In the realm of fantasy

Amarjot Kaur

A quick word with Harshdip Singh Deogan and one establishes the fact that age has nothing to do with talent. At the age of 14, he has penned a book titled ‘I love my haunted school: The origins (part 1)’ that explores the realms of magical surrealism and revenge. In conversation with Harshdip, whose disposition comes across as an interesting cocktail of reticent, placid, confident and intellectual, there is more to him than just a keen eye for perfection and excellence. And his well-nurtured self-assurance is impressive. “Are you here alone? Where are your parents?” were the first set of questions fired his way, to which he placidly replied, “My dad’s abroad and my mother’s back home in Kalka,” he says while laying his book out on the table.

Harship, a student of class tenth at Sophia Convent School, Kalka, shares, “I started writing this story when I was in sixth standard, but at that time it was only about six pages. It was only after the advice I received from one of the publishers that I started writing a novel about it.”

Talking about the story of the novel, Harshdip explains that the idea of scripting a story about a king, who was murdered by his own brother and was born again to avenge him, occurred to him quite instinctively. “This story has a plot that will remind the readers of Mahabharata and Harry Potter, especially Harry Potter,” he says.

Although the ideation of the book came quite easy to Harshdip, the challenge remained in its execution and completion. “At first even my mother was not supportive, but later she agreed. Also, it was not quite easy to manage studies and writing at the same time, but I worked it out somehow. I scored above 85 per cent in all my subjects,” he beams.

Harshdip intends to write a trilogy of this book and he seeks much inspiration from authors like Suzanne Collins, Eragon Christopher and Chetan Bhagat. “I would like to write a trilogy of these series, but professionally I want to become a nanotechnologist,” he signs off.

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