Another Author: Author Interview: THE HOME GROWN

Morning Everyone,

Hope you all enjoyed the weekend well and are back with new enthusiasm to the work-place. Hope you have a great week ahead.

Yesterday I was hosting the tour de codex Virtual Book Tour and posted about the GiveAway by Harry DeshPande, the author of The Home Grown.

Mr. DeshPanda unwinds here with us and chats about his book, his ideas and his work.

--x--

Mr. Harry Deshpande, tell us a little about yourself? (w.r.t. your native place, your inclinations towards writings and the inspirations you have)

-- I am born in India in a city called Pune which is mid-sized city in India. Growing up I never had any thoughts of becoming a writer. This is sort of an acquired taste for me and I am liking it so far.

Mr. Harry, You are an Indian. Did the relationship between India and Pakistan have an impact on the HOME GROWN?

-- Yes, like any Hindu boy growing up in India, I was trained to hate Muslims. I am quite sure that the reverse is also true. It took me long time to come out of the mentality and this process taught me that there are essentially multiple ways to look at the same event, the devil is in the interpretations.

Mr. Harry, the topic / theme of the book is about Jihad and how someone can turn from western citizen to public enemy. Can you give us your comment on it?

-- It is fashionable among western countries to foster diversity. While there should be no problem with diversity, it also encourages tolerance of extreme diversity. Extreme diversity results in suicidal interpretations. Fortunately, as of now this 'extremist' group is a small phenomenon and can be controlled if people understand the importance of understanding the 'method behind madness.'

Mr. Harry Deshpande tell us a little about your writing endeavours, future plans and current projects?

-- Nothing firm in pipeline yet. I am writing a screenplay for the book and then I am thinking of writing another fictional book based on the life of an Aryan Supremacist.

What was the most difficult part? Writing Home Grown? Re-editing it? Getting a publisher? or ..?

-- getting a publisher. The mount of self-censorship in US is un-believable. Mere mention of the Allah or Qur'an is enough for people to not to touch this book. This is rather unfortunate since this book does not insult Islam, neither does it condone terrorism.