“What are setbacks in life but really God’s way of
guiding us through life, preventing wrong decisions, until we see the light at
the end of the tunnel?”
-
Anurupa Cinar
Hi,
Everyone! I can’t really say that any part of writing my novel was easy. But
finding the title reached nightmare proportions! I was chasing my tail for a
title for ever.
It
all seemed so easy to begin with. Even before I started writing, I felt the
name I Love my India was perfect for
my novel.
Wasn’t the novel
all about love for India, after all? Didn’t I just love the song I Love my India from Subhash Ghai’s Pardes?
So
it was settled. It was as I started mentioning the title to people around me,
that I noticed that there were no “yea, way to go!” coming my way re the title.
And some even outright suggested I change it.
Never! I thought to myself. I pinned my ears back and dug
my heels in and became as stubborn as the proverbial mule.
But
when my publishing consultant threw up her hands in despair and made protesting
noises re the title, I was forced to reconsider.
I
was leaning toward O Freedom . . . !
To me that title expressed a deep yearning like Savarkar’s. I should mention
that by this time, the novel was written and the cover design was fixed in my
mind for months. So there was not a lot of flexibility.
There
was a book Freedom written the year
before, so I scrapped this title and after much cogitating came up with The Burning Soul. I checked online
and—yoo-hoo . . . !—it was there for the taking.
There,
I told myself, it wasn’t too-o-o-o bad. I could live with that title. And so a
few months went by happily as I prepared the final draft—or rather what I so naively
believed was the final draft! I actually changed it so many, many times later
on.
Then I got a
very rude shock! John Connolly came out with a bestseller: The Burning Soul . . . !! It was a ghastly moment. I have already
written so much about my attachment to names, so you can sympathize with me. I
sunk my head in my hands in utter despair.
But
there was no choice. I had to change the name of my dream—again! This time I
came up with several names. Here are some of them:
I Will Not Be Silenced….
Who Dare Vanquish Me?
Inviolate Am I
Not Doomed to Hell!
Savarkar: To Hell and Back
Back From Hell, Everytime!
Surviving Hell---and back
Ground to Dust
Immolated
The Burning Beacon
The Beacon
Honor to My Motherland
Is this Freedom?
Beyond Freedom
O, Freedom, Death is to live without you!
Justice Must Prevail!
Truth Shall Not Be Hidden
Truth Unveiled
Freedom, Our
Birthright
Then
I sent the whole lot to everyone I could think of for an opinion poll. From
there I was back to O Freedom . . . !
as my novel’s title!
What can I say?
La-la land is a wonderful place to be in while it lasts!!
I
dwelt in mine until I received my manuscript back from the publisher, with my
title changed . . . ! To “Something Mother India”!!
I
threw not one but twenty fits, I can tell you. That title just wouldn’t do. I was really at the end of
my rope here.
What
was I going to do?
The
situation was now beyond head-clutching. I just sat on the couch and gazed at
the above names (in distaste, I may add) and then . . .
Like a bolt from
the blue, the name Burning for Freedom
struck my consciousness. I grasped at it with eager hands. Was it really going
to be this simple, after all? Quickly I went to the amazon website and checked
if anyone had staked their claim to this title already. No. Oh what joy . . . !
That’s
it! Burning for Freedom it was going
to be. It seemed so perfect in every way—from the cover, double play on the
word burning, from the content—from every conceivable way.
Why
had I not come up with it all this while? I really couldn’t say. But such
things have happened before.
What are
setbacks in life but really God’s way of guiding me—in my fumbling, bumbling
way—through life, preventing me from wrong decisions, until I see the light at
the end of the tunnel?
Anurupa