On Jan. 30, Arzu, the debut novel of Riva Razdan, Class of 2019, was published by Hachette India. Set in 1991, at the cusp of economic liberalization in India, the narrative follows Arzu — the daughter of a newspaper mogul — as she navigates Bombay and New York at a time when women were rapidly gaining agency in the workforce of a free-market India.

In charting the development of the story, Razdan shared that part of the initial spark came from reading Ken Follet’s historical fiction. Set at a time when England was going through a shift from the aristocratic rule, the main character’s rapid ascendance through the ranks from a heartbroken housemaid to a Member of Parliament struck her.

“That idea kind of blew my mind… [the idea of] sweeping political change in the landscape affecting the lives of individuals,” said Razdan. “I really wanted to see what moment was it that in India women started to generally have more access to economic resources and … more agency, and that was ‘91.”

The novel was born from the multi-disciplinary environment that Razdan, who graduated as a Film and New Media major, enjoyed at NYUAD.

“I had been doing screenwriting intensively, since my first year, and when I did my semester [in] New York [and] in Paris, I tried to take as many storytelling and screenwriting classes I could to ... understand how universes are built in a narrative three act structure,” explained Razdan. However, she discovered that filmmaking as a medium to execute large scale stories set in multiple locations was not feasible for a student.

“I had all of these ideas and stories bursting out of me, and then I would read novels at the library … I lived at the NYUAD library,” she said, describing the bestsellers section of the library as her place of comfort. “Coming up to senior [year] ... I just realized that well, I've done everything — my capstone is done, all my requirements are technically done, and now I have … my last chance to take chances. After this, real life kicks.”

Photo Courtesy of Pratha Narang.

In her last semester at NYUAD, Razdan requested Tishani Doshi — author, poet, dancer and Visiting Associate Professor of Practice, Literature and Creative Writing — to let her enroll in her class entitled Advanced Creative Writing: A Novel in 14 Weeks.

“I actually had no idea what I was going to write,” said Razdan. “I love romance novels … Legally Blonde and things like that ... [and] as a girl I subscribe to the idea of agency being wrapped up in a comforting encouraging dramatic narrative, so I got to explore that in Tishani’s class.”

Razdan’s selection of 1991 as a time period was inspired by what she learned in a Political Science elective she took with Kanchan Chandra, Professor of Political Science. “[Thinking about being in] a pre-liberalized India was super interesting... The idea of not having access to different varieties of consumer products, which was the case at that time, made me really grateful … for the access that we have today,” said Razdan while reflecting on the research she did to construct these places and timelines in her novel. “I enjoyed researching because it [gave me]... another world to slip into, which is the whole point of writing.”

When talking about craft and discipline, Razdan emphasized that the creative writing class she took with Doshi was crucial in shaping the initial 30,000 words of what ended up exceeding 90,000 words in her final manuscript. She said that the expectation to write throughout the semester allowed her to build a writing discipline, where she would write traditional three-part narrative scenes in prose as chapters. “The writing process, for me, has always been [to] just get it all out first, figure out what you want to write,” she said. “Even if it’s shit, … it always gets better in the edit.”

Razadan described the class as a once in a lifetime opportunity. “You have all of these … scholarship kids from the whole world giving you their perspectives and … high craft feedback,” she noted.

From there on, Razdan continued working with a writing partner from the class and finished her manuscript in July 2019. A quick Google search and a cold email — which she described as a fine balance between her passionate excitement and professionalism — led her to Kanishka Gupta, a literary agent in India, who became her agent in Aug. 2019. In Sept. 2019, the book was picked up by Hachette India and was slated for publication in Oct. 2020, but was pushed to Jan. 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “Until Arzu came out, I didn’t believe it was coming out,” said Razdan, reflecting on the tumultuous process following the pandemic.

Razdan most looks forward to the reception of her book. “At NYUAD, when I felt low, what I would do is read a … fun, encouraging book … Something that leaves you with some kind of insight, some kind of knowledge and a feeling of comfort … I used to need to read a lot just to calm down,” said Razdan. “I’m glad I can do that maybe … a little bit for other people.”

“Someone’s mother in law called me to tell me that she was having a hip replacement surgery and was in a lot of pain,” she added. “But she was reading this and it was making her chuckle … That is the aim.”