Everybody has family, and we are so ashamed of writing what we really want to because we think about how they would react to it. Now I have four individual books, plus an anthology, that have been published in India and abroad. Because he is water; he flows and fits into other people’s containers. It is just the bits that you choose to portray. The book is about a Sri Lankan man Chamath, an Oxford graduate, who is a suit-and-tie “professional”, who escorts women on dates and occasionally sleeps with them (for a fee, of course). So there was nobody to take care of him and make life-changing decisions. He assumes the shape of the container he’s put into.”The author of Colpetty People and The Good Little Ceylonese Girl, which were shortlisted for Sri Lanka’s Gratiaen Award, points out that his latest book, The Professional, borrows nuances from his experience as a builder in London.

At that time, I was the only person at home. That is how I am. You know your experiences. Narayanan (for his simplicity in portraying human condition), Ashok says that young writers should learn to tap into their subconscious. There was nobody I could speak to. Your truth is in your subconscious. We steal other people’s characters. You have to be careful about what you say to a writer. My brother was in New York and my sister in London. “All writers are thieves. It is easy to put yourself in your book but that is not you. “As a writer, you have to delve into your subconscious because you are writing from the depths of your being. He reminisces, “I returned to Sri Lanka back in the 1980s as a builder.In The Professional, the bits that are mine are the metaphor of water. He is not strong enough to have his own container. You have to learn to lose your self-conscious.

Yet, I only started writing in Camouflage Fabric manufacturers my 40s.So, in a way, the writing came last of all; but as they say, the last of it is the best.” A fan of authors Graham Greene (for his interplay with good and evil) and R. The builder-turned-author-turned personal fitness trainer confesses, “I think even on my deathbed, I will still be shy to call myself an author. I took to writing, which was a stress buster for me. But of course, the other circumstances are not about me,” says the author.Says Sri Lankan author Ashok Ferrey, whose latest novel borrows fleetingly from his own life experiences but veers off into a shocking domainAshok Ferrey says he’s shy to call himself a ‘writer’.K. So, by writing, I was speaking to myself.It is very difficult, but it is important,” he signs off.

But then, my father got cancer. The protagonist despises himself because he is like water in a glass. The easiest person to steal from is yourself. I had a career as a builder before and I have a degree in pure mathematics from Oxford. The second thing is even more important, especially for a south Asian writer: you have to lose your self-consciousness. He finds it easier to fit into other people’s lives and environment.For instance, you may think that you like blue, but you may discover that in your subconscious, you like green, because it is a wicked colour. I had to do that and it stressed me out. Ashok’s journey into the literary world began during a stressful phase in his life.