World Book Day Visit from Abir Mukherjee
On Monday, years 9, 10 and a few students had the pleasure of having a talk with the renowned author best known for his crime novels. He wrote the Wyndham and Banerjee series set in the British Raj era in India.
First, for context, he taught us about the significance of the British Raj and how history can influence the exhilarating narrative of crime and thriller. The ideas of finding your narrative within the past can help you shape your future, your identity and culture your interests. In Mukherjee’s case, the colonial history of Britain, specifically in India, helped prompt best-seller storied like the crime thriller “A Rising Man”. Altogether, Mukherjee expanded on the vast assortment of knowledge and understanding of humanity and our cultures we have, our history.
He then later focused on his life story, which interested me as he told us he worked in finance for 20 years before pursuing his dream of becoming an author. Although he was comfortable, earning a good wage and didn’t have much to lose, his ‘spark’ wasn’t present. Hence, he strived for the tedious task of making his first book. Night after night, draft after draft, Mukherjee spent hours crafting his story and as a result he won the Telegraph’s Harvill Secker Crime Writing Competition. Ultimately, he taught us that despite where we are in life, what age we are, and how comfortable we are in a day job, when you take all opportunities thrown at you to fulfill your dreams and if you approach every situation with a winning mindset, you WILL be successful.
After this, we curiously asked him several questions, allowing us to delve into the captivating career of being an author. He happily answered all our questions, ultimately allowing us to find our way in a future, requiring us to learn from the past to strive for innovation. Whether that will be through writing best-seller books, being a savvy software specialist or pursing any other career of our dreams. Abir Mukherjee showed us that this is possible; you only need to take those first steps.
Written by Daniel Alloh & David Akanihu (11N)
