I had interviewed Vishwas Mudagal way back on April 11, 2011 on Blogcritics and then republished the same interview on my blog. That interview was not at all about Vishwas Mudagal as a writer. It was purely for Vishwas Mudagal as a hardcore Techie to apprise about his innovative ventures, achievements and awards. Probably excellence is one of the key expertise of Vishwas, whatever he gets into. Whether it is about entrepreneurial skills, managing companies as a CEO, being a Management Coach, Building Brands & Products, Creating Sustainable Enterprise - years back; or writing his debut fiction novel Losing My Religion. Though it is a fiction, it reflects more about his rich professional experience, his keen interest in looking at life with a serious in depth interpretation and his excellent writing & expressing skills (good expression comes automatically in Coaches).
3 years back when I approached Vishwas for an interview on technical front, he readily agreed to go for it. Probably it was his achievements gained at an early age, that he wanted to share with others. The same did not happen when I asked for another shot with him as an Author. Reasons could be many...
About Losing My Religion - The story revolves around three main characters - Rishi, Alex and Kyra - strongly built - and you keep moving with them throughout the pages - along with them - witnessing - what is happening in their individual and collective life - as if is happening in front of you. That is probably the strong point of a debut writer. Rishi Rai is a successful entrepreneur who has seen the peak of his business career and now passing through the rough phases of his life where his business has doomed turning him into a bankrupt. But still something stays alive within him that keeps telling him that this is not the end. There is something about to happen that has never happened so far. That is when he meets Kyra and Alex - Alex first and then Kyra afterwards.
A lot happens in Rishi's life that he had never planned for, that he had never expected it to happen in his life. Meeting Alex in a dirt drunkard state and then becoming a close friend thoughtfully by getting impressed with Alex's carefree lifestyle - resembling to hippies' - boozing, sexing and roaming - all carelessly. They both start for a long journey - with no predetermined destinations in mind - leaving it to time - wherever it takes them. Rishi with no money in hand and in bank - sells his car and starts his journey - to find out some moment of truth of his own self, of his own life. And on the way he throws his mobile to get himself free - like Alex.
Then Kyra enters the life of Rishi - in a different style - as a different person - who actually is not what she appeared to him in the beginning. Gradually story intervenes, untangles and opens new pages of his life - filling new colors in each page. Some of the excellent quotes of the excellent story with excellent characters built by an excellent author of Losing My Religion are:
It's not about how much time you spend with someone that counts.
Denial's the worst way to deal with breakups. She left you, it is her bad luck. You have to look beyond.
At times you have to lose your faith in something, be absolutely stone-cold broke in your belief in belief, so that you can take the jump. Leap out of the existence you have wrapped around yourself and take the plunge without thinking of the consequences. You'll fall, no doubt. But sometime during that, you'll witness a miracle taking shape around you. That's called Losing my religion.Overall I would rate this book as 4 out of 5. There are interesting themes used in the book that you can view here.
