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The Character of Ananki:
Obsessed is not just a book for me, it is a journey, not just of becoming a writer but also about becoming a more empathetic person. When I started writing Obsessed, I just had a story in my mind. At that point, I didn’t think of becoming a writer, forget about getting published. But this story had taken birth within me and most nights I found myself working on it within my mind. It had to find an outlet.
It was during my graduation days at Delhi University when I started attending lectures in Greek Literature. In the very first class, my Lecturer Dr Abhishek Sharma said, “Keep your common sense out when you come inside this door.” I guess the door was not just literal but metaphorical. For the door that lead us to Greek Literature had no room for the “normal” mode of thinking. We studied texts like Lysistrata, Medea, The Iliad, The Odyssey. Everything appeared beyond the realm of “normal” and yet we were taught how to empathise with someone like Medea who kills her own sons to take revenge from her cheating husband.
I wanted to create one such character. Day in and day out my mind was creating it, adding layer onto layer, to make it all the more unconventional. Even before I started writing the book, I had the image of my protagonist Ananki very clear in my mind as if she was present in flesh and blood. The name Ananki itself is taken from the greek work ‘Ananke’ meaning inevitability, compulsion, necessity.
Ananki is a character no one can imagine empathising with because of who she is and how we are conditioned by the roles we play in this society but somehow (even unintentionally) we can’t help but end up empathising with her. That is the beauty of this character.
About the Author:
Ruchi Kokcha is a writer and a poet who truly believes in her saying, ‘People come, people go, poetry stays.’ A lover of stories, she did her master’s in English literature from Delhi University. Currently working as a teacher, when not immersed in books or typing her heart out, she loves weight training at the gym or swaying to a Bollywood dance number. Obsessed is her first novel.
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