'Whatever I think shows up in fiction'

In her new collection of short stories, 'Welcome To Paradise', Twinkle Khanna examines themes of mortality

- Jahnabee Borah

It was a chilly November morning in London. The boiler in Twinkle Khanna's bathroom wasn't functioning; the water was lukewarm. She was running late for this interview. After a delay of a few minutes, she logged in for the video call in an emerald sweater, kohl-ed eyes and dishevelled hair just like a writer's.

"I was standing there, looking at the lukewarm water and thinking it could be used as a metaphor in a story where someone is in a relationship which is not freezing, not really warm, but they are hoping it will get warmer; then they give up," she said. Khanna's latest book, Welcome To Paradise-a collection of five short stories published by Juggernaut-released last week. Fresh from completing a master's programme in fiction writing from London's Goldsmith college, she is brimming with writerly learnings.

Khanna has been writing professionally for a decade as a columnist for DNA and The Times Of India and has authored three books, Mrs Funnybones (2015), The Legend Of Lakshmi Prasad (2016) and Pyjamas Are Forgiving (2018). While juggling two different writing careers, she launched the digital content platform, Tweak India, and a publishing company, Tweak Books. Her breezy prose punctuated with her trademark wit signalled her fourth book would be an easy read too, but it was not so. Themes of mortality and elderly isolation underpin the stories; The Man From The Garage opens with a funeral, Nearly Departed deals with euthanasia, and the last story, Jelly Sweets, is about a grieving young mother.

In an interview with Lounge, Khanna, 50, talks about her writing process, tools of fiction and truth being like a potato.

Edited excerpts: Did you plan to write a book about mortality?