‘Humour in mundane situations inspires me’

Sarika Pandit hopes that when people read her recently released second book M for Misfit, they break into a “loud guffaw”. “That’s the only real purpose of the book,” says Sarika about her novel which chronicles the misadventures in the life of one Zoey Verma, a management trainee at a “fridge manufacturing giant”.

A market researcher by profession, Sarika, whose first book (Bucketlist of a Traveloholic) was a travelogue, says that as a kid she loved sniffing and browsing through the pages of books in stores and later, poring over them.

And she only wished that one day, she could chance upon her own book only to pick it up and then sniff through its pages as well. “I used to write as a kid, and then lost touch with it for several years only to rediscover it once I started travelling actively. I enjoyed writing about places and the people I encountered on my trips. A few years of freelance travel writing for varied publications and a great literary agent eventually led to my first book — a travelogue,” she says.

Sarika adds that although her second book is a fiction novel, it draws inspiration from her life and the people around her. “But at the end of the day, it’s fiction. I found writing Bucket List of a Traveloholic a lot more daunting because I had to personalise the narrative, which was challenging given I am a reserved person. So I struggled a bit with how much of myself to put into the book.”

She further adds, “After writing my first book, I wanted to attempt fiction because there you can be free, uninhibited and let your imagination take over.” The author says that the humour in mundane situations is something which truly inspires her to write, although she is not quite a disciplined writer.

“Seeing the funny side of horrific, even mundane situations, is something that inspires me. And putting it down on paper is something that I am interested in,” she says.

Asked about her writing process, Sarika says, “I am not a very disciplined writer and I go through frenzied bouts of activity, which can last for a few months (during which time, I manage to write) followed by periods of lull.”