Although Sarita Mandanna lives in Manhattan, enjoying a great job there, she is never far from Coorg it seems. Despite what she was going to write for the story, she was always clear it was going to be set in Coorg. She is very attached to the place, and in fact, the female characters in the novel also were inspired by the women in her own family (especially her great grandmother).
A Celebration of Coorg
Her resolve shows through during the paragraphs when she writes about Coorg, and the readers would be correct to believe that Tiger Hills is more like celebration of Coorg. It's natural also, since she has longstanding roots in the place, and she heard the story of a fearless ancestor as she grew up. She was always very connected with Coorg, and it shows through the story (although the story is universal, we must say).
She Denies the News about the Huge Advance
Even before Tiger Hills arrived in the market, people were already talking about the huge advance, supposedly largest in India for a first novel, paid by Penguin to the author.
Sarita Mandanna though gently denies these rumours, saying if she had indeed received such a huge amount, she would have been enjoying a vacation on a beach. At the same time, she does admit the support from Penguin for Tiger Hills was huge as they were the first publishers to come on board, and the abroad publishers came into the picture later.Life Hasn't Changed For Sarita Mandanna Yet
It took her five years to write the book, which was pretty much a private and perhaps lonely slog, now that she has to talk about it continuously (almost), she feels slightly disconcerted. Apart from the publicity for her book, nothing has changed yet. She is extremely happy with the reader responses she has received so far, right from a teenager to an elderly person.
No Plans to Be a Full Time Writer Yet
She does not have any plans to become a full time writer just yet, and she intends to continue in the private equity business. She intends to write her new novel with some more sleep with slightly less hard work. Devi appears to be one of the most complex characters in contemporary fiction, and readers are confused who the true victim is in the book. Devi has to go through a lot, and she does not choose resignation after that. Many choices made by Devi seem to be wrong, and it was deliberate on the part of the author. All the characters have their flaws and Devi is no different. She makes mistakes, realizes them and tries to undo as much as she can.
Tiger Hills Is Much More Than Just the Huge Advance for the Author