Master of many arts - Author Dr. Charith

So, this email interview happened after we stumbled on Dr. Charith Venkat and he obliged to be featured on our blog.

Anyway, grab a sandwich of a parantha and sit back and read as Dr. Charith chats about his journey, his book being called the most controversial book of 2020 and juggling between his various avatars: artist, drummer, actor and a writer. 

Phew! 

Let us dive!

Doctor, can you tell us about your writing journey?

I wanted to reach a large audience with my message, to see or at least consider the ancient wisdom to be literal, the original text’s versions, not the more recent versions.

While the rest of the world were pondering whether it was flat or round, ancient Indians were already discovering planets and stars, light years away from us.

For example, Varaha was not rescuing the planet from an ocean but from the orbital drift, off its course in space. Ocean was a misinterpretation. You can clearly see that the depiction of Earth in any picture pertaining to Varaha is always a sphere.

So, why did you start writing?

I can only reach a limited number of people in-person, to explain and rearrange the way they think, but a book can speak on my behalf even after my passing.

Our culture had the answer to everything and I urge the whole world to learn it.

I was always a very good speaker. Where ever I lived, people kept telling me that they learn a lot from me which actually encouraged me to speak and teach all my knowledge even more, but that was limited, I needed a medium to take my words far and wide, the best way to do it is either TV, Radio or......a Book :)


Right! I am curious! how do your different skills such as being a pilot, or a drummer affect your writing?

It would not be fun if it was not challenging or hard. Writing a book is always hard, well writing a good book atleast and whether you are a full-time employee or a mother or even a housewife, there are always a million things that are happening, ready to distract you away from writing.

But if you truly make it your passion, a hobby and you believe you have the right material, then there is nothing to stop you.

You just have to believe in your book and in yourself. You need to understand, we humans are capable of any challenge, and we just have to believe first.

I had such diverse experiences that I was able to incorporate all of those into my book. So experiences are key to creativity.

That brings me to my next question, how do you shift between your various activities and still focus on your writing?

Activities help Writing. If I am stuck in a Project at work, I take a break and start writing, If I am stuck (writers block) at writing, I take a break and travel somewhere. This is how it all started for me. Every time I travelled to a new place and tried a new thing, I got a fresh perspective for my thought process.

The focus comes from my obsession for deciphering ancient writings to their literal sense and clearing all misconceptions and wrong depictions has been my motivating factor.

You need to find a common ground. All my activities revolve around Science and Engineering, which was already the biggest Anchor for my writing.








I have hearing so much about your book,  so how is the reception to your book? Any particular anecdotes that you would like to share?

My first book, Evolution Cradle - The Aryan Origin was first started in January 2015, actually while I was working in my office, on a quite day. I have written several short stories and poems prior to this (during school) but never actually published. Unfortunately, I am also no longer in possession of those works.

Also, I am represented by an Agent and we found several publishers who instantly loved the manuscript, however the timing of the release was not perfect and they also wanted us to chop out 700 words from the book into either split it into two parts.

Additionally due to the Covid situation book sales have gone up and my friends at Amazon requested me to release the book by the end of March to gain traction, so I went ahead with the support of the Indian Institute in Germany to release the book on a large scale, all-in. This was a huge risk indeed but the book was an instant success around the globe.
Within 24 hours I started getting reviews, calls and messages from people I never met before.

Of course by now everyone knows that this book has also been rated the most controversial book of 2020.









How does one keep going, writing wise, especially when the start of the book seems fascinating but as you reach the middle it becomes hazy and you are drained out? Any of your own practiced tips?


Firstly find your favorite subject. Write about what you are truly passionate about, this already makes it easy to keep going. For me History as a whole is also extremely fascinating, especially how the ancient Indian subcontinent has inspired the entire world. From great Physicists like Oppenheimer "father of the atomic bomb" who quoted “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”. It is, perhaps, the most well-known line from the Bhagavad-Gita, to new-age film makers like Cameron. Even legendary infamous people like Hitler or an entire ancient civilization like the Greeks, they have all derived their inspirations from our mythical country.



· Next have a goal. Ask yourself why do you want to write? What do you want to achieve by it? For me my primary goal is to put Indian literature on the global literary-map. As many have noticed we are lacking a certain support to push our best books into the international best sellers’ ranks. I designed my book to specifically tackle this main issue, not only did I mainly write about ancient Indian history but I also involved an International team as both Protagonists and Antagonists, something relatable and tangible for people across the world. I truly believe that Evolution Cradle – The Aryan Origin is going to change the way western reviewers and book critics look at Indian subjects and literature. After all, it was specifically designed for this purpose only. A book that talks about Indian religion, heritage, culture and history through the words of German, British, American, Indian and even Afghan characters. Through my book I want to bring India to the forefront of International Literature.


· Lastly don’t worry about language skills. It all boils down to “content”, if it is empty then it needs flamboyant language that most won’t even understand and in my case I let the content speak for itself, by following the art of minimalism. Simple, easy to understand fluidity. I intentionally chose a very unique writing style for my book. A Style that I picked up from my experience in the Film Industry. This is an adaptation of screenplay and screenwriting. Not popular and not widely used, not even something that is trending but after trying everything else, this seemed most apt for my story. The writing style I chose for my book is easy to follow, the story flows smoothly and even this complex multi-genre book can easily be visualized and digested by the reader. There were of course many haters who also criticized me the same way they did to other non-conventional authors, but majority loved this new style. But we need to adapt to the times, the story of the book, the message and the medium.


Thank you so much for your patience so far! Last question: What are your future books and any writing tips, especially to the ones who are still emerging?


I just started creating a basic blueprint for the sequel to Evolution Cradle – The Aryan Origin, this time addressing the two dimensions that have least been touched upon, Time and Space. Now I just need to figure out a way to follow that one up with the final part, the Part-3 of this trilogy.

After that I do want to get back to non-fiction for a while, I have some pressing subjects that I would like to cover in those books.

We are in an age where even a little child wants Facts and Truth. In fact they have access to the facts through a smart device and we writers have to adapt and evolve our narration, storytelling, plot and characters. A good story will have to include well researched facts, facts that perhaps very little know about but yet they could search over the internet and find out. I think a good story is the perfect balance of all of this, tangible scenarios, gripping plot, facts that can easily be searched for, and the most important piece is the villain with a powerful character build.


My personal favorite element of surprise for a good story is to have what I call a “multi-climax”.

· We need to consider that the stories and tales we heard could be literal. They are many clues right in front of our eyes and we still fail to see them. We are barely scratching the surface in spite of coming from the most advanced civilization.


· Take the skin color of our gods, blue, but lost in translation we are told it is not actually blue but dark tone, but then they would have been really depicted with dark skin tone and why blue? Blue perhaps was literally their skin pigment……..


· Almost everything in our ancient scriptures were literal, along the years we made them figurative to match our current status-quo


· A Bonus Tip: Adapt and evolve to what the audience needs!


All the answers that we are looking for are available from astronomy to astrology to nuclear science to genetics, from extraterrestrials to time travel, from weapons and warfare to medical cures and medicines all we are doing now is only re-discovering.


Thank you so much!


Find his books here. You can say a hello to him on Instagram.