Chillibreeze Writer Interviews – Animesh Rawal

Animesh Rawal is a born nomad, having lived in 11 cities across 3 countries. After a life-changing 2-year stint in Indonesia, Animesh took the long way home and returned broke, with a net worth of 5 pounds, 3000 Colombian Pesos and two new languages. He has been actively writing since his school days and likes to add a touch of dry humour to his articles. He writes about topics related to travel, languages, technology and gadgets.

Please tell us about yourself.

In a nutshell, there are two things that define me: travel and language. I do have other interests, such as cooking, music, tennis, etc to which I pay varying amounts of attention, but these two are the biggest time-killers for me. I was bitten by the travel bug in 2005 and have been highly contagious since then. I can speak English, Hindi, Indonesian and Spanish well, French to a dubious degree and can read (but not understand) Korean.

I studied engineering in Pune University and IT pays my bills (for now, at least). Being an Army brat, I grew up in 9 cities and I guess that is why I still have very itchy feet!

How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing pretty much since I was in class 8th, after a submission about the stars and moon or something got me called to the teacher’s room and earned me a discourse about how I should write more. Since then, I have ghost written love letters for friends, written for college magazines, personal journals, a couple of websites and maintained an extremely immature blog for a while.

What draws you to writing as a career?

Writing gives one the ability to express and inspire, and I would love the freedom of being able to work from anywhere.

What inspires you to write?

My head! I have many thoughts floating around in my head all the time, and writing helps me to collate those thoughts and give them a tangible form. If I didn’t write, I wouldn’t have any coherent opinions. It’s as simple as that.

What kind of writing do you enjoy the most?

I like writing about travel and travel related issues, technology and gadgets. I love writing short stories, exploring topics related to life in general, and expressing opinions on things that inspire, excite or irritate me.

What kind of writing do you dislike? Any Turn offs?

Well frankly, I hate writing about myself in the third person!

What is your favorite piece of writing? Tell us about it.

A short story I once wrote on an interminable flight. It’s about two Indian middle-aged men and their changing perceptions towards women. This is one of my few short stories to survive my “6 months” test.

If and when you’re faced by writer’s block, how do you deal with it?

Writer’s block is inevitable. Unless I have a deadline, I simply drop it, clear my head and come back to it later when I feel like writing again. If I have a deadline, I find that talking to a friend about the topic helps a lot.

Who is your biggest critic? What has their most valuable piece of advice to you been?

I generally don’t ask others for advice, not because I don’t care for others’ opinions, but because the few times I tried, I rarely got a helpful review from people I knew. After I write a story, I edit it as much as I can, and then I forget about it for a few months (at least 6). If I still enjoy reading it after a few months, it passes my test and if not, it needs to be rewritten or deleted.

What is the best feedback you received about your work?

My blog was once mentioned on Rediffblogs’ notable blogs, and one reader commented that they really looked forward to reading my blog the first thing after getting to office. That really pumped me up.

What qualities of yours do you think help make you a better writer?

I read. A LOT. And that helps. It helps me understand what kind of writing an editor would appreciate. I feel it is essential especially for submitting articles for magazines etc.

What has writing taught you about life?

Isn’t it supposed to be the other way round? But I feel that when I’m in my writing phase, I am much more observant than when I’m in a dormant phase.

What would your autobiography/biography be called?

“Searching for mediocrity”.

How do you see the internet changing the way writing works?

Internet has already revolutionized writing. People who would otherwise never write now have a voice, which is a bit of a mixed bag, as while countless new gems are being discovered every day, the sheer quantity and availability of writing on the web has diluted its effectiveness.

What is your dream as a writer? Any publications you’d like to see your work in?

Just like any aspiring writer, I’d love to write full length books. I’m starting with smaller goals, though. If I can successfully publish and sell one fiction and one non-fiction book, I’ll be happy. As far as freelancing is concerned, I have some mixed feelings on this issue. While I would love to see my work appear in top travel magazines like Travel+Leisure or Conde Nast Traveler, these magazines aren’t really into my down-and-dirty style of travelling. Any new publishers listening?

What kind of mistakes do you think new writers often make?

Quantity. And this is just my view, I’m hardly an expert and I know most gurus tell new writers to write, write and write. But when you churn out lots of quantity on daily blogs, etc, your writing suffers. No one is good enough to churn out high quality work on a daily basis, and so slowly but surely, your standards fall.

Now, tell us a bit about your experience in Indonesia!

Ah, I’ll need reams for this. I had moved there for a job, which was pretty regular, but my love affair with Indonesia changed me in so many ways, where do I begin? The first was the language – Indonesian is an easy to learn language, so I picked it up quite rapidly, and have since been addicted to learning languages.

Food- I used to be an occasional chicken eater before I went there, but after 6 months in Jakarta, I was eating creatures that I had never even seen alive before! Now I can eat pretty much anything, and hardly miss Indian food when abroad.

Travel – I knew nothing about Indonesia when I first got there. But my experience there helped me realize that there are many more countries out there to “discover”, and life hasn’t been the same since.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself? Perhaps something interesting about you, that people are always surprised to hear?

Well, people are usually most surprised to see my photos from back when I was in school, or even college, but that’s all I’m going to say on this subject. Another thing that surprises most people is my 10-month long 14-country (16 when I’m drunk) backpacking trip. People are always shocked to learn how cheap travel can be if you know how to go about it.

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