Relationships Talk

Writer Durjoy Datta advised the millennials not to take advice on relationships from his generation as he was still exploring “love”.

“Had I known deeply about love, I would have probably written one single love story but I am still writing love stories to know more about it,” Datta, 31, said in front of a young crowd during a book launch here on Monday.

“Do it the way you are doing it. We were stupid in our time and do not listen to our relationship advice,” he said.

“Pocketful O’ Stories” is a compilation of short stories celebrating unexpected moments of love based on entries from common people.
There are 10 stories penned by Datta and the rest are picked by him out of nearly 11,000 entries.

He selected the stories “that stayed with him longer”.

“Full-fledged TV shows require a lot of input on day to day basis, not thinking of it now. I am writing few web-series for the coming year,” Datta, who is credited with writing popular TV shows including “Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi”, said.

Asked about his 10-year long journey, he said: “For me, it is the readers who will decide if my writing has matured or not. I would feel good if some reputed house writes good about my work, calls it timeless but I don’t know how I would feel if it doesn’t sell, meaning people aren’t liking it.”

The engineer-turned author’s latest novel, “The Perfect Us”, is about a couple, Deb and Avantika, and their 10-year long relationship, marriage and starting a family.

Mentioning how his novel reflects his personal life, Datta said: “It’s not that I took inspiration from my life, but (from) so many people around me who were going through the same phase.”

The author, with a strong female fan following, married Avantika Mohan after being in a relationship for four years. The couple has a one-year-old daughter Rayna.

“Fatherhood is an experience. People generally think that it is going to be a very serious thing but it is real fun. There is a lot of work and it gets exhausting. Our life gets centred around the kid and we need to strive harder to take out time for each other,” said the doting father.

Datta said that it was too early to explore a story on father-daughter relationship but “something could be done” once he gets more experienced or if he “stumbles upon an idea”.

About his old novel title, “Of Course I Love You ..! Till I Find Someone Better”, he said it was catchy but I have stopped using them”.