Srikar Chitta: A genius Personified

When William Wordsworth remarks that Child is the farther of man, he certainly refers to the latent abilities a child possesses. Such inborn capabilities better define the genius child author Srikar Chitta.

Srikar Chitta is an imaginative Indian-American seventh-grader now at Birla Open Minds International School, Hyderabad. He enjoys reading, learning new technologies, and studying science and nature—but what he loves doing most of all is writing! He writes enthusiastically, and his stories are award-winners—a prize in the 2020 KidEngage short story competition, and he is the BTB Storyteller of the Year 2020, Best story of the year 2021. Two of his prize-winning stories are Devil in Disguise and Three Sides of a Coin. Another of his stories was published in 2021 in Box of Tales—Volume 2: A ‘Beyond the Box’ Anthology. He did the better of t wo books also which have brought him laurels. The Team Hans India daily interacted with him. Here are the excerpts from the conversation.

When did you first realise you wanted to be a writer?

I went to a creative writing workshop when I was seven years old during summer break. I attended it casually and thought it would be a boring workshop. However, my mentor Anupama Dalmia changed my perspective towards writing and showed me a new path in my journey. She showed a seed of writing and unboxed the joy of writing in me. That’s when I started writing.

What is your real-life work schedule like when writing?

Writing is a part of my life. There is no particular schedule, whenever I get an idea; I try to write the idea in a book. I try my best to keep a time slot for writing every day between 8 to 9 p.m. be it a small poem, article, essay or short story I will make sure to write every day.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

Sometimes I randomly love to sketch some comics that slowly transform into story ideas.

What are your favourite books to read?

I have a lot of favourite books including Animal Farm by George Orwell, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins and many more.

One of my all-time favourite books is Ramayana.

Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

Most ideas come to us as intriguing fragments, which we see as having some potential for an article, story, poem, or book. They may take the form of abstract concepts, scenes, a few words, or perhaps images. To me, the form I am writing in is irrelevant, the idea is what matters. A good idea is based on an interesting subject that appeals to a large number of people to which readers can relate. To me, all ideas are worth writing about. If something grabs my interest, I believe that it may grab the interest of others. I write about small things like a dried leaf or even a pencil. I try to observe my surroundings, to inculcate it in my writing.

When did you write your first book and how old were you?

I was ten years old when I wrote my first book, Just another Horrible Year. I was a short story writer and I used to write for magazines and online writing prompts.

When the book was published, it was a dream comes true for me. I always wanted to pen down my thoughts into a book. My mentor Anupama Dalmia motivated me and showed the potential in me.

How do you create your main characters?

I create my main characters by gaining inspiration from the outside world. I always want to be a part in literature field and bring some change in the world with my writing.

To bring a change in the real world, we need to get inspired by the real world.

Therefore, most of my characters are inspired from the real world.

I gain some inspiration from the news as well!

Can you describe your writing space?

My writing space is my study room near a window. From my window I can see beautiful Mother Nature with lush green trees. Being with nature is the best thing in anyone’s life. It teaches many things if we look with an open mind, so in case I am stuck, I just look outside for some time. If we observe a tree, it teaches us how to be silent and to focus on our lives to grow. I get inspiration from nature and people around the world.