14-year-old author pens fantasy, plans 13 sequels

NAGPUR: Two years back when Swarnim Kalbande was barely 12, he finished reading all the available books during his summer break. Finding himself at a loose end, he sat down to pen a book. "I started writing a few chapters everyday and would show it to my parents. They would appreciate the effort which encouraged me to take the story further." Titled The Swords of Darkness -- Appearance of the Krito', the book was published this year."Those who have read it, have liked it," he says.
The elder son of Ravi Kalbande, a deputy engineer at Railway Wheel Factory in Bangalore and who hails from Nagpur, Swarnim says he built up a vocabulary through extensive reading of books. "English is the only literature that I read though my mother tongue is Marathi and I mostly converse in Hindi," he says adding, "the more you read the better you write."
The book is an adventure fantasy and emerges from Swarnim's fondness for Manga, the Japanese comics and cartoons. "I read a lot of these and other works of action and adventure like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl, Lord of the Rings and authors like Arthur Conan Doyle and Dan Brown," he says. He needs no help for creating fictional situations and characters for his writings. "Once I start writing, I am transported to another world. I see it all happening around me and writing just happens," he says.
In an era totally dominated by gadgets, Swarnim says had he not begun to write, he too would have been hooked to television or Internet. "I am very keen on animations and remain connected with gadgets as I spend a lot of time developing 2D and 3D games. I am trying to base them on my book."
He also wants to make a profession out of his love for animation. "I am planning to study computer science which will help me pursue animation as a career, though I plan to complete my PhD from Harvard in US," says Swarnim who is currently in Class X. He has been topping his class and aspires to graduate from IIT-Powai.
His father Ravi Kalbande says his son has this feeling he is different from others. "He keeps saying that he wants to win the Nobel Prize and I tell him don't talk big or people will laugh," Kalbande says. The modest father agrees his son is good enough to achieve his goals. "I am not as proficient in English as he is, so I have nothing much to say about his writing. Otherwise, too, I don't interfere with his plans," he adds.
Swarnim has plans to write 13 books as part of a series. "It will be a continuation where these four characters will visit 13 ports," he says not bothering much about the research that usually goes into writing about various destinations. "There are many before me who have researched these places. What is the point in checking it out again? I just have to build on what's already there," he says.