Suchithra is a story teller at heart, driven by the passion of writing she is making her literary debut with her book ‘ETERNAL LOVE WITH RISHI AND SHALU’. She is a fresh voice in romance and drama genre. Suchithra Sharma is a graduate and holds certification in Business communication and operating systems course. She has a unique perspective in crafting the characters and developing it into intricate plots but with a knack to simplify her thoughts to resonate into the story. She lives in Bengaluru who has a hobby to read, listen and collect some unknown or rare stories from our Puranas and folklore. Her motto is gaining a bit of knowledge from the ocean of Sanatana Dharma.
The Literature Times: What inspired you to write “Eternal Love with Rishi and Shalu,” and how did the idea for the story come to you?
Suchithra S: Myinspiration is just my own thought process on making an unexpected and unacceptable situation, developing into a beautiful space, time with two people put together. I just came up with this idea by seeing a reel. I wondered! How can a boy marry a girl without her knowledge. Normally, situation like this turns out to be ugly, but I wanted to create a beautiful soul connection between two individuals coming across such situation, that’s how I came up with my story of Rishi and Shalu.
The Literature Times: In your book, the relationship between Rishi and Shalu begins under unusual circumstances. How important was it for you to portray the unpredictability of love in this way?
Suchithra S: Destiny makes people meet in everyone’s life, that’s true. In my story, the unusual circumstances create a lifelong relationship between Rishi and Shalu, but they are two undetached and inseparable souls, who connect instantly. The love, affection and respect of Rishi to Shalu and the unconditional trust and everlasting love Shalu develops for Rishi, says it all.
The Literature Times: You dedicate the book to the eternal love of Radha and Krishna. How does their love story influence the themes in your novel?
Suchithra S: Radha and Krishna are eternal. The word eternal mean infinity, so Radha and Krishna’s love has no beginning and the end, so much they both are connected. They are everywhere, it’s just that we need to see and feel them in our life’s, that’s it. I saw that in Rishi and Shalu, when I thought of the story plot.
The Literature Times: Your characters, Rishi and Shalu, face many emotional challenges. What do you hope readers can learn from their journey of love, trust, and personal growth?
Suchithra S: Life is not always easy, everyone have to face ups and downs at some point of life. But how we handle it makes a difference. The understanding and adjusting nature of Shalvi, the mindfulness and right decisions of Rishi makes them fight all the odds they face in their life together. The plus point here is, they don’t fight or argue and settle things thoughtfully by communicating. Though some situations are created by their own mistakes, they both accept and correct it, so that they don’t repeat it again. I hope not just youngsters’ but all generations should have calm, composed and problem solving mindset first. Then the patience to listen to the other person’s thoughts and communicating is the only way to solve any problem. You can see that in my book.
The Literature Times: You mentioned in your bio that you enjoy collecting rare stories from Puranas and folklore. How have these stories influenced your writing and your perspective on love and relationships?
Suchithra S: Basically it’s the Gauri-Maheshwara, Radha-Krishna and Sita-Raama’s story which has influenced me a lot. Their love, respect, understanding each other by knowing their individual responsibility and mindfully sacrificing each other for their personal commitments has made me understand the core essence to become a perfect couple. I felt their presence in all my thoughts while writing the story. That’s how I was blessed to write Eternal love with Rishi and Shalu.
The Literature Times: As a debut author, what were some of the challenges you faced while writing “Eternal Love with Rishi and Shalu,” and how did you overcome them?
Suchithra S: I don’t remember facing any such major problems during the process of writing the book. It was smooth. Due to my fracture and my laptop got crashed at the right time, publishing got delayed. That’s it. But I always believe that everything happens at the right time set and blessed by the God.
The Literature Times: What role does spirituality and self-discovery play in your characters’ relationship? Do you believe that love can be a spiritual experience?
Suchithra S: Basically, nothing spiritual side is found in my story. You can see Rishi and Shalu’s soul connection as Radha and Krishna, because they are more like friends and lovers than husband and wife. The real soul mates are connected through spirituality, that’s what I believe in. I have focused on our culture, values and belief in God. Highlighted the South Indian Brahmin customs and traditions, festivals and the daily routine what they follow, that’s it. I have touched the boundary what I am aware with and follow on daily basis.
The Literature Times: How did you approach developing the personalities of your characters, Rishi and Shalu, and what was the most challenging aspect of creating them?
Suchithra S: The only challenge I had when I started writing the story was the name of the two characters. I was fixed with… Eternal Love ……, but strangely I had not named the title characters for few days because I wanted a meaningful name. As the story developed, I thought Rishi suits the character as he is divinely connected to her. Shalu went very well with Rishi…Eternal love with Rishi and Shalu, but her name had to match her personality, so I choose her name thoughtfully and kept it as Shalvi. Otherwise it’s just that the story developed spontaneously. Many ideas came up later which I had to put it in chronology to make the story go smoothly and rationally.
The Literature Times: You have a background in business communication and operating systems. How have your academic experiences influenced your writing, especially in terms of storytelling and character development?
Suchithra S: I am from arts background, so writing skills develops naturally by choosing that streams. But did computer course in operating systems after my graduation and later took up business communication course from American Tesol. My passion for reading and writing doesn’t relate to my education. Since school and college days, I was always into creativity like writing essays, doing collages on social topics, etc and keeping it for myself. When I was around 21 years old, I first wrote a story which I still have it. I love to listen to the stories and have a habit of writing it down whatever rare stories I get to know. That helps me in keeping my passion of writing to move on smoothly. Storytelling has come to me by birth, but the ideas I get is purely by the blessings from the God.
The Literature Times: What message do you hope readers take away from “Eternal Love with Rishi and Shalu,” and do you plan on writing more novels in the romance or drama genre?
Suchithra S: People should know that just by expressing one’s love in words doesn’t work out at any stage of life. It has to be executed through actions. Continuous trust, belief, respect, understanding and unconditional support makes a relationship stronger, taking it to another level. Come what may, one should never leave the side of his or her partner for life. I have couple of ideas on the same genre and also I want to explore the special relationship shared between ??? Let it be a surprise.
