Priyanka Mookerjee got the idea for her maiden book when the tectonic plates of pop culture were shifting and her own mental horizons were expanding, with Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' leading the charge.
"Hedon" was born out of the desire to speak with the voice of the zeitgeist; our joys, insecurities, impatience, and experiences, says Mookerjee.
"In its essence, 'Hedon' can be described as a coming of age story, filtered through the lens of an observant, relentlessly curious, and deeply empathetic protagonist. While it begins and ends with a love story, it's a novel where the journey is as- if not more- important than the destination," the Kolkata-based author says.
According to her, "Hedon", published by Penguin Books, is among a very select clutch of novels that doesn't underestimate the complexity of youth and try to portray that in an easily digestible form, ostensibly for young readers.
"Everyone has been young, everyone has felt all the crazy, ricocheting feelings of teenager, and I think that 'Hedon' acknowledges that and tries to reflect it," she says.
"Hedon" explores the vagaries of love and heartache. When Tara Mullick meets Jay Dhillon at a stifling society wedding, she forgets for a moment that she's an awkward, chubby 17-year-old, dying to get out of her sparkly lehenga and back into the comfortable invisibility of an oversized T-shirt.
And all Tara can do is carry him with her, a talisman,
over half a decade spent oscillating between India and the American heartland.
Laced with pop culture and a heady dose of decadence, this is the hedonistic experience of heedless millennials out in an ever-shrinking world and, within that world, the struggle to find a place or person to call home.
Mookerjee says the fire and foolishness of youth provided her "so much great writing material- it felt impossible for me to not write about it!"
On whether she feels that being too much of a hedonist is bad, she replies, "Hedonism by its very definition is the pursuit of pleasure. Thus one's bend defines the possibilities; for example, should one derive pleasure through acts of public service, the world would probably be better off.
"However, should one subscribe to a more stereotypical definition of the term- well, often one can get a really great story out of it.
