Vibhor Tikiya’s recent book DADA is a fictional biography revolving around relationships. He told Iknoor Kaur how his work represents the youth
In 2010, Vibhor Tikiya’s factory caught fire, leaving a lasting impact on him. Ever since then he has believed in one thing in life — dreams never catch fire, places do, dreams make way for other dreams, but fire burns the heart. His recent book, DADA, takes inspiration from the thought and talks about how relationships transform lives and how guidance can turn negative into positive.
The book is a journey of self discovery, said Vibhor. “It is about a boy who starts off in a negative way and goes on to become someone who is very positive. It is about how relationships in his life help him head in the right direction. The story comes straight from the heart. It’s a statement that people, who like to go against the normal way of thinking, can end up being where they are supposed to be,” he explained.
Vibhor feels that calling it a fictional biopic may limit the understanding of the book. He said, “In a fictional biopic one needs to give importance to all phases of the protagonist’s life. But I didn’t want to do that. I wanted the word “dada” to become a symbol. I clarified it to my editor that the story is not about childhood or life, but friendship. I wanted to show the boy’s life as Dada and the role his friends and mentors played in his life.”
Interestingly, the cover of the book shows a boy who’s facing his back to the camera. Vibhor elaborated, “Whoever has read the book came and told me that they saw themselves in Dada. They identified with the character and incidents. The way we conceived the character of Dada was as you — the youth of today. That’s why the front page has the boy’s back facing you, because the front face is ‘you’.”
He added that he didn’t put himself in the main character. “There is a geek in the book called Vivek who has shades of me, but the book was fictional.”
DADA’s plot can get preachy at times, however, Vibhor claims that he made sure it’s not. He stated, “The entire book is like a conversation. I strongly feel that free minds don’t need thoughts. I leave my book to their interpretation. We have conversations — which are open to public interpretation. I don’t think I will ever tell people what to do through my books.”
Vibhor’s next book is called Dharam which is a union struggle between a capitalist and few workers. One third of it is already written. The common aspect between the two books will be the incident of the factory burning down.