An Interview with Shubham Joshi on his book Strange 5 Hours, 20 Minutes

Shubham Joshi is an internationally certified Yoga professional based in Pune. He studied Mechanical Engineering and then worked as a teacher and banker, which gave him a better understanding of life and human behaviour. Shubham is an avid traveller, reader, artist, baker, and has explored a variety of cultures throughout the country. Following is an interview regarding his book Strange 5 Hours 20 Minutes

This is a short and dense book. I had to go back and re-read to unpack a few things and all of it. The mystery, the journey – all of it was stuffed within those 200-odd pages? How did you plan the action-packed adventure in this book?

I believe that you don't choose the story; the story chooses you. I began writing this story at eighteen with no personal computer or writing experience. Feeling lost in my college life, I started writing in a notebook. Determined that this would be my first novel, not just another college romance. My aim was to show in a mysterious way that we are not lost—we are exactly where we are meant to be. The real growth happens during the journey of bringing a book to life.

The chief protagonist of the storyline is Granth, which is a rather unconventional name. Just out of curiosity. I wish to know the creative process behind picking this name. Is it a metaphor?

Granth, the name was not always there. But I have always been fascinated with the depth of characterization that describes the personality. Obviously inspired by all the books I have read. What could be better than Granth, a young guy with no experience but understanding as deep as the scriptures! The more you know about it, the more you feel is yet to be known.

Personally, I have spent a part of my childhood in Amarkantak so it’s refreshing to see books based in the geography of Madhya Pradesh. Curious to know what led you to choose the areas of rural Madhya Pradesh specifically?

Purely the resources. Till my schooling, I haven't been to many places. And never read books, talking about such small places from Madhya Pradesh.  Also in the novel, the locations are all about dark roads or the jungle, and the vehicles passing by. It could have been a fictional place, but I used the inspiration from the place where I was brought up.

Another thing I loved about this novel is how the LGBTQ themes were dealt with maturely, instead of being a prop or just another character. Explain some of the factors you envisage in while plotting the craft.

Thank you for this question. The LGBTQ community is mostly stereotyped through stories & movies as a prop. In many stories, they are just a very small part but not even near to the lead character. I wanted to portray vulnerability but strength, which is the true essence of people  belonging to LGBTQ community. They are alone and still stand for themselves in the hardest of times.

I tried to reflect the community in the right way & somewhere felt that I did my job good as an author. As various readers mention how beautifully their perspective about the LGBTQ community changed after reading “Strange 5 hours 20 minutes”. They specifically mentioned that the character of Granth is not stereotypically written what they see in movies. He is like any other story hero, but even more vulnerable yet strong.

Given your interest towards yoga, does yoga or spirituality inspire you?

Yoga is a part of my physical, mental, and spiritual self. Definitely, that is reflected everywhere in the novel, and the ultimate message is spiritual. Stating that “you are not your not lost in the journey, you are exactly where you are supposed to be”. That means acceptance. So every instance in the story is meaningful and well thought. We are all here for a purpose.

Despite being exploratory in nature, this book also remains grounded and relatable. How to you balance between relatability and inspiration?

The readers should be able to feel themselves as the protagonist.  The story should remain with them as their own. A few author contacts suggested that you could have made it a complete horror or murder in the end, keeping it solely to one genre. But that wasn't my calling. The reader should not always feel reading the story as surreal or of someone else's.

Was there anything you believed would be a great fit but chose not to include given the plot of the novel?

Most certainly! As I mentioned before, there were several paragraphs I had to cut short to make the story crisp and keep it relevant. There were a lot of small spiritual story references I wanted to use. But again, adding too much of it would have challenged the story's baseline. So letting go was the answer.