“Something pulls me towards Hyderabad”

For all the money, F1, crime, and intrigue that drive award-winning Delhi-based author Aditya Aurora’s novel, ‘Formula for Crime,’ what stands out about him is how rooted he remains in family and in his connection to Hinduism.

Aditya’s approach to religion is scientific; every ritual is an understanding as a means of peace. It is a worldview that sits interestingly alongside his very methodical, disciplined approach to life. There is an insane idealism to the way Aditya looks at life; much of that idealism seems to have found its way into the lead character of his novel.

That discipline is everywhere. The consistency he inculcates seems to have gone into making the book successful and win the ‘Legacy of Literature’ award. Published via Nu Voice Press in distribution collaboration with Penguin Random House India has meant moving mountains to get the book into readers’ hands. Working a new job through the week, spending weekends at book fairs across the country, and dealing with digital media, interviews, and the exhausting business of marketing a book; this man has not taken a break for the past seven months.

His first launch in Delhi was a sold-out event of 200 copies. Aditya has now begun taking the book south specifically to Bengaluru and Hyderabad. “I gel well with the people of Hyderabad and South India,” he smiles sharing his connection to the city that goes back to his grandfather, who was associated with the textile industry in the region. There is, in his words and the way he speaks about it, a sense that something pulls him towards Hyderabad.

Yet, despite all the effort, the biggest win for him, though, wasn’t even the award or the reception he received from sales. It was more personal: when his parents, particularly his father, read the book and liked it. There is something very millennial about that; a generation that has continued to look towards its parents for validation even as it builds an independent identity.

Beneath the thriller is an author who seems to believe deeply in people, their values, and the possibility of doing more with one’s life. And yet, crime has always attracted him, he winks.

Sharing his fascination with crime and the moral greyness of the characters he creates, he says, “My characters aren’t necessarily black and white; they can be gray, defending or acting against crime, occupying the space between antagonist and protagonist. There is also a practical logic to that fascination. To prevent a crime, one needs to know how the crime is done.”

The deeper story, here is about a man who felt he was built for more, and who finally found the form in which that “more” could become tangible. “I get to live many lives through my characters; some good, some bad, some evil, and some criminal,”

he laughs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Asra Ghouse

Asra Ghouse[email protected]