A fantasy tonic

Being brutally honest about the harsh truths of life comes with a price—it gets people to think at its best, and triggers unhealed bits at its worst. It was probably thinking along similar lines that Mumbai-based author Mayur Sarfare penned The Tonic, an emotionally wrenching story that alternates between two seemingly disconnected tales separated by decades.

Set against the backdrop of 1992 riots in Mumbai, the story traces the dreams of two young misfits with psychological deficiencies, which blossom with the arrival of a magical tonic, yet only to be disfigured over time.

“To be very frank, I wanted to write a compelling story that would emotionally inspire the readers and make them think, and according to me, it could only happen through the painful truths of life told through the medium of lies,” begins Mayur, further adding how atheism (something that has remained majorly unexplored in Indian writings) was also something that brought a powerful context to the story. “The primary idea of the plot was founded upon a feeling of unfettered ecstasy that I experienced after having consumed something during the ride and the subsequent realisation of how it could be a force that could transform us and help us get rid of our greatest inhibitions. I was fascinated by the concept that certain external stimulants could alter our consciousness to a point where it could embolden us in ways we could not imagine.”

The author talks about the fantasy element of the book—a magical tonic that turns lives upside down, a serendipitous force that also finds its parallel in another vicious force, which is the riotous storm that affects the fate of the protagonists differently. “Decades later, the worlds of these misfits unexpectedly collide with the life of a powerful militant atheist who has an ominous plan to cleanse the country from religion,” reveals the author who claims to relish literature and western philosophy.

Exploring a concept that brings forth a powerful context is a dicey trajectory. But Mayur, who calls himself an occasional epigrammist and considers music his lifeline, was confident of the way forward. “There is a growing section of millennial readers who binge on dark web shows looking forward to stories bearing dark truths as supposed to lighter reads,” explains Mayur, who’d probably fall into that category himself given his love for binge-watching web shows, which takes up most of his time.