Imagine this

It all started one day 10 years ago when Farah Oomerbhoy was staring at French tapestry in her grandmotherrsquos house and wondered where it would lead if she stepped into it ldquoIt was just like the tapestry in the book mdash a forest with a castle in one cornerrdquo says the 38yearold who has released her first book of a planned trilogy The Avalonia Chronicles The Last of the Firedrakes ldquoItrsquos funny because I had seen that tapestry all my life I used to go to her house almost every day when growing up and would practise the piano in front of the tapestryrdquoPicBipin KokateThe book has been in writing for 10 years but only a year ago did Farah knuckle down and begin writing in earnest ldquoI shopped it around to a few Indian publishers but they felt there was no market for fantasy fiction in Indiardquo she says ldquoSo I turned to online publishing and released a few chapters on Wattpadrdquo She gathered a million readers out there and then turned to a quasiselfpublishing option with WiseInk in the US Since then shersquos been on the bestsellerrsquos list at Amazon and Barnes and Noble WiseInk are the ones holding her to a deadline and pushing her to write the second book Theyrsquove also preached to her the virtues of social media and her Instagram feed is filled with pictures of her having a good time with friends Shweta Bachchan Kajal Anand and sisterinlaw Roohi JaikishenFantasy fiction is Farahrsquos first choice in genres then comes historical romances ldquoI just like escaping into a world where anything is possiblerdquo she says The literature graduate she has a Masterrsquos degree from Mumbai University in English Literature has always written little notes in journals through the years poetry stories when the thought strikes her She escapes to reading every day mdash currently shersquos reading three books mdash and turns to writing in times of grief The book is dedicated to her father and like her her heroine deals with the grief of losing a parentThe Last of the Firedrakes has all the elements of popular fantasy mdash an orphaned princess magical powers an alternate sphere with seven kingdoms a young girl with a destiny to fulfill They are all elements of the Narnia Chronicles The Faraway Tree the Harry Potter Series Lord of the Rings and bit of Enid Blyton fun ldquoThese are all books that I readrdquo she says ldquoOn days that the Harry Potter books were releasing my driver would be standing early in line at Crosswords to get a copy and I would finish reading it by evening My problem with the Lord of the Rings series and even Twilight was that the girls didnrsquot get to do anything mdash ride horses use swords go on adventuresThere was no one to identify withrdquo So she made sure her protagonist Aurora Darlington was a girl Besides readers on the Internet she had her nephew and niece Roohi Jaikishenrsquos kids to discuss the chapters with At 12 and 18 they are closer in age to her target audience ldquoThey have already read it a few times over and keep asking for the next onerdquo she says Her own children are four eight and nine and the eldest Rahim has read some chapters ldquoI wanted to write for the young adult audience between the ages of 12 and 16 or 18rdquo she says ldquoBecause at that age the harsh realities of life have not set in and you still believe anything is possible Some readers on Wattpad say that the heroine is quite silly at times and doesnrsquot listen to her elders but shersquos only 16 Thats how we are at that age I remember making mistakes and not doing what I was toldrdquoWhen the idea for the book struck her she first sat down to make the map of Avalonia and mark the mountains rivers seas microeconomies of towns and the characteristics of the inhabitants ldquoI love making maps and a lot of research went into that I couldnrsquot have rivers flowing the other way The names just came to me but some of them do have hidden deeper meaningsrdquo she says After the last book is out shersquos considering publishing this journal of research Though not written for that purpose the book is a sort of vindication for someone who is only celebrated for her social status glamour and looks She is daughter to London Pilsnerrsquos Zinia Lawyer and wife to Riyad the scion of the illustrious Ahmed Oomerbhoy family ldquoIt is a bit irritating to be called a socialite or a fashionistardquo she says with a slight grimace ldquoI wear what I wear I donrsquot think too much about it And I canrsquot go about explaining to everyone that I am more than thisrdquoldquoThe worst is when people assume I just lie about in bed or spend my time at ladiesrsquo lunches I run around three children volunteer at their school read voraciously write whenever I get time and am a bit of a homebody I donrsquot really go out much itrsquos just an impression that people have of me People are saying lsquoYoursquore finally coming out Who knew you were a writer But I have always written ever since I couldrdquo Her only agenda in the book was the message of hope ldquoAnything is possible but first you must have hope I didnrsquot want to make the book too dark In the first book I set the characters and the universe In the next one there will be events that reflect the current global situation It may be a fantasy adventure story but Aurora is a young girl with real problems and emotions Ultimately it is a book about friendship loyalty love family and duty set in a world where anything is possiblerdquoWersquore sitting in the living room of her Chowpatty mansion In the room several cosy seating arrangements are in conversation with each other Itrsquos dense with paintings and Objet drsquoarts Farah an equine beauty all long lines looks like shersquos about to take flight into one of her imagined worlds But shersquos uncomfortable about talking to a stranger with a lens in her face ldquoThis is the hardest part of the bookrdquo she says ldquoThe marketingrdquo