Our author Meghasi Bhatt describes her journey …destination …her novel ROAD TRIP: AHMEDABAD TO ASHA GUEST HOUSE!
Load bags into the trunk of the car, settle one’s self with one’s companions in the car and then just take off with the AC on and the music blaring! This experience of a ‘road trip’ has been shown and described in length in numerous books and movies and I believe that many young women harbour the dream of going on a road trip with their friends someday.
I too, was no exception and I had also dreamed of going on a road trip with my female friends. So much so that when my dream finally materialised, it also enabled me to write the novel ‘Road Trip Ahmedabad to Asha Guest House’.
In the beginning of my novel, ‘Road Trip Ahmedabad to Asha Guest House’ I have dedicated the novel to my cousin Gauravee Adhyaru and to my friend Poonam Pathak. With the latter, we had often discussed our longing to go on a road trip together and with the former, I had the privilege of actually accompanying her on one.
So, ‘Did I actually go on a road trip to write Road Trip?’ The answer is ‘Yes!’
My cousin Gauravee and I did take a road trip from Ahmedabad to Manali and many of the incidents narrated in the story did take place. However, there were just the two of us and all the characters in the story as well as their personal lives described therein are products of my imagination.
The road trip that I took will certainly always remain in my memories as one of the best trips of my life as I was away from my family for about ten days and was completely free from any stress and responsibility. The beautiful environs and the awesome weather of Manali inspired me to create and write this wonderful story that is now ‘Road Trip Ahmedabad to Asha Guest House.’
It was my publishers Aarahan that helped me turn my dream novel into reality. They made me go through several drafts of the original story, change certain details and rewrite some portions of the story. The final outcome was a much better story than the one that I had first conceived. In fact, I would say that the story is as much theirs as it is mine!
So to all the readers out there, I hope that you will read my labour of love that is ‘Road Trip Ahmedabad to Asha Guest House’ and I hope that you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
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