Ella Elephant's dad interviews Rajesh Rajoo - Makes him reveal what he's working on next

 

Dada Elephant: "Hello there RR!"

Ella Elephant: "What's an aarrr aarrr Dada?"

Dada Elephant: "Ho, ho... that's who created us sweetheart. Now run along to Eddy... Dada's busy."

Dada Elephant: "Children! So full of questions..."

Rajesh Rajoo: "It will only get worse before it gets better. Hahahaha."

Dada Elephant: "So is Ella going to ask me even more questions?"

Rajesh Rajoo: "Maybe, maybe... I still haven't decided on details like that Dada Elephant."

Dada Elephant: "Where did you get the idea to create us?"

Rajesh Rajoo: "From my then two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. She wanted a story every day around the time she ate cookies or whatever tuck it was. And she'd tell me what it had to be about - by looking around her. "The pillow..." or "the tree"... she'd go. And I had to make a story right then, right there. One day she let me choose and my eyes fell on a toy elephant. I called her Ella. Didn't have the faintest idea then that it was the beginning of Adventures of Ella Elephant."

Dada Elephant: "Ho, ho, that sounds like fun... and... mmmmm... challenging."

Rajesh Rajoo: "Guess it is. Coming up with a new story every day is challenging enough. And when you have to do it on-the-spot, on random request... that's stretching it a bit."

Dada Elephant: "So you can tell a story about anything in the world..."

Rajesh Rajoo: "With a little training at the Academy of Daily Random Storytelling... anyone can."

Dada Elephant: "Ho, ho... But there would be a source of inspiration to tell stories, surely?"

Rajesh Rajoo: "Yes - my baby. I love the way she listens to the stories I tell her, the way she looks on with rapt attention. The way her eyes twinkle. The way she smiles and claps when happy things happen in the story. The questions she asks after the story is over and above all that divine feeling when she comes and hugs me because of the story. That, by the way, is my earned ‘five stars’, at story's end - smelling of milk and cookies or chocolate. :)))"

Dada Elephant: "Ah yes, I love it too when my baby smells of bananas and honey or bamboo shoot cakes. But... mmmm... there must be more to it than just your baby?"

Rajesh Rajoo: "I guess it also helps that I'm a professional copywriter."

Dada Elephant: "That's some kind of writer I'm guessing ..."

Rajesh Rajoo: "Yes. A storyteller of sorts..."

Dada Elephant: "I've heard storytellers sometimes get stuck... how do you come out?"

Rajesh Rajoo: "I walk away. Keeping off for a while lets ideas form. Helps build the story in my head when I am doing other things. Then when I'm not doing anything at all, I tell myself the story. If it's any good, I note down the gist - on my phone or in a scribble pad. Takes care of the plot points that I can build on later. Guess it also takes care of being stuck..."

Dada Elephant: "And you'd be plotting more adventures for Ella now?"

Rajesh Rajoo: "Of course... Adventures of Ella Elephant - Book II. Oh, by the way, you're getting a car Dada Elephant. And Ella is..."

Dada Elephant: "Oh-oh, rather you don't tell me just yet. But I'm getting a car? Ho, ho!"

[Adventures of Ella Elephant is on Amazon.in. 

And also available on Amazon in the US, UK, Canada and Australia.]