‘Your state shapes your identity’

Nagpur: Your state forms an integral part of your identity, said author Venkataraghavan Subha Srinivasan on Saturday evening. Srinivasan was in conversation with Ripudaman Singh Uberoi at a Vidarbha Literature Festival event centred around his book ‘The Origin Story of India’s States’. Vishwaroop Khanorkar volunteered for the event.
A writer, actor and strategy consultant from Bangalore, Srinivasan firmly believes that none of us are just one single thing, but are multi-talented. He also highlighted a similarity between our personalities and Indian states — both have multiple stories and truths and that we can’t be contained to just one facet or talent. It entirely depends on what we want to develop, and on our ability to reinforce it.
The author highlighted the fact that even though nearly everyone knows the story of India’s independence, very few are aware about the story of their own state. He referred to research papers, journals, books, government documents and articles for writing this book. To write about 36 states and union territories in a year, Srinivasan gave himself a deadline of 10 days for each state, one by one.
Srinivasan added that Sikkim wasn’t even a part of India until 1975 and Goa almost became a district of Maharashtra.
He also said that this book is his first non-fiction work. Before this, he has written short fiction and books for children. The author gave the proposal for the book in 2018 and actually started writing it in April 2020.
Srinivasan wished that his readers find ultimate satisfaction after reading the story of their own state, as it’s very important and personal to them. He also wanted to arouse curiosity in his readers to learn more about their state and thus discover something new.
Reporting by Ananya Talukdar