Ashok Chopra at his office in Delhi (Express photo by Abhinav Saha) Ashok Chopra at his office in Delhi (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)Publisher Ashok Chopra’s first novel, Memories of Fire (Penguin Random House; Rs 599), is “densely peopled”. Set in Rasoolpur, a fictitious village in Himachal Pradesh, it is the story of four friends who meet in their old age to relive memories of their childhood and adult lives. If they slapped you, they also loved you.”The book cover of Ashok Chopra’s first novel Memories of Fire The book cover of Ashok Chopra’s first novel Memories of FireThe novel took him over three years to complete, and he was inspired by Chilean writer Isabelle Allende, who is known for weaving her personal life into the politics of her country. Describing his process of writing, he says, “I go totally off the radar, I don’t meet friends, I don’t see movies, I don’t read newspapers or books. Chopra’s last book was a memoir, A Scrapbook of Memories (Harper Collins, 2015), and he is currently working on his next novel, The Lovers of Rampore.

Source: Indian Express April 10, 2018 19:32 UTC