Human instincts in a crisis situation

After volunteering with Hurricane Katrina refugees, and from her own experience facing disaster in Hurricane Rita, Chitra Divakaruni gained a new perspective on the way people react in crisis situations.

“I’ve seen it in a real-life setting and I wanted to [create] characters to express different ways of responding to catastrophe,” Divakaruni said.

Divakaruni became interested in how people react in high-pressure situations, like a natural disaster. The author has her own ideas on why certain people act one way and other people act another.

“I think it has a lot to do with their vision of the world,” Divakaruni said.

For instance, she explains that people who primarily think from an individualist standpoint feel that they are the only ones who have to survive. They care less about the people around them and more about themselves. Sometimes they see the people around them as antagonists, Divakaruni said.

Then there are the people that avoid the latter’s individualist way of thinking.

“The people that see themselves as part of a community are more helpful and compassionate, and even sacrifice things to help others,” Divakaruni said. “They realize the survival of the community is important.”

In the beginning of One Amazing Thing, Divakaruni introduces nine drastically different characters that soon find themselves trapped together in an Indian visa office after an earthquake.

The characters are all strangers to one another, besides the coworkers who only know each other on a superficial level. The author takes us through a heartwarming story as the characters begin to care about each other.

“I thought of people that came from different backgrounds, ages and ethnicity,” Divakaruni said. “I just wanted to give a big cross section of humanity to show how people might respond differently, but we do all share a deep commonality.”

The deep commonality Divakaruni talks about was the inspiration for the title of the book. The characters decide to share something that changed their lives forever—their one amazing thing.

“All of our lives have been touched by amazing moments that have shaped who we are,” Divakaruni said. “They could be a positive or a negative experience.”

Divakaruni’s one amazing thing occurred when she was on a pilgrimage in the Himalayas in India, when she found herself in a dangerous situation. Separated from the large group she was traveling with, she got stuck in a bad place. A stranger appeared and helped her through a dangerous, rushing river.

When she went to look for him the next day, he was nowhere to be found, and she never saw him again.

“It really had a profound affect on me. I got a real sense that there are mysteries in the universe, and benevolent powers that help us when we’re in trouble,” Divakaruni said.