At An Age Of 25, Prakash Guru Is Already An All-rounder & A Role Model For Many!

At An Age Of 25, Prakash Guru Is Already An All-rounder & A Role Model For Many!

His stories and poems have been published in various anthologies and books, which have been appreciated by readers across the country. My City Links caught up with this young man to know about his work and passion. Excerpts from an interview: 

When did you first realise you have a writer hidden inside you?

I guess it wasn’t about realisation; it was about those feelings, about those chemical molecules that induced restlessness within me. I was just a teenager finding a catharsis for all that was happening in and around me and I chose words and it helped me in many ways, as from a closet writer, I went on to be published and then people started loving my work.

Courtesy:Facebook 

How long does it usually take you to write a book?

I have written short stories and poems for various anthologies. Writing a short story is hard, because within boundaries, one has to fit in a particular amount of words while telling a fascinating story. Well, I guess that’s the beauty of it. As far as poetry is concerned, I am neither an artistic poet nor am I aware of the technicalities. I just pen down the feelings and luckily readers like them. 

How do you juggle being a banker and a writer?

Currently I am on a hiatus. It is not that I am having a writer’s block kind of thing; it is because I am new to the banking arena and I am trying hard to learn stuff. I have ideas that are still intact inside my heart and mind and they shall be given life very soon. I mostly prefer to write at night, because I believe that only in serenity, one can hear the heart telling a million stories. 

How would you describe your writing style?

I basically focus to bring out the raw truth or facts about humans and their emotions through excerpts. Basically I write about love but with a different angle. For me, all love stories may not have a happy ending. In fact, my upcoming online story, “The Blood Soaked Ring” which has been featured in an anthology by 21 Turtle Doves, will be a different love story altogether! 

What inspires you to write?

There is no better inspiration than humans and their emotions and then there is life and nature and its weird ways to bring out emotions. Describing life and human emotions through various types of imaginations is a beautiful thing. It makes me find solace and then comes the ideas.

Courtesy: Facebook 

How did the transition from a cricketer to a gold medalist in Pharmacy and then to a banker take place?

As a child, I was fascinated by cricket and Sachin Tendulkar was my idol. I was trained by my elder cousin Jayantlal Guru and I qualified for the under-15 district level team as an opening batsman. But then I got busy with my graduation. I did extremely well. I even qualified Graduate Pharmacy aptitude test twice. But the shocker came when I completed my Masters. The exams had just gotten over when I heard that I was going to be conferred with a gold medal by the honorable Governor of Odisha! As far as being a banker is concerned, that was completely by choice since there weren’t too many options in the field of Pharmacy. 

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I like to read books and watch movies and series. I get inspired from them. 

How many books have you written?

My stories/poems have been published in various anthologies and novels. Those published in anthologies include ‘A Broken Heart Meets a Broken Girl’, ‘The Pursuit’,  ‘The Solivagant’ (poem),  ‘My Trifle Love’ (poem) and ‘That Girl With a Broom’ while those in novels  include ‘Love Stories Around Us’, ‘Friendship-Bond Beyond Time’, ‘LifeNama’, ‘The Red Balloons’ and ‘Colors-Shades of life’. One can buy them online from Amazon, Flipkart and other sites. In fact, one of my short stories, ‘The Broken Souvenir’ had won second position in an online site namely Yoalfaaz.

What do you think makes a good story?

It definitely starts with a good plot, but then it depends on the writer whether he/she justifies the plot with his/her skills, and that’s what I call ‘storytelling’. 

Tell us a little about your story in the much acclaimed book, ‘Colors- Shades of Life’.

The story is about a boy and girl. It is loosely based on true incidents. Color is a book that contains a combination of poems and stories written by award winning writers. This venture was kick-started by Saravana Kumar Murugan and his team and was published by Shades Publications.

What are your future projects?

Well, there are no future projects for me now as a writer though we have initiated an anthology recently ‘Twisted Tales’ conceptualised by me and Dev Mishra, another talented writer in the writing world.