Fade into Red Book by Reshma Barshikar - Character Interview for Book Tour

Fade into Red is a book about an investment banker Ayra who goes to Tuscany, Italy to settle a wine business for her client. She is engaged to her childhood sweetheart Karthik. But she is very busy with her work. Who she meets in Italy, details of wine business, and how she struggles to maintain a work-life balance is the story. I have quizzed the author Reshma about the characters in her book and she has come out with intelligent and soul-searching answers. Here we go...

1. Were all the characters in the book gathered from your real-time experiences or were they fictional?

I think most my characters were an amalgamation of people’s characteristics. Kartik’s looks were completely inspired by Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes) and I always thought of Ayra as an Indian Amelie. Ishaan and Celio were built around certain character traits and a feeling I got when I thought of them. I always saw Celio standing at the top of a hill, proud with windswept hair. Narina is a product of two of my closest girl friends. Sandeep and Vikram were my favorite to create and are very much inspired by Bollywood. Their physicality was especially fun to work with.

2. You have portrayed Ayra as a girl who is always tempted to give precedence to career over family. Why have you portrayed her that way?

Investment Banking is hard on your personal life. I don’t think Ayra ever consciously chooses work over family but that’s how it ends up because you tend to take your family and friends for granted- the problems of unconditional love, as work always seems more urgent and much more conditional. I honestly don’t believe anyone ever consciously chooses work over family.

Reshma Barshikar, Author

 3. Karthik is an ideal and romantic guy. But he is not able to keep Ayra hooked. Why is it so?

Great question! I don’t think Ayra, or I for that matter, know the answer to that question. While it was clichéd, I wanted to address this constant friction between passion and security. They say nice guys finish last but if you wait till the last page of the story you’ll find that’s often not the case. I find it interesting that a lot of people think Karthik is ideal. He’s not perfect either; he is sometimes insecure and unhappy but something changes when he finds his way and emerges as someone everyone wants to love.

4. Which character in the book did you spend most time in developing or made an effort to evolve? Why?

Needless to say, I initially spent a lot of time on developing Ayra but she pretty much created herself as the story developed and she surprised me towards the end. Sandeep and Vikram were the most fun to write. Ishaan was hard to pin down primarily because we only see him only from Ayra’s perspective and her perspective is clouded when it comes to him. So his unpredictability and indignation might seem extreme to her while being quite normal to others.  And I wanted that irritation to come through which I think it did because a lot of readers identified with her and really didn’t understand him despite finding him terribly attractive.

5. Have you met wine experts like Celio? Were they any different from people in other professions?

I read a lot of books and met a few vintners. I think they are no different to anyone else who loves their work with a passion and intensity, almost to a fault; it begins to define them. The vintners I met are proud of their heritage and derive great pleasure in making good wine; many of them think it’s almost magical.