“Yes. I did it and much before turning 40,” beams Capri Jalota whose debut book Then The Door Bell Rang was released recently. “I am not a born writer,” he admits and adds, “It was one of my under-40 goals to write a book”. An IIM-Ahmedabad graduate, Capri worked in consulting before turning his focus on healthcare. Currently he works as head operations of the new hospital being built by Asian Institute of Gastroenterology at Gachibowli.
He recalls the plot took off when he was sitting with his friend at Jumeirah Lake Towers office. “My friend randomly pointed towards the building and said that this is the balcony from where the woman fell referring to a married woman who had two children but committed suicide,” he recalls. Although he didn’t get into the background (“it was a hush-hush thing”), he analysed and built his story around it. “That is the central theme but my book has nothing to do with the suicide or those characters. But I just thought why not see life from a woman’s perspective; how she receives it. That’s the theme and I am happy with what came up,” he shares adding he carried the plot for two years in his mind.
Then The Door... is a very light read and not necessarily an insight into a woman-centric story. “It is a mish mash of emotions and how we perceive life in a certain way; at every point there is another side, a story which one doesn’t know,” he states.
Having the plot cleared, Capri took a break and wrote the book in six months, an experience he calls, ‘traumatic!’ “I had a very public life and meeting different kinds of people in the hospital. And then you are at home sitting on a couch with a laptop. I have worked harder for my book than I have in my job,” he shares with a laugh.
He recalls how on some days he would spend eight or 12 hours writing, and on other days would stare blankly blankly at the computer. “I was disciplined; I didn’t have a choice. I had taken this call. I was earning very well in Bahrain. What kept me going was the story per se. I wanted to go back to my main character and see how her life turned around every single day.”
Apart from his passion for healthcare and writing, Capri is also an avid numismatist with a collection of over 1000 coins from nearly 100 countries. While calling himself ‘young’ in comparison to other successful numismatics, he shares, “Coins happened four-five years back. I started small and then began reading more about them, its variety and the importance it holds. One can know so much about it and how it evolved. As you discover, it gets on to you and you end up having a selection slowly built up; it is also a fairly expensive hobby.”
He acknowledges the positives of writing the book. “I have begun to appreciate relationships better; my EQ has improved.”