Aditya Sudarshan, a 24-year-old lawyer-turned-writer made his writing debut last month with the publication of this first book ‘A Nice Quiet Holiday’ that has been released in bookstores across India.
The book is a murder mystery, which unfolds as the main character, a sessions judge and his article clerk take off to the hills in Uttaranchal on a holiday. A report on AIDS by a local NGO has the locals up in arms as they allege that the report is obscene and immoral. The plot then thickens as a guest is murdered in the house where they are put up. Beside the main plot, which has the judge and his sidekick unraveling the murder mystery, the story has a court- room scene, which revolves with the perception of public morality in small towns and a quick love story.
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“The running theme is about the sensitivity required while dealing with people with different sensibilities,” says Sudarshan, who started writing the book while he was in law school.
Sudrashan says switched to fiction writing from a conventional legal career to pursue his love for writing. He says he learned how to structure his stories while drafting legal documents. But he had to work hard to avoid using legal jargon and complex sentences. “Legal writing, with its formalities and unnecessary conventions, hurts your regular writing,” he adds.
Sudarshan who graduated from the National Law School of India University, has briefly practised as a criminal lawyer in New Delhi’s Patiala House and Tis Hazari courts.