Om Somani’s debut book, Peppered Minds was well-received by reading communities. Covering the professional journey of a young man, the novel was laced with so much wit and humour that it reminded many of R.K. Narayan.
He speaks to NEWS WORLD INC about his writing aspirations, inclination towards humour fiction, and much more.
NWI: What inspired you to write this novel?
The inspiration of writing the novel is twofold, one is the strong desire of creativity and second I wanted to bring in all the experiences of work life and type of people seen around with their behavior and impact of their attitude on country’s fate.
NWI: How did you evolve the concept of chili affecting the human brain?
As a matter of fact, concept of chili is my own observation. I have seen many a times when I would consume chili in great amount I would lose sharpness of thinking power and get loose on things.
NWI: How did you feel when your book became an Amazon Bestseller?
It was an amazing feel.
NWI: How did you do research for this book?
Research of my book was based on certain hypothesis on the effects of chili which I observed keenly on several occasions. A lot of cross referencing was done both in mythological records and other available literature. It was subsequently correlated with development status of high and low chili consuming states of the world. I noticed that more or less countries with less consumption of chili have better state of development status with a high on innovation and low in corruption scale as compared to countries with high consumption of chili. However, there could be a few exceptions to this concept. I also realized by looking in to old records that ancient India without trace of chili was prolific in every aspect of science and spiritualism.
NWI: Who is your favourite Indian author?
My favorite author is R.K.Narayan.
NWI: Which character you liked most from your book?
In fact there is more than one character. I would like to mention here that Neeraj , Shanta and Preeti are my favorite characters.
NWI: Why did you put so much detailing about each character?
I personally feel without details of events and characters,a feel of live characters cannot appear. I also knew any detailing without sense of humor will not attract attention of the readers, therefore everything I tried was witty and subtle.
NWI: What are you working on next?
My next work is wishfully on Corona pandemic. Because it has changed the entire world and it will be exciting to write on a new world.
Connect with Om Somani: FB: https://www.facebook.com/om.somany Twitter:@opsomani4 Website: https://omsomaniauthor.wordpress.com/