Jasper Daniel’s first book Salted Biscuits is a pocketful of beautiful surprises that come in the form of poems, short stories and inventive drawings and doodles. The writer has taken great care in crafting every sentence and verse. So even though you will, (you would want to), finish this book in one sitting, you could savour it over multiple readings. The book has a calming effect on the reader.
At the launch at Crossword bookstore, the chief guest Ingrid Albuquerque Solomon says Salted Biscuits is the right type of book for the person of today. “Many of us are readers, but our lifestyle has become so complicated, so busy, that you often take a book and it is lying there. This book is a light read, something you can take everywhere. The poems and short stories get you at the gut.”
Salted Biscuits takes a humorous and insightful look at our lives, relationships and the truth of our existence. At the launch, Jasper read out poems from his book. Giving a glimpse into how ideas come to him, Jasper says: “I was driving to work one day and stopped at a signal. I was sitting in my car. This was in May. It was dusty and hot, the car didn’t have an AC. Then I realised when I was in school, I used to wait for summer holidays. We never complained about the heat or the dust. And now everything has changed. And that’s when I wrote this poem.”
The dream of writing a book has been with Jasper for 10 years. With constant encouragement from his wife Disha Kathuria, Jasper turned this dream into reality with Salted Biscuits .
The former advertising professional says he had a love for writing when he was in school. He then speaks about his greatest inspiration. “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. It happens to me all the time. I introduced my next book, Under the Yellow Light at the launch, for that too, the title came to me first. The title becomes the root of my work.”
Speaking about what interests him as a writer, Jasper says: “One thing that helped me bounce back and get out of my depression has been writing. When I get to the point when there is loss, or rejection or some problem at work, what else can be done? I don’t want to stew in that problem, either. Only writing helps me then. Sometimes you laugh at it, sometimes you see this light and then you write about it. In everyone’s lives there are problems. In my life, too, there have been problems, there are and there will be, and that’s when writing helps.”
Jasper is a wordsmith. Arranging words into pithy phrases is his forte. “I find that process extremely interesting. It’s like a child playing with Lego.” And he says, before setting off to autograph books. “When I write, I am really happy.”
Salted Biscuits is priced at Rs. 200 and is available on Flipkart and Amazon.in.
