Simple, short and light. These words aptly describe the poems and stories written by Jasper Daniel in his first book titled Salted Biscuits.
He has tried to capture the absurdities of life to present them in the form of shorts stories, poems and doodles. The writer is here these days with his wife Disha Kathuria, also an author. Disha belongs to Dehradun. They went up to meet Ruskin Bond in landour, Mussoorie to present him with a copy of this book, published by Berean Bay Media House, Bangalore.
In the Preface to the book, Kathuria writes “In Salted Biscuits, you will find intrepid humour, a chance to re-evaluate relationships, a need to question inherited beliefs.” Talking to The Pioneer, Jasper said that writing this book was his way of relaxing between his crazy, hectic advertising job. ‘This little book invites you to ponder over the paradoxes of modern day living,” he says.
He says he had a love for writing when he was in school. “I came across leonard Cohen’s work about 12 years ago. Since then it’s been a crazy, strong love affair. My wife and I are big leonard Cohen fans.” The book doesn’t fall into any particular genre. And the stories and poems deal with many different themes. “That is because of the kind of lifestyle I’ve chosen,” says Jasper, “My wife and I stay in Puttaparthi, a temple town in Andhra Pradesh. It has given me a lot of time to write and explore.”
Jasper says the catchy title Salted Biscuits came to him first. “It came to me even before the poems or stories did.” He says writing the book gave him immense happiness as playing with words is a craft that thrills him. “This is a book for the lazy afternoons of life …and I wanted it to be a small, light and easy read.” A very short poem titled “Together Apart” reads like this…. “ We’ve sat here for too long /Turning memories into dust/We’ve sat here in deep silence /In the ruins of our trust/ We’ve sat here together /But there’s an ocean between us /The ocean stirs in longing/For Shores with no address.”
The book reflects the nature of a wandering mind, a thinking soul, a man who looks at the world quite differently, unconventionally –without wanting to take it too seriously. No long words, no difficult phrases, no complicated plots. Simplicity lies at the heart of the book. In his poem called The Show, Jasper writes…. “All languages are just one word /All life just one breath /All waters are just one drop/ All sounds just one note…”
Within an hour, one can go over the book’s contents. It is a small packet but has the ability to trigger off big thoughts in the readers’ minds.