Delhi boy Rohan Dahiya, who also runs a bookstore, says his new book has glimpses of the Delhiite and conversations that happen in the capital
Rohan Dahiya
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It was while working on a serious book project that Delhi-based author Rohan Dahiya started working on The Bitter Pill Social Club. He thought that some light writing would help him disconnect with the heaviness of life. "But soon, it became less of a joke, and more honest. Suddenly, it wasn't just me laughing at people," says the 26-year-old. The book takes a look at the lives of the Kocchar family, where it's less about family and more about personal agenda. It's when the grandfather tries to get them together that all hell breaks loose. As we read it, we can imagine the Delhi characters that may or may not have inspired the book, and, when we ask Dahiya about it, he doesn't answer in the negative.
"It's a mix of people that have inspired me. Most of them are people I have seen in restaurants, and many a times, in the gym. I see so many middle-aged dads and moms in the gyms who are trying to keep up with the generation after them. So yes, maybe people won't really identify completely with everyone, but will see glimpses of themselves for sure." Take for instance, Sunaina Kocchar who you meet in the first chapter. After being told by her boyfriend of many years that he has AIDS, she is still worried about how her friends will react. We are a little disturbed that people like this could exist.
"Yes, she has no idea of what is happening in the real world. She is clueless, and one is shocked by how dumb a person can be, but as you see her story unfold, you see her perspective of herself changing as well." Dahiya, an Army brat from Haryana, has now been living in Delhi for 18 years. Both his parents now teach, while Dahiya himself runs a specialty bookstore in the heart of Gurgoan. He quit his job as a designer at a fashion label because it was consuming him, only to find solace in the middle of books. "I quit my job and for a while just stayed at home, disconnected and wrote this book. I would write and sleep, and repeat. But then, once I got this job, it really helped. All my edits and rewrites happened here. I used to pick up books and see how the characters reacted to a particular situation — sometimes it inspired me, sometimes it told me what not to do. But this immediate access to inspiration was crucial."
How does an upper-middle-class boy from a literary family get the lifestyles of the rich, famous and junkies, bang on? Dahiya credits that to an ever-expanding, ever-embracing friend circle. "You always meet people through people. In Delhi, parties always lead somewhere. Someone will say 'let's go to so-and-so's house for the after party. So you meet all different types of people. I have hung out in groups which have the typical rich, spoilt brat, but also the one struggling to make ends meet." Ask him if he has worked these late-night conversations into his book, and he says, "Of course. Some conversations have been lifted word for word. So it's not something that's not real or unimaginable, even if it feels like it. But I believe exaggeration is a must. After a while you don't just want regular, every day stuff, you want to escape it too. You want fiction. And I want to give you that."
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