What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write A Line In The Sand?
Nilima Rani Das was a real person from Jhenaidah, Bangladesh, who took a loan of under $10,000 from Dr. Yunus’s Grameen Bank with an interest rate of over 20%. She had to repay the loan in 46 installments and diligently paid 40 of them. Due to unavoidable hardship, she missed the 41st payment, after which Grameen Bank officials began to harass her, and the mistreatment gradually intensified. Unable to bear the threats and escalating abuse, Nilima, a 28-year-old housewife, took her own life, leaving behind her six-month-old daughter, Rani. Nilima Rani Das is the inspiration behind my book.
If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of A Line In The Sand, what would they be?
Imagine there’s no heaven.
What’s your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?
My favorite genre is literary fiction with a deep spiritual underlying, and so is my writing.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
On top of my pile are Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy, Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, and A Warden’s Path by Percy Pitzer.
What scene in your book was your favorite to write?
The conversation of Irene with her dying mother in chapter eight, and her conversation with the Moulvi in chapter ten. I poured my heart into those two chapters, writing with teary eyes, and they still evoke the same emotion when I revisit them.
Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)
Oh, no, the most challenging part for me is zeroing in on the characters. Once I settle on the characters, I write down their ages, and that’s it. The characters tell their stories, which come to me like a torrent. I don’t need any muse, but it takes time for me to finalize the characters. Sometimes I add additional characters or tweak their age, but not often.
Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?
Yes, treat your neighbor as yourself.
If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?
Nilima Rani Das is not a singular person; Grammen Bank has been the cause of death for hundreds of destitute people whose lives the bank promises to improve. Grameen Bank has made Dr. Muhammad Yunus a fabulously wealthy person while destroying the lives of many poor people. It is time for the world to wake up from Yunus’s multi-million-dollar PR campaign and see the truth. I just raised the flag; I hope others will carry it forward. At the end, I want to say: Don’t forget the Nilimas of the world!
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