenging or rewarding to write, and why?
Prashant Pandita: The part when they meet again in Pakistan. When you read the book, you will realise two tracks are running parallel. I was writing two parallel stories—one of Nishant and one of Mudassir—and converging them into one story as the story progressed was challenging. I thought a lot about how to bring them together but was not fully convinced by the ideas I was getting. I wanted their meeting to be a ‘goosebumps’ moment but without making it look over the top. How would they face each other, their reactions, and how could Nishant find him – all these things required a lot of thinking and internal deliberations, but I think all that was worth it since many readers have liked that part and have complimented me on the same.
I think it has come out well in the book.
- Team Booknerds
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