Of a Diplomat & a Novel Debut as Writer-Nonika Singh 

LOVE And loss, missed opportunities and imperfect past, regrets and hope, darkness and light. That’s life. And that’s the thread that runs through Navtej Sarna’s debut novel We Weren’t Lovers Like That. As the diplomat- writer himself confessed at this Sahitya Academy meet Sector 34 library: “I regret picking and I regret not picking. Indeed it’s a tale of yearning and longing.”

But written in first person through the eyes of Aftab and in his voice the author does surface.” Yes, the events are filtered through my consciousness but neither the character nor the events autographical.” In fact, he added that a book can’t be broken down into parts or its sourcing pinpointed.” Okay, this came from this particular experience.”

But Sarna only knew,” it was a passion, something churning inside my head, a story waiting to be told.” Of course, it took a while to be written. The first paragraph itself was followed by a two-year hiatus and even later it was written intermittently. And yes, the teasing exciting title came after the novel was complete. As many present were inquisitive about the title and whether it alluded to lost times, he admitted: “Yes, it’s a love story, an unusual one, certainly not ideal and refers to failed relationships.”

In fact, as he read out two extracts from his novel, his felicity with words and language, imaginative perception to bring characters to life leapt out. So did his grasp over real life dynamics apparent in his depiction of what he calls, ‘the low end of high life.’ Yet Sarna, who had earlier penned short stories, has also finished writing a book on Guru Nanak holds:” Nonfiction where you have to be 100 percent exact is a far more demanding and taxing domain.”