Delayed flights brings out latent writer in corporate honcho

Delayed flights or trains can be extremely annoying but corporate honcho R M Rajgopal the time spent waiting was utilised productively to hone his writing, a passion that resulted in a book after a decade.
"I started writing on airports precisely to control irritation while waiting for the flights. I found it so negative that I started writing sitting there. Those were days when you were lucky to be on time," says Rajgopal who heads the HR of a corporate firm.
Rajagopal' s book "The Empty Pedestal and other stories" weaves together a handful of short stories that talk about fall of an idealistic labour leader, the aspirations thrust on an uncomprehending kindergarten student and others that transform everyday happenings into a commentary on the present times.

"I used to work on the stories on some weekends. Since I used to travel a lot and had many evenings free, I found writing almost therapeutic. And there were the perennially late flights of the Indian airlines monopoly," says Rajgopal.
However, he says that he no more writes on planes or at airports since he restarted writing in 2012.
"And competition in the domestic skies has ensured more on time arrivals," the author quips.

The debut book is a collection of 21 short stories that were written over a period of 12 years between 1987 and 1999.
All the stories are different from one another and narrate an inspirational tale set in different parts of India.

He writes about the nostalgia of a musician for whom contemporary music ended in early sixties. Similarly all the stories have different tone and represent various emotions of the people.
The author says that he is inspired by writers like Graham Greene, Somerset Maugham, John Fowles and Paul Scott.
"Like these four, my story telling is straight and uncomplicated," says Rajgopal.
Some of the stories in the book, including the title story are written in first person; however, the author says that those stories should not be taken as autobiographical pieces.
"It is not a sign of the story being autobiographical. It is because when I write, the first person helps me to get deeper into the protagonist's mind and think as if I was him," says Rajgopal.