Mohan Timmaraju is an Indian author writing English fiction. A greater part of his life, though, has been spent in the countries other than India, working for different multinational companies and living in distant parts of the world, Mohan did not forget what he has been told, taught and narrated in his early days on earth. Born and raised in a household full of freedom fighters and patriots, Mohan Timmaraju has always been thinking of writing a fiction that encompasses all the stories about first Indian freedom movement that he listened in his childhood. And hence, when he got retired from his professional life, he began writing a story and it has now been published – Janardhan Talbot.

The debut novel by Mohan Timmaraju comes in two volumes – in the first, the protagonist goes into distant lands exploring life in the guise of a different person (his deceased friend). In the second part, the protagonist returns to India and dives everything to the ongoing Indian freedom struggle. This novel by Mohan is a fine example of what the Indians felt at that time.

Writing style and qualities of Mohan’s writings can only be judged when one reads the novel thoroughly. As someone who has gone through his debut work, I can point out a few of the major qualities that Mohan possesses as a novelist writing about a major event in the past – first Indian freedom struggle.

Mohan’s ability to provide life to his thoughts and imagination is certainly accepted. He admits that the events he wrote about in his novel are imaginary but the imagination certainly comes from his thoughts and his thoughts, in turn, come from the stories he heard about his family members. When you read his novel, you will feel things might have been real because we all know bits of history and Mohan’s story perfectly employs that fact. The language used in writing Janardhan Talbot perfectly seconds the serious theme of the novel. It couldn’t have been any lesser and had it be lesser, the novel couldn’t have come as effectively as it has already. So, the language and the theme, both are wonderful – to say the least in appreciation!

Mohan Timmaraju is a man in his 80s now – 72 to be precise. His experience is there but not in the field of writing. Nonetheless, in his debut work, the author has impressed the readers with his skills at narrating different kinds of events. He has written about emotions, about hatred, about deception, about love-making and about everything that could be possibly thought by him and his protagonist, Janardhan Rao.

On a serious and critical note, Mohan Timmaraju’s writing has come in the times most of the newcomers in fiction writing take the shorter route to success and mostly write of about romantic themes to make an appeal to the young readers in India. Mohan has written about India’s past; his theme is serious and so is the treatment of that theme. I am sure people, both serious and casual readers, will like and appreciate Mohan’s work here.

You can get more about him and his book on his official website: Mohan Timmaraju

a feature story by Amit for The Indian Authors