PVLF 2025

Interview with Anirban Das , Author of “Are you Kiddin’ me ? ”

Discover insights from Anirban Das, author of "Are You Kiddin' Me?" in an engaging interview on Frontlist.
on Jul 15, 2024

Academically overburdened (Engineering from WCE Sangli + MBA1 from NMIMS Mumbai + MBA2 from IIM Ahmedabad) and professionally scarred (a 19-year circuitous pursuit of corporate nirvana), Anirban Das is finally getting serious in life by dabbling in humor.

Anirban is a versatile character with multiple interests like breathing, sleeping, eating, etc. He flirted briefly with singing but decided against pursuing it, in the larger public interest. In the midst of writing books, Anirban periodically deploys his writing expertise in other domains (ex. doing the homework of his two children). An occasional blogger, Anirban has written content for a few blogs (including his own); he also writes on Quora from time to time, depending upon mood disposition & prevailing weather conditions.

In 2019, Anirban was nominated by Salismania and NE8x for ‘Best Author Award’ and ‘Author of the Year’ respectively.

Frontlist: "What inspired you to write 'Are You Kiddin' Me'?? Was there a specific moment or experience that triggered the idea for this collection of humorous stories?"

Anirban: Real life, people's behavior, animal behavior. If we just observe, there's so much interesting stuff happening around us; it seems that everyone and everything has a story to tell.

I have been a sucker for humor ever since I was a child. A few of the books that really shaped my sense of humor were Asterix and Obelix, Tintin in my formative years and later on RK Narayan and Mark Twain.

Unfortunately, if you go to any bookstore, check out how much space is allocated for genuine humor content. And how many really good humorous books would you actually find? I am not talking about joke books, crass humor or elitist humor that goes over the head.

Since I couldn't find the kind of humor that I wanted to read or my kids to read, I decided to write myself.

I had spent over 20 years working in corporate when I had these rough story ideas germinating inside me that made me crack up whenever I thought about them. These stories were crying out aloud to be told to the world. The pressure built up so much inside me that one fine day, I walked up to my boss and said I had enough and wanted to quit because I wanted to focus on writing#.

A messy, longwinded answer, but that's how 'Are You Kiddin' Me?' eventually came to life.

# PS: Big mistake. Never leave your job when starting your author journey.

My resignation episode sparked the story idea of Bossy Affairs from my book 'Are You Kiddin' Me?'

Frontlist: Each story in your book has a unique twist and carries a subtle underlying message. How do you decide on these themes and what messages do you hope readers take away from these humorous tales?

Anirban: In general, people are so serious and stressed, because of all the challenges they face every day. We now know that stress is responsible for 80% of all diseases in the new age.

My mission is to spread love, life, laughter through my books, my stories. I truly believe that laughter is the best medicine and the solution to most of our problems and challenges. As long as my readers experience love, life, laughter through the characters and situations in my book, I am justifying my purpose of being an author.

My themes are mostly based on everyday life and messaging is subject to interpretation.

Which means that every reader will take away a different and unique message from the book, depending upon his/her age and maturity.

In fact, if the same reader reads the story multiple times, he/ she will take away something different each time.

Frontlist: Humor is a central element in your stories. How do you find humor in everyday situations? Can you share any personal anecdotes where you experienced an 'Are you kidding me?' moment that could have made it into the book?

Anirban: Every situation has 3 sides, a serious side, a neutral side, a funny side. It's up to us how we want to perceive it. Personally, I prefer to see the lighter side of things.

For instance, many years back, I was having tea at a local roadside stall, and someone tapped my legs from behind. Thinking it was a beggar, I was about to shoo him away when he asked "Sir,joote polish karwaoge? Main aapke joothe badhiya chamka doonga, "roti ki kasam!'"

I paused sipping and looked at this scrawny kid in ragged clothes and unkempt hair with a rickety shoe polish kit in his hands, his family members squatting away on the roadside. The kid had nothing yet he was certainly not lacking in swagger and confidence.

I didn't get my shoes polished, of course, but the episode was etched my mind and formed the seed of my story 'The Venture Capitalist'.

In another instance, I traveled late at night by bus. The streets had gone quiet when, suddenly, from my bus window, I spotted a man and a dog sleeping very peacefully in curled positions next to each other on the road below the street lamp, without a care or worry in the world. It was as if two childhood friends or two siblings were sleeping next to each other. It was such a beautiful scene; it inspired the story "Faceoff" from the book 'Are You Kiddin' Me?'.

Frontlist: Your writing style has been described as engaging and relatable. How do you approach writing a story to ensure it is both entertaining and thought-provoking? Do you follow a specific process or routine?

Anirban: Three things.

I consume a lot of humor content, in whatever form. But this humor needs to be intelligent humor because I want to learn something or get something out of it. Crude/ vulgar humor puts me off, and I stay away from it.
I write from myself first, Anirban, the reader. If Anirban the reader doesn't like what Anirban the writer has written, then the writer could go take a hike or jump in the sea. And the reader in me only appreciates engaging, meaningful humor. This helps to filter out all the unwanted content from my writing.
My stories have to be unique. There are humorous stories, there are meaningful stories and then there are thrillers. My stories will have a mix of all the 3 elements – whacky humor, meaning and unpredictable twists. My objective is, you can't just read one page. Once you pick up the book to read, you can't put it down till you have read everything.
While your stories are humorous, they also offer deeper insights into human nature and societal quirks. How do you balance these elements to ensure your stories are both funny and meaningful?

Honestly, I don't know how. I don't try to balance the elements in my stories consciously; I can only attribute this to the blessings of Ma Saraswati.

Frontlist: Through humor, your stories often reflect on societal issues and human behavior. What societal observations have you made that most influence your writing, and how do you hope to convey these observations to your readers?

Anirban: The primary observation is that we take ourselves too seriously. So the key message I hope to convey to my readers is, don't.

My young readers get this instinctively; my older readers take a little more time.

As Charlie Chaplin said, a day without laughter is a day wasted.

Frontlist: What kind of responses have you received from readers? Do they often share their own 'Are you kidding me?' moments with you, and how do these interactions influence your future writing?

Anirban: I cannot be grateful enough for the outpouring of love and affection that I have received from my readers, especially the younger ones.

In one such instance, a teenager came up to me during the Delhi book fair, almost dragging his father by the hand

"Do you recognize me?" the kid asked the father behind him almost out of breath.

I looked up at the kid with disheveled hair and sprouting faint signs of a mustache.

I had absolutely no clue who this kid was and why he had come.

"Of course, I recognize you!" I lied as I scratched my head frantically in search of a memory of the kid.

"You don't remember me, do you?" The kid smiled.

"Er, I, uh.."

The father moved closer to me. "My son had purchased your book 'Are You Kiddin' Me?' two years ago, he's a very big fan of yours! He has been searching the entire book fair just for a chance to meet up with you, despite the fact that this board exam preparation is underway.

Could you give him your autograph, please?

I was humbled.

True story, moments like these are what made my author's journey worthwhile. And there are many such instances where I have been blessed to receive so much love and good wishes from my readers, this has been the primary driving force for me to write more.