Vishaal writes short stories and poems. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in ARTS by the People, Five on the Fifth, Kitaab, Ghudsavar, Hakara, Panorama, The Perch Journal, The Kelp Journal, Vermilion, Open Minds Quarterly and Good Printed Things.

Vishaal’s story ‘Greetings to Jack’ features in THE BARE BONES BOOK OF HUMOUR. The anthology’s editor Ankit Raj Ojha describes it as “a plane hijacking … brushed aside by a quirky cast in the clouds.”

Ankit interviewed Vishaal to learn more about his literary influences.

Tell us about your perspective on humour and its place in writing and in life.

I think of humour as the accessible cousin of happiness. You can’t always find happiness in your days (sometimes, even life), but you can always fill it with moments of humour—smiles, laughter, and sharing a harmless joke with people does make life more bearable. I do make sure that my writing—even when not writing an entirely humorous piece—does feature enough humour to keep the readers as well as the writer in me entertained. Besides, if you blend humour with honesty, you can often even write about difficult topics. 

What are the things, works, and authors that have influenced your writing? 

J. D. Salinger’s THE CATCHER IN THE RYE and Jerome K Jerome’s THREE MEN IN A BOAT are my all-time favourites—and those two books have definitely influenced my writing. I’ve also enjoyed P. G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves collection, Mr. Bean, the Monty Python movies (‘Tis but a scratch! :D), and perhaps subconsciously learnt from them too. 

Is there any image, phrase, idea, place, person, or memory that became the seed for ‘Greetings to Jack’? 

Haha! This is actually difficult to answer without either giving away spoilers or sounding too abstract. Let’s just say there was a scene in a movie that I sort of flipped around to create the confusion and drama in my story.