Ashok Warrier Talks About His Book “Negotiating the Thousand Glories”

About the Author:

Ashok Warrier is a former Indian Foreign Service officer. He is widely travelled. He retired as India’s Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is an avid reader and writer. Reading and writing as a hobby during his years in Service culminated into a passion as time expanded post retirement. He has been regularly writing articles for various newspapers, magazines and blogs on a host of subjects ranging from International trade to geopolitics to subjects of historical as well as topical and current interest, to human interest stories to travelogues and sports. His passion for reading, writing and research culminated in this Book.

Exclusive interview with the author

Q: What Inspired You To Write This Book?

A: The desire to make the Vishnu Sahasranama more relatable, interesting and easier to understand by readers across age groups was what primarily prompted me to write this book.

Q: How Important Is Research To You When Writing A Book?

A:I would definitely attach a lot of importance to research while writing a book as I feel it is very important for the entire credibility of the book to state things which are only factually correct.

Q: Can You Tell Us About The Book?

A: The book basically seeks to explain the meanings of the Sanskrit shlokas in simple English. Anecdotal stories from the Puranas along with illustrations have been included in the book to capture the imagination of the readers while giving a context to the shlokas.

Q: What Does The Title Mean?

A: Deep Shallows- diving ino the depth, sailing in the shallows, unfolding the mysterious deep shallows. Instead of the infinite wordy combinations, I felt like these two words felt the most appropriate choices. There are depths in everything, we just need to search for it. Nothing is as superficial as it may seem. Our life is an ocean of experiences and answer to everything. This book was titled as deep shallows due to the idea that I wanted to cover the deepness, the superficial yet overlooked themes and discover all that I can. Deep doesn’t always mean dark, and so is the case how shallow doesn’t always represent brightness. But when combined, Deep Shallows are a whole new pallette!

Q: How Long Does It Take You To Write A Book?

A: It took me around five months to write this book.

Q: Where Do You Get Your Information Or Ideas For Your Books?

A: I have been reciting the Vishnu Sahasranama for the last 2-3 years. While I had a couple of books on the subject with me to start me off, I supplemented information about the subject by watching several podcasts, interviews and discourses on the subject. I also listened to several other works on the subject.

Q: Do You Have Any Suggestions To Help Others To Become A Better Writer? If So, What Are They?

A: The demands and requirements of writing vary with the subject. Good research on the subject, ability to connect ideas, good and deep observation skills, good command of the language, free flow of thoughts along with the ability to constantly review one’s work from an outside perspective are important aspects, I feel for becoming a good writer.

Q: What Does Success Mean To You? What Is The Definition Of Success?

A: In the context of writing a book, I feel success would be made up of several ingredients, namely self-satisfaction, wide reach of the book, and appreciation from readers and critics.