Parinieta Ahuja has lived in New York for the last five years, pursuing a combined Bachelors and Masters degree in Pharmacology and Toxicology. Born and brought up in New Delhi, Parinieta grew up to be self-sufficient, but she also day-dreams all the time, hoping to break all barriers of achievements. She has recently come out with her debut novella Imaginations Wild, which is a representation of her faith in her story and a different imagery of a similar dream.

I chat with Parinieta about her book Imaginations Wild, how the book came to be, book recommendations, and much more.

Hello, Parinieta! Tell us a bit about yourself!

Hey, I just graduated from a combined Masters and Bachelors degree programme in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University at Buffalo in New York. I will start working in the Biotech industry soon this year, and will continue writing on the side. I was brought up in New Delhi, India, and I was 21 years old when I wrote my debut novel’s draft.

I have written in some form or the other all my life, from writing poems when I was young to writing in my journal, and now writing a fiction story. I think it is the best way in which I can express my innate feelings. It is through my character’s stories that I express my zest towards life. I cannot wait for everybody to read my book and tell me more of what they think about it.

If you could only describe your book Imaginations Wild in five words, what would they be?

Relatable, Passion, Dream, Expression, Thought-provoking.

Now tell us a little more about the book! What can readers expect?

It is a story about a young girl named Anam, who is studying in an American college, working hard to achieve her goals on her journey to discover her truth and her life. Born in India, Anam was adopted by the Smith’s when she was five months old. The Smith’s on their trip to Asia, fell in love with this five month old kid and decided to adopt her and bring her to America. It is fascinating how Anam discusses her journey as a brown kid in a white household and her upbringing and her mindset. All through her life Anam has tried to adjust into this fancy world where she always felt that she didn’t belong. This book is her journey in her words. Being a writer from a young age, Anam had a fascination for art and jotting down her feelings at the drop of a hat.

Anam goes to college to become a lawyer, a practical dream in order to be successful. She never realized what will hit her in the midst of this beautiful journey, when she feels a strong connection to her professor, Professor Alias. James is a history professor in Anam’s college. But to Anam, James is her guiding angel. He is always there for unspoken support, the kind you share with very special people in life.

While in college, Anam and Professor Alias become very close and start to share a very significant bond. It all started from the night when Anam lost her best friend, Mr. Journal. It was only a diary, but it was the closest thing to Anam, almost as if it was another human being. Surprisingly one’s loss is another’s gain. On a visit to the college campus, Mr. Warper from Warper Productions runs into Mr. Journal and unexpectedly goes through it. This leads Mr. Warper to love Anam’s writing and her story. The 18-year-old Anam, when her dreams of becoming a writer were crushed in order to pursue a smarter and a more practical future, had never imagined that she would be offered the opportunity to be an intern for the summer and to become a writer for a production house. As an intern at Warper productions, Anam goes on to discover her real self and ambitions that lead to her becoming a great star one day.

I guess the biggest piece of information I would like my readers to take from this book is ‘The Appreciation for Uncertainty’ and to explore their imagination. Every single one of us has an imagination, and the ability to dream as big as we want. Let's explore it, let's look for it, even if we feel it is unachievable, let's try and find it. Because acceptance is the first step to getting anywhere close to it. 

How did the idea of writing this novel come about? How long did you take to write it?

It was the lack of control around me that pushed me to write it. I was nervous because there was a sudden bump in my life's journey and a change in my career path. What remained unchanged was my desire to be successful – which in my definition was to make a difference, an impact, to leave a mark. I just started jotting my dreams and aspirations into the story of this person that I didn’t know and while our goals might be different, our journey is similar. 

Eventually, I started figuring out things over the summer and started accepting that control is dependent on interpretation, that no matter what I do I am beyond my levels and limits in my desire to control everything. It was a fun little project until someone read it. My literary agency, The Book Bakers, thought it was a different story and something unique, and decided to represent me and the book. 

It took me about 2 months to write it. I never wrote the ending until later though. I was always unsure about what route I wanted Anam’s journey to take, when it just came to me after a couple of months. It was serendipitous.

Please describe your novel’s protagonist Anam to readers who might not yet be familiar with who she is and what she’s dealing with?

Anam is the character on whom I have based my fiction novel. She gets adopted into a white family when she is a few months old. With an Indian heritage and history, and growing up in America, the book Imaginations Wild is Anam’s journey of finding herself, while also finding friends and love. But Anam is more than a story and a character, she is a lifestyle. She is a part of our human desires that signify the resilience to dream, to achieve, and more than anything else, to love. She signifies the importance of opportunity and that every situation in life, no matter how negative it looks in the moment, can turn out to be positive. For me, Anam’s character has a significance of hope, but it is what readers make of it. Every reader will have a different interpretation of the protagonist that applies to their life and relates to them.

As a debut novelist, were there any authors or works which influenced your writing style?

I would say, more than a particular writer, a particular book has influenced me. It is the first real book, according to me, that I read when I was in high school. I had read many books before that, for example, the book series – The Hardy Boys, The Famous Five, Harry Potter, etc, but it was Animal Farm by George Orwell that was my first experience of reading about the real world, outside of a 13-year-old's mindset. Animal Farm is a book that applies to so many stages of life and it is the first piece of writing that has been an inspiration to my thinking, what I write about, and how I write it.

How have you been coping with the current pandemic and what will be the new normal for you post it?

I guess the pandemic, particularly for me, has been a shock, in regard to my way of life. Staying at home all the time was never a thing for me. I was always a social butterfly, and was at the library, in the dining hall, and at other places to meet new people. But it has really helped me self-reflect and produce this piece of art. I worked a little harder on my book during the pandemic, since this book is a testament to my pre-pandemic life in some ways.

I think the new normal will somehow be the normal that existed before, just with more and more appreciation for the people around me and the energy I hope to surround myself with. I have realized that I need to respect my time more and hopefully it will also be more productive.

What are you reading currently? Do you have any book recommendations for our readers?

I just finished reading two books – Untamed by Glennon Doyle and And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, both of which are some great pieces of writing. I enjoy both fiction and non-fiction so there is always so much to choose from. One of my all-time favourite books is Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. I would definitely recommend readers to read these books.

The book ‘Imaginations Wild’ is available online and at your nearest bookstore.