Author Arup Mitra, who was recently in the city to launch his book Uttara Yogi, says that writing a historical novel is both interesting and exciting.

"In 1870, Swami Vasudeva of the Nagai Japat community made a momentous prediction. He said that the Uttara Yogi (a yogi from the north) would settle in south India and help the country gain liberation from foreign rule. It took 40 years for his prediction to come true. On April 4, 1910, Aurobindo Ghose settled in Pondicherry and after publicising his political agendas, dedicated himself to spiritual endeavours," explains Arup.

"But my book is not a biography of the life of Aurobindo. It's a story of how Swami Vasudeva's prediction came true. It's a dramatic account of his life," he adds.

So, what inspired him to pen this novel? "My interest in Aurobindo led me to write a novel on his life. No one has attempted to sketch his life and I thought if I wrote a novel on his life, instead of a biography, I could get readers of all age groups to take interest in his philosophy. This book takes the readers back to the pre-independence era and explains what patriotism, adventure, love and betrayal are. It's a perfect read for the layman," he says.

Ask him if penning a historical novel was a difficult job and he replies, "Au contraire (on the contrary), it's quite an easy job to write novels on gurus and ancient people because very little is known about them. An author can take the creative liberty of imagining certain sections of their lives. But writing a novel on people from recent times is a laborious task. Their lives are well chronicled and it will be inappropriate for writers to let their imagination run wild."

For Arup Mitra, who has written books like A Letter to Mother and In search of the Lotus Feet, Chennai isn't new. "I spend most of my time in Pondicherry and travel to Chennai often. It's like a second home for me," he smiles.