Twinkle Khanna recounted a freakish experience that she had at an event, other authors tell us their bizarre encounters
Recently, Twinkle Khanna tweeted about a weird experience she had during her book signing event. She said that a man handed her a card that was an ‘expiry card’. He also claimed to be a ghost and tried to draw a symbol on her forehead. Understandably, the actress-turned-author was shaken. “Was shuddering for a bit and one of the organisers pushed his hand away before he could complete the symbol — very eerie,” she added. We decided to ask other authors if they have faced any bizarre, funny or weird incident during their book-signing events.
AMISH TRIPATHI
Author of: The Immortals Of Meluha, The Secrets Of Naga, Sita: Warrior Of Mithila
I must say, Twinkle’s experience is extremely bizarre. I haven’t faced anything like that, but I have had some readers come up to me with pirated copies of my book, and requesting me to sign it. I remember when a man came to me and said, “I don’t have the time to read your book, can you tell me a quick summary so that I know about it!” That’s not all, he said everybody in his friends’ circle was talking about it and he was feeling left out. He also wanted me to sign his book so that he can shows his friends that he had met me! I told him, ‘Padh toh le, it won’t take you more than a day.’ This happened almost two years ago when I had launched Scion Of Ikshvaku.
NOVONEEL CHAKRABORTY
Author of: That Kiss In The Rain, How About A Sin Tonight, Marry Me Stranger
This happened during one of the events for my book Black Suits You. My target audience is between the 15 to 35 age group, but there was a 67-year-old lady who told me she enjoyed my Stranger trilogy. She started listing the reasons while I could only stare at her. I couldn’t surmise what on earth could a 67-year-old lady find in my books. Later, for the first time I wrote, ‘Dear aunty’ for a reader and added ‘with love and respect’ before I signed the trilogy for her.
ASHWIN SANGHI
Author of: The Chanakya Chant, The Krishna Key, The Rozabel Line
A funny incident happened with me not at my book signing, but in a book shop at the airport. One guy walked up to me and said, ‘Sir, I am a big fan of yours, can I have a selfie with you?’ He then picked up a book from the store and asked me to sign it. But it was a book written by Devdutt Patnaik! It has become a regular laughing joke between Devdutt and me. I think people get confused because we both are relatively short, chubby and wear glasses.
RAVI SUBRAMANIAN
Author of: If God Was A Banker, The Incredible Banker, In The Name Of God
This happened at somebody else’s book launch recently, though I won’t name the author. Before the launch, his marketing team ran a campaign on the social media wherein one of the protagonists from the book befriended a lot of people on Linkedln telling them that she had a business problem and whether somebody can help her. Several senior people from the ad and marketing fraternity responded and she sent them a message saying she will be at this particular book store at 6 pm. It was only when these guys landed there that they realised it was a book launch! This social media experiment didn’t go down well with the people. Even the author was taken aback. It may have been done with good intention but it backfired. I found this experience extremely weird.
DURJOY DATTA
Author of: When Only Love Remains, The World’s Best Boyfriend, Till The Last Breath
My experience is nothing compared to what happened with Twinkle. But I have had a couple of readers coming up to me and showing me sentences from my books tattooed on their body! I found it freakish and humbling. One of them had got it inked on the arm and the other on the lower back. Both the times I remember thinking to myself, ‘Hope there were no typos in the book!’
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