The story of new author Pratap Reddy
Indian-born Pratap Reddy likes to call himself an underwriter by day, a writer by night
Pratap Reddy is a late-to-bloom writer. His writing career took many years and two countries — India and Canada — to come to fruition; he published his first full-length novel, Ramya’s Treasure, this September.
“I was a reader for so many decades and only recently started writing — I feel like an imposter,” admits the Toronto-based insurance professional.
But the desire to write was a seed planted long ago. Growing up in a country with few televisions but a high regard for reading, Reddy was always steeped in stories. His beloved aunt, a schoolteacher, enchanted him with Greek myths, and his father stocked his library with educational books as well as popular fiction. “Turning each cover was like opening a window to a new world,” he says. Reddy was determined to join these keepers of words.
He credits his parents for the tenacity that has brought him publishing success today. “I never say die — I don’t have it in my constitution,” Reddy says. Both his mother and father were physicians who demonstrated patience and determination in their volunteer social work with India’s street children. Their even-keeled attitude extended to Reddy’s pursuits as a child in India. When the young Reddy failed to win a painting competition, his father consoled him. “There’s no shame in losing — setbacks are the stepping stones to success.”
His father was right. Though Reddy published a few stories and articles in magazines in India, he put his writing dreams on hold when he entered university. “In India, writing wasn’t encouraged — it was viewed as a hobby,” he says. Luckily, Reddy had an analytical side in addition to his creative bent. After completing a master’s in economics, he landed a job as an executive in a telecom company.
While he earned a good living, he became restless by the time he hit his 40s. “I wanted a new experience, like living abroad,” he says. After receiving his Canadian visa in 2002, he packed his bags for Toronto, temporarily leaving his wife and young son in the care of relatives.
His adventure had some speed bumps. “It was not a piece of cake,” he says. Living alone in a cramped single room, he had to learn how to fend for himself. Having relied on a cook in India, Reddy had no idea how to feed himself. “I only knew how to make instant coffee — even tea was difficult,” he says.
His tropical skin chafed from Canada’s whipping winds. But the hardest challenge was the rejection of his professional qualifications. One of Reddy’s first jobs was in security, guarding Christmas trees during bitter cold night shifts. One evening, he noticed photos of missing children hanging on a branch. The pictures reminded him of his own toddler still living far away. “I missed him so much — a wound opened as I stood there,” he says. A year later, Reddy landed a job as a financial analyst at Great-West Life, where he continues to work.
These growing pains of transplantation proved useful, however, providing fodder for his fiction. “There was a purpose — I wanted to capture what it is to be a newcomer,” he says.
Pratap Reddy in Kariya Park in Mississauga. Photo by Stephen Uhraney
Reddy on becoming a writer in Canada
Reddy geared up for his goal. He began carrying a notebook everywhere, jotting down quaint phrases and intriguing anecdotes (he humorously calls himself an underwriter by day, a writer by night). Since he didn’t have a computer, he used the one at the local Mississauga Library, writing each day for the maximum allotted time of one hour. He became his own harshest critic as he pushed himself to improve. “Every time I pick up my work I think I could have used a more apt word,” he says. Eventually he enrolled at Humber College, completing its creative writing program.
Reddy churned out one story after another, sending them to magazines and book publishers. His only answer was a deafening silence. But Reddy didn’t despair. “I don’t take rejection to heart,” he says. “It motivates me to try harder.”
His persistence finally paid off in 2012, when a manuscript won a writing contest sponsored by Diaspora Dialogues, an organization fostering the work of emerging immigrant authors. As the prize consisted of a mentorship program, Reddy acquired a seasoned instructor who helped him develop his own voice rich in detail and description. After finessing his collection of short stories, he submitted them to an editor at Toronto-based Guernica Press. And finally, he got a “Yes.”
Reddy could hardly believe it when he saw his name on the book cover sent by his publisher. He touched the computer screen just to make sure it was real. “It was one of the finest moments of my life.”
Weather Permitting and Other Stories, published in 2016, documents the gap between immigrants’ expectations and the sometimes harsh reality of life in Canada. The struggles with employment, the separation of family members and the ubiquitous cold are recurrent elements in the stories. Many stories were drawn from Reddy’s own experience. “Ramki and the Christmas Trees,” about an electrical engineer unable to find professional work, flowed out of his own stint as a security guard.
First novel Ramya’s Treasure
Reddy isn’t one to rest on his laurels. For his new book, this time a novel, he decided to chronicle a female immigrant’s dilemma. Most of the time, the decision to immigrate comes from the husband, and the wife goes along with it to support him, says Reddy. “The woman gets a raw deal — she has to take care of the children, clean the house, and also go out and work,” says Reddy.
The protagonist of Ramya’s Treasure, a down-and-out immigrant from India, was born from these considerations. At the beginning of the book, Ramya is paralyzed by depression — she has suffered both the breakdown of her marriage and the loss of her job. A sandalwood box filled with mementos from India reanimates significant relationships. As Ramya reconnects to each one through memory, she rebuilds her fragmented identity and recovers a sense of meaning.
Though he took a creative risk writing his novel from the perspective of a woman, his readers have found her credible. “They feel her pain,” he says. “That makes me kind of a little proud,” he adds, with humility.
Reddy has plenty more ideas left. “I have more plots than life to live,” he says. He is currently working on a novel about a young man who grows up in Canada and then revisits his homeland of India, where he witnesses its rising prosperity.
Having earned a hard-won success, Reddy is dedicated to helping others achieve their dreams. Whether he’s advising a struggling immigrant he’s just met at a bus stop or counselling his own son, Reddy’s message is the same. “If there are 100 doors, you don’t know which one will open, so you knock on every door,” he says. “Persevere — eventually it will happen.”