Authors’ Background: Author Piyush Mahiskey is a novelist and Technology Architect based in Nagpur, India. A graduate of S.F.S. High School, YCCE College (B.E. in Electrical Engineering), and BITS Pilani (M.Tech. in Software Systems), he blends technical clarity with literary restraint to craft fiction that listens more than it speaks. His debut novel, ‘Durga In Nigeria’ explores the diaspora rituals, emotional inheritance, and the quiet reckoning of identity through a lens that refuses spectacle!
Questionnaire:
Neel Preet: Well, “Durga In Nigeria” is an incredibly layered debut — blending myth, diaspora, and emotional restraint. What was the first seed of this story, and how did it evolve into the novel we see today?
Piyush Mahiskey: It was somewhere in 2017, I was living in Hyderabad while working there in IT. One night, I was having a vivid dream. I saw a YRF-style movie trailer in a dream, which also included credits. I saw a couple who were romantically involved in the first scene.
I could figure out that the man is older than the woman and is married to someone else. The woman had the face of an Indian TV actress. I got the feeling that the man will eventually hurt the woman.
Then I saw tense music, credits appearing over flowing water.
Then my book cover image got generated in the final scene, and “Durga” was hummed in the background. The title was generated, “Durga in…”. By that time, I woke up and guessed the third word – Nigeria.
I liked the trailer in the dream, and I thought I would write the story. My challenge was to connect the romantic couple to Durga at the end. I kept on developing it, but didn’t write it for 7 years, due to my busy schedule in the IT industry.
But this year, after Nagpanchami, I decided that I would write it, no matter what. And hence, this book came to life.
It was not easy to develop; I had to go through multiple iterations with the story development.
Saani’s look is designed after Indian TV actress Sanaya Irani. It was Sanaya Irani I saw in the dream, hence she became the face and voice of Saani. Even the “Saani” name was derived from “Sanaya”.
Anant was initially named Arvind, and he was decided to be just using Saani for his selfish purpose. His wife was named Sarla, who was just a supportive wife. I scrapped these versions later.
I have my dear friend, Ganesh Patil, who lives in Pune. I met him face-to-face only 3-4 times. We both worked in Delaplex. He was from Pune, and I worked from Nagpur. We were in the same scrum team called “Beatles”, who were working on a feature. He came to Nagpur, I think in 2019, for a Program Increment (PI) planning meeting. We never spoke before. When we were in the sprint room, I met him for the first time, and I felt an instant connection. Then, when work started, our professional and personal friendship grew.
Novel’s story was in my head for many years. Later, I thought, why not to revamp Arvind’s character? I decided to model him on my friend Ganesh Patil. Ganpati festival starts with Ganesh Chaturthi and ends with Anant Chaturdarshi, hence the name Anant was decided. Anant’s looks, voice, mannerisms, features, C++, pacemaker are all borrowed from Ganesh Patil. Only Anant’s poetry, his story and his connection with Saani is fictional.
Even Roshni was modelled on Ganesh’s wife. I decided to model Roshni as the perfect wife who is not short of anything, yet ends up being betrayed. I never wanted Roshni to lose her innocence or face the harsh truths of her husband. So, I made her never know. The name Roshni popped up randomly in my head, but later I decided to give the name a meaning.
Kush was modelled on Ganesh’s son Sarvesh. I decided to show how a typical adolescent child would behave when subjected to such conditions of the story.
Saani is fictional, but some traits I gave her are my own. Saani’s introversion and her upbringing were inspired by my own experience. All other parts were fictionalised. Since the title was “Durga in Nigeria”, I had to make Saani meet Durga towards the end. I decided not to make it melodramatic or magical, just a connection that would be as human as possible.
So, like this, the novel was made.
*Ganesh Patil authorised me to use his name in interviews.
Neel Preet: You have an impressive background in technology and software architecture. How does your analytical, structured professional world influence your literary style and narrative construction?
Piyush Mahiskey: I always believe that technology is as dramatic as a fictional story. Why not to show people how artistic the technical world can be? As technical people, we feel that each programming language or technical tool has some story to tell the world. In my novel, I picked my friend’s C++ as a beautiful programming language to tell the world. So the characteristics of C++ I told as a story. C++ also mirrors somewhat of Anant’s personality. So, I blended it.
Also, the semicolon, which we use in the C family of programming languages, when written somewhere in code by mistake or at the wrong place, causes a compile-time error. I tried to use it beautifully in the “Semicolon” chapter.
If I write more stories in future, I would like to use the beauty of the technical world as art more.
Also, in Agile software development, we improve the software in iterations. That I used to develop the story.
Neel Preet: The novel’s prose is described as “emotionally precise and restrained.” Was this minimalist tone a conscious choice to reflect the silences within the story, or did it emerge organically during writing?
Piyush Mahiskey: Initially, I intended to write the novel as a standard 40000-50000 thousand word novel. But I was not experienced in writing or as a novelist. I started writing the manuscript, and I found my word count would be significantly lower than what I expected. I did not want to stuff the novel with unintended stories or those that deviated from the plot. So, I decided that I will go with what makes sense and does not bore or disconnect the readers. I ended up with 27000+ words. Then I decided not to stuff the story after the manuscript was done. So it became emotionally precise and restrained. It was not a conscious choice, though initially.
Neel Preet: The story interweaves themes of displacement and identity with mythological echoes of Durga. How did you strike a balance between realism and the sacred — between Lagos as a real city and as emotional metaphor?
Piyush Mahiskey: As I narrated what I saw in that dream earlier, there was a modern human couple who were not married to each other. They were romantically involved. Then, at the end of my dream, I saw “Durga in…” and guessed Nigeria as the third word. So, I had to connect both these worlds.
I personally tried going onsite for many years, but unluckily couldn’t even go after getting my visa generated, that too from the company. I tried imagining what a person would feel when they get displaced and meet new people there who are also from their own country.
It was a conscious effort to let Saani meet Durga towards the end. I decided that she would not meet Durga directly, but in a realm that is neither dream nor reality, somewhere where science could not explain. So, I chose near-death experience. I knew that Anant would hurt Saani, so I used that to connect Saani and Durga.
I always tried not to show things as magical in the story, so I ended up showing realism.
Also, I was overprotected by my father just like Saani, so my individualism and identity were delayed. I decided to show that in Saani. In her father’s overprotectiveness, she does not develop her individual identity. She is introverted and never truly experienced human connections earlier. So, I decided that she will get her identity at the end, and that she gets it when Durga awakens her. But sadly, she ends up getting deified by the world and never truly sees the beauty of her identity.
Neel Preet: Saanidhya Ashtankar, or Saani, undergoes a transformation that is almost mythic but not miraculous. What drew you to explore this idea of “emotional inevitability” rather than divine intervention?
Piyush Mahiskey: Divine intervention is a widely explored topic in fiction. I wanted to show the human side.
Saani is a human with human desires of love, intimacy and even physical desires. She decided that she would marry someday, but was never in love before, mostly because of her father’s restrictions. But she feels an instant connection seeing Anant that she couldn’t explain. Anant offered her friendship, which she cherished because she had never had a real friend before. She falls in love with him, knowing that he is already happily married.
This is a human emotional inevitability that I felt. As humans, we want to draw boundaries, mostly moral, but sometimes fail in executing them. This I wanted to explore and show to the world from Saani’s perspective.
Same, I tried to extend when she meets with Durga. Durga, rather than saving her from using any divine intervention, awakens Saani in her own mind. Durga lets Saani know that she can forgive herself and move forward. Most of us humans can’t forgive ourselves. That’s why I decided God would come and tell this to the human.
That’s how I explored “emotional inevitability”.
Neel Preet: The title itself — “Durga In Nigeria” — juxtaposes two rich cultural spaces. What significance does this pairing hold for you personally, and what response do you hope it provokes in readers?
Piyush Mahiskey: As I mentioned earlier, the title was a godsend in my dream. So, I had to justify it. Durga had to be shown in Nigeria, but in a way that made sense.
There are so many cultures I have seen in Nagpur, like the Bengali Durga Puja, which I have seen many times in Katol Road in Nagpur. Then there are not widely known local festivals like Pola and Marbat. They hold so much emotion and values behind them. I decided to show it to the world, so I put that in the novel.
Nigeria had to be shown, but I never actually went to Lagos, I imagined myself going to the onsite and dreamt what it means to live in a foreign country. I envisioned the loneliness Anant would feel.
I did research on Durga Puja festivals celebrated worldwide, and found that Bengalis in Lagos do celebrate Durga Puja. One such community is Lagos Bongiyo Parishad. So, I decided I would fictionalise this community in the plot, and these people will help Saani while celebrating their culture in a foreign land.
For the readers, I just want to invoke that culture is not restricted to geography. Faith sees no borders, and Gods can be found within, not necessarily only in temples and pilgrimage sites. Also, I wanted to say that each ritual has a deep cultural meaning rather than what it appears externally in religion.
Neel Preet: You write about faith, trauma, and silence with striking subtlety. Was there a particular moment or personal experience that shaped your understanding of how “silence becomes sanctity”?
Piyush Mahiskey: Silence can also be a form of communication.I wanted to convey this.
My ex-wife never understood that silence, glances and gestures can also be a language of communication. She only understood verbal communication, which is not what I feel. She never understood how I wanted to communicate through non-verbal forms. She broke our marriage, quoting that I did not talk to her as one of her accusations. I do not blame her for this, as my marriage lasted barely 2-4 months, during which I could not make her understand that I was expressing non-verbally. She believed that I was an emotionless man who could not love.
Through this novel, I wanted to convey that I am a very deep emotional man who takes non-conventional forms to express. I am not limited to words, and silence itself can be a language to express, and love does not necessarily mean to be verbally declared.
I decided to go subtle with faith, trauma and silence so that people should relate these terms with emotional intelligence rather than absence of emotions. I am not a fan of small talk; rather, I believe communicating deeply with those with whom I emotionally connect, just like my friend Ganesh Patil and a few of my cousins, who truly understand me without expecting anything from me.
Sadly, my marriage was over before I could even form a deep emotional bond with my ex-wife. I hope someday I will find someone who shares the same emotional canvas with me, with whom I can spend the rest of my life.
Neel Preet: Many readers have described “Durga In Nigeria” as both mythic and modern, poetic yet precise. How do you see the role of myth in contemporary fiction — especially in stories of migration and identity?
Piyush Mahiskey: There had to be Durga, so there had to be myth. I just wanted to show it in a non-conventional form. I wanted to show Anant as a romantic man who expresses love through poetry, hence those Marathi poems were added. He is a technical man, so he is modern as well. It had to be precise so that unintentional elements were not added to the story.
In such a modern take on the story, myth would have seemed forced. So I moulded myth more on human psychology rather than divinity.
Contemporary fiction can take any form, but I decided to go with my version of the story.
Neel Preet: The character of Anant Joshi seems to anchor the novel’s human tragedy, while Saani becomes its divine echo. How did you approach writing these intertwined emotional arcs?
Piyush Mahiskey: Anant Joshi’s characteristics are based on my friend Ganesh Patil, but their stories are entirely different.
Ganesh Patil actually has a pacemaker, which he got as his heart weakened due to maintaining a bad posture. He used to work long hours in IT, which led him to this situation. I am not fully aware of his exact medical condition.
I decided to give a pacemaker to Anant as well. Anant hurt Saani, and Saani never punished him. So, I decided that Anant will end up with a pacemaker due to his karma. So, Anant’s story starts with the warmth of domestic life and ends with tragedy.
Saani never knew herself. Through the term “Aparichit Saanidhya”, I wanted to express that Saani was even unknown to herself. She later discovers herself through Durga.
Nowadays, news channels give hype to unnecessary narratives. (I will not discuss that deeply.) So, I decided that the media would blow out of proportion that Saani saw Durga. But no one truly cared to see what trauma Saani went through before becoming a divine sensation. I wanted readers to linger on this thought.
I intertwined Anant and Saani’s story to feel real, full of human emotions. I consciously chose Navratri and Dusshera as we celebrate Durga in these festivals. So, in “Nine Days of Battle”, all characters intersect in the story. I wanted them to feel all emotions, which led to consequences in later chapters.
Neel Preet: Finally, as this is your debut novel — and one that already feels remarkably mature — what comes next for you as a writer? Are you exploring similar emotional terrains, or venturing into entirely new narrative landscapes?
Piyush Mahiskey: I have a few stories in mind. One of them is as emotionally charged as Durga in Nigeria, but its plot is different. I will explore it later.
I really love my S.F.S. school, and I want to write a story about my years over there, but not as a memoir, rather as auto-fiction for my next work. I want millennials to feel nostalgic about their school. I am trying to develop that. There are many high school dramas out there, but I want to bring my perspective.
There are many more stories in my mind that will shape up gradually. I hope my readers welcome them.
I want to explore humour, sarcasm, also apart from nostalgia and deeply emotional stories. I do not want to bind myself to a particular genre.
I want to write non-fiction as well, which portrays my technical knowledge.
I want to explore myself in my technical as well as my writing journey. Hope readers support me and give similar love in future as well!
