I recently read and reviewed When Dimple Met Rishi, by Sandhya Menon. As I came to the the end of the book- the flap where you often have the author’s bio, this is what it read.
Sandhya Menon was born and raised in India on a steady diet of Bollywood movies and street food. She balances this upbringing for her obsession with happily ever afters, bad dance moves, and pani puri. Now Sandhya lives in Colorado where she’s on a mission to (gently) coerce her husband and children to watch all 3,220 Bollywood movies she claims as her favorite. Visit her online at sandhyamenon.com
In my somewhat disillusioned state, I was tempted to reach out to her and see if she would be willing to share more about herself for my readers on the blog.
Me. A blogger who hasn’t even completed a year in this blogging world. Never reached out to anyone remotely well known. Have a handful of readers and followers, some of whom are just coerced into reading what I write.
Her. A New York Times best selling author. Also a National Indie bestselling author. A book with an ‘amazon best book of the year’ to her credit. On book tours and media events throughout the year. Gearing up to publish her next book.
But, as luck would have it, Sandhya was absolutely amazing, and I was able to ask her a few questions for you all. I loved her responses! A massive thanks to Sandhya for taking the time out to talk with me and my readers!
Enjoy!
I read that you moved to the US at the age of 15. What kind of challenges did you face as a teenager in the US, with Indian immigrant parents?
Sandhya: It was really hard to adapt to a new country/culture right in the middle of my high school career. The funny thing was, once I got used to things, I immediately began to adopt American culture, much to the horror of my parents! I struggled a lot with finding the right balance of Indian and Indian-American as I grew up, and also with finding people who understood that struggle. Thankfully, I did find a core group of friends who helped me along.
In keeping with the theme of this book, did your parents ‘introduce’ you to your husband? And were there any similar ‘Shah’ and ‘Patel’ moments that they schemed?
Sandhya: Haha, no, my parents didn’t arrange my marriage! I actually married my (non-Indian) high school sweetheart! 🙂
In your book, Rishi (the obedient son), was planning to go to MIT, to please his parents, instead of pursuing his passion of comics. Were your parents inclined that you pursue something other than writing? Were you headed in another direction, before you pursued your choice of career?
Sandhya: Absolutely. Rishi’s struggles as an artist totally mirror my own struggles as a writer. My parents were adamant that I find a “real” career, which is why I went to college and majored in psychology. I even did a couple of years of graduate school in clinical psychology before leaving to focus on writing.
Dimple’s favorite childhood classic was ‘A wrinkle in time’. Is that yours as well?
If you could cast your characters in a movie edition of this book, who would you choose to play Dimple and Rishi and Dimple’s mom? (I thought Dimple’s mom was the cutest):
Sandhya:
Dimple: Deepika Padukone
Rishi: Sidharth Malhotra
I love Dimple’s mom! I think Kiron Kher would be fabulous in this role!
If Dimple and Rishi were to be sorted into Hogwarts houses, where would they end up?
Who are your most admired authors (including authors from the Indian subcontinent) ?
And a quick-fire round
Paperback!
Cupcakes or Gulab Jamuns
Gulab jamun-flavored cupcakes. 😉
Morning person or Night owl
Morning person
Both together would be FANTASTIC, but I’ll go with Nutella for right now
Coffee or Tea
Tea
Tiger mom or Elephant mom
Elephant mom!
Sandhya Menon’s new book From Twinkle, With Love comes out in the summer of 2018.
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Loved this. Great interview. She’s sounds down to earth and lovely.
I agree! She was lovely!
Really good interview, especially loved the quick-fire round! 🙂
Thanks!
I love how she supported you as a less well known blogger. I’m one of those too and I appreciate every comment, like or follow I get so this is great to see. She seems like such a down to earth person and I loves your interview questions.
Gemma @ http://www.gemmasbooknook.blogspot.com
It was my first time composing questions for an author. But I’m glad they turned out well, and more importantly her responses were great!
Thanks for stopping by!
cute post start to finish!
Such a great post! I loved reading the interview! Sandhya sounds so down to earth and I can relate to her so much about choosing writing over what I went to school for. It made me feel like I’m not alone.
Exactly! Even about her moving to the US from India during her teen years, is what many teenagers may have faced. Very realistic and honest.
Thanks for reading!
And I need to read this book simply because Rishi would be a Hufflepuff! Such a fun interview.
Definitely! She has sorted them perfectly!
Thats pretty cool Nadia. Really enjoyed reading it
Thanks! I’m so glad she agreed to answer a few questions for my blog.
I have not had an author yet, turn me down. Now I have a couple who haven’t gotten back to me, but oh well. Authors are really nice people. This was a good interview. I have to look up Gulab jamun-flavored cupcakes. I have never heard of this. But I’ve never met a cupcake I didn’t like.
This was my first time, so I was fairly hesitant. But I am so glad I reached out. Good luck with the gulab jamun flavored cupcake!
This is so fun! What a great interview!
Did you get her books from here Nadia? I have someone going to Mumbai next week otherwise.
I got her book from the US. I think the collection of books in Doha is very limited in Jarir or Virgin.
Very interesting read…