Humour and wit find space in civil servant's book

One would expect a civil servant to write about grim, political issues, but Vivek Atray preferred to use "intelligent humour" to tell a tale, as he feels this genre is extremely challenging and excites him the most.

The Chandigarh based IAS officer was in the capital at the launch of his second novel "Dubey ji Bounces Back"(Wisdom Tree; Rs.195) here Friday.

This is the story of a Mumbai based banker Raghav Dubey who, at 27, has a life transforming accident. While lying on a bed at a hospital he decides to make a mark in his life by getting rid of his shy, introvert nature and pessimistic attitude towards life.

But beneath this layer of self-dilemma lies a social message "bounce back, come what may".

"There is more to the story than transformation of the lead protagonist. The story comes with a message that one should never give up and there is always a way to learn and look forward towards life," Atray told IANS.

However, this mantra isn't limited to this novel only, personally Atray believes in being an all-rounder in life.

"One shouldn't be uni-dimensional in life," said Atray who made his debut with "Move On Bunny!"

"The advantage of being involved in some creative or physical activity is that it makes you a better professional. You can channelise your energies in different dimensions," he added.

And this is why one isn't surprised to know that he manages to take out time for activities like sports and writing.

Be it movies, acting or writing, humour is a difficult genre to handle. But for Atray it is the medium to make people smile, which in a way, is challenging.

"It is difficult to make people smile. Using humour as a thread in my stories helps me to flex my creative writing skills," he said.

Even though he doesn't dismiss the possibility of writing a non-fiction in near future, he admits this genre of literary work attracts him more.

However, he clarifies that his writings have "intelligent humour" and something one can easily relate to.