Mystical journey unravels
DR AMAN Singh Maharaj will launch his novel, A Dalliance with Destiny, this month.
Singh Maharaj, of Durban, said the contemporary-fiction novel was about a seemingly brash man in his thirties who fights to remain lucid in what appeared to be an irrational world.
The novel, published by Austin Macauley in England, spans a century, and is set in South Africa and India.
“While everyone around him is still celebrating the euphoric entry of his country into the rest of the democratic world, he is at odds with it.
“After a series of distressing experiences, he attempts to extinguish the raison d’être (reason for being) of his angst by embarking on an increasingly mystical journey to India with an unconventional best friend,” he said.
Singh Maharaj, an entrepreneur, said he started writing the book in 2006.
“I have always been an avid reader. As a young child, my mother would often take me to the library. I was probably about 5 years old, and could not even read properly, but we would borrow books and I think that is what got me into a reading frame of mind.
“Over the years, I always knew there was a book within me. In 2006, I had the time to begin writing and succeeded. I wrote 1 200 pages in three months.
“As I wrote each word, the next would come to me. I did not have to plan. It all unravelled.
“However, I had been editing the book, on and off, for the past 16 years, as time permitted. The last edit was done a month ago, with the book being about 400 pages.”
Singh Maharaj, who has an MBA and a PhD in development studies, while working in diverse professions, including as an engineer and economist, said he hoped to write more books.
“I do have a few more stories at the back of my head, which I will work on soon.”
He will host book launches from 3pm-5pm in Durban, on June 25; Johannesburg, on July 2; and Cape Town on July 9.
To attend and to purchase the book, email MsRheaMohan@gmail.com
The novel will also be available online and at local bookstores.