My Dream Come True Moment

Yes, dreams do come true! All you need to do is to dare to dream, take efforts to fulfil it and hit the right opportunity. My dream of becoming an author has now come true and I want to pen my journey to immortalize it.

I was lucky that the habit of reading was instilled in me at a very young age. I remember how I engrossed myself in reading Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie. As I grew up I read Arthur Conan Doyle, O Henry, Sidney Sheldon, Rabindranath Tagore, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Rudyard Kipling and Shakespeare while still at school. My school library played an important role. Also, the books my parents had at home fascinated me and I am grateful to both. 

While doing my Honors in English Literature, I studied the works of Jane Austen and it was there that the thought of writing took birth. ‘I want to write a book someday,’ I scribbled in the last page of my notebook which came alive today, some twelve years later.

In these years, I did my post-graduation, grabbed a flourishing job in my dream company, married the love of my life and had two adorable kids. Then came a phase of my life where I was eventually cocooned at home, taking utmost care of my kids and spending the rest of the time in reading and playing my keyboard. Making the best use of solitude, by now I had already started writing. I wrote poems, stories and some parenting blogs which turned out well and I also won awards for it. It encouraged me further and I thought of writing a book on a serious note.

It is rightly said that when you truly wish for something, you get help from unexpected sources to fulfil it, and my source here was Twitter! I was new to it and started following some of my favourite authors and that is how I came across Blogchatter’s Ebook Carnival. Without wasting time, I immediately connected with them and registered for the carnival which was just a month away.

With a one-month-old baby in my arms, still recovering from my caesarian surgery, amidst a pile of diapers, sleepless nights, nursing blues, post-partum depression and with lots of people around, I couldn’t find a log to hold upon to fulfil my dream. At times I gave up completely because I would wait for my kids to fall asleep so that I could write. By the time I got that required pin-drop silence at home, I was too tired to look for my laptop.

Blogchatter, on the other hand, was highly encouraging, the session they arranged with established authors, their microblog sessions and facebook chats all motivated me to keep going. I then decided to first ditch the laptop and switch to my mobile for writing and second, write anytime and anywhere.

I wrote while I was feeding my baby, I wrote when I was awake at three in the morning, I wrote while waiting for my turn at the hospital, I wrote while eating, I was always scribbling something and eventually I ended up finishing the entire book in my mobile. To my surprise, I was ready with not just one but two books simultaneously.

Then came the difficult part of editing, designing covers, and formatting which was not possible in mobile. To add to my woes, we had to move to a different city at that very time. Till now an entire village helped me with my kids but now I was all alone. It was impossible to take out time for yourself, managing a toddler and a newborn. I still tried to work smart but my laptop crashed and so all my hopes too came crashing down. The only possibility to complete my book was now to work on my hubby’s office laptop. To test my patience, it was also his go-live month in office and he would return home not before midnight and sometimes as late as 2 a.m. So, on a weekend I hijacked his laptop for two days. He too helped me with the formatting, the last-minute hassles, we also fought while our ideas clashed and finally I hit the submit button!

Then came the big day of the book launch. Blogchatter made it a very special event for all of us and launched all the books of the carnival one after the other. I was impatiently waiting for my turn and was extremely proud to be part of the august group of authors. Blogchatter made it look like a cake walk, brought smiles to our faces and changed our lives forever.

May 22nd, 2018 at 2:30 p.m. I witnessed my cherished dream come true, I was now a published author.

Top Secret Mission (Blogchatter - 2)

Ebook 1: I take on the Baton of Blogchatter Ebook Carnival from Shilpa whose ebook 'Notes From The Road' is also part of the mix. 

About Shilpa's ebook: Traveling has has humbled her and made her realize that she is more capable than she believed. In 'Notes from the Road,' Shilpa shares her thoughts, views, experiences, tips, and stories which are inspired by her years on the road.  

Yes, dreams do come true! All you need to do is to dare to dream, take efforts to fulfil it and hit the right opportunity. My dream of becoming an author has now come true and I want to pen my journey to immortalize it.

I was lucky that the habit of reading was instilled in me at a very young age. I remember how I engrossed myself in reading Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie. As I grew up I read Arthur Conan Doyle, O Henry, Sidney Sheldon, Rabindranath Tagore, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Rudyard Kipling and Shakespeare while still at school. My school library played an important role. Also, the books my parents had at home fascinated me and I am grateful to both. 

While doing my Honors in English Literature, I studied the works of Jane Austen and it was there that the thought of writing took birth. ‘I want to write a book someday,’ I scribbled in the last page of my notebook which came alive today, some twelve years later.

In these years, I did my post-graduation, grabbed a flourishing job in my dream company, married the love of my life and had two adorable kids. Then came a phase of my life where I was eventually cocooned at home, taking utmost care of my kids and spending the rest of the time in reading and playing my keyboard. Making the best use of solitude, by now I had already started writing. I wrote poems, stories and some parenting blogs which turned out well and I also won awards for it. It encouraged me further and I thought of writing a book on a serious note.

It is rightly said that when you truly wish for something, you get help from unexpected sources to fulfil it, and my source here was Twitter! I was new to it and started following some of my favourite authors and that is how I came across Blogchatter’s Ebook Carnival. Without wasting time, I immediately connected with them and registered for the carnival which was just a month away.

With a one-month-old baby in my arms, still recovering from my caesarian surgery, amidst a pile of diapers, sleepless nights, nursing blues, post-partum depression and with lots of people around, I couldn’t find a log to hold upon to fulfil my dream. At times I gave up completely because I would wait for my kids to fall asleep so that I could write. By the time I got that required pin-drop silence at home, I was too tired to look for my laptop.

Blogchatter, on the other hand, was highly encouraging, the session they arranged with established authors, their microblog sessions and facebook chats all motivated me to keep going. I then decided to first ditch the laptop and switch to my mobile for writing and second, write anytime and anywhere.

I wrote while I was feeding my baby, I wrote when I was awake at three in the morning, I wrote while waiting for my turn at the hospital, I wrote while eating, I was always scribbling something and eventually I ended up finishing the entire book in my mobile. To my surprise, I was ready with not just one but two books simultaneously.

Then came the difficult part of editing, designing covers, and formatting which was not possible in mobile. To add to my woes, we had to move to a different city at that very time. Till now an entire village helped me with my kids but now I was all alone. It was impossible to take out time for yourself, managing a toddler and a newborn. I still tried to work smart but my laptop crashed and so all my hopes too came crashing down. The only possibility to complete my book was now to work on my hubby’s office laptop. To test my patience, it was also his go-live month in office and he would return home not before midnight and sometimes as late as 2 a.m. So, on a weekend I hijacked his laptop for two days. He too helped me with the formatting, the last-minute hassles, we also fought while our ideas clashed and finally I hit the submit button!

Then came the big day of the book launch. Blogchatter made it a very special event for all of us and launched all the books of the carnival one after the other. I was impatiently waiting for my turn and was extremely proud to be part of the august group of authors. Blogchatter made it look like a cake walk, brought smiles to our faces and changed our lives forever.

May 22nd, 2018 at 2:30 p.m. I witnessed my cherished dream come true, I was now a published author.

Ebook 2:  I pass on the Baton of Blogchatter Ebook Carnival to Jayanthi whose ebook 'INDIA OR U.S?' is also part of the mix. 

About Jayanthi's ebook: A number of individuals in their 20s, want to go abroad and once they are abroad they start missing India. These individual posts grasp the see-saw of most Indian families trying to balance Indian values and American life.

Top Secret Mission (Blogchatter - 1)

Ebook 1: I take on the Baton of Blogchatter Ebook Carnival from Pra-Gun whose ebook 'Coming Home to Nature' is also part of the mix.

About Pragun's ebook: Each of the 5 elements in nature represents a state of matter. Nature’s paradise has given me all these things. This book has few inputs on all the ways to stay connected to natural resources in and around us.  

Yes, dreams do come true! All you need to do is to dare to dream, take efforts to fulfil it and hit the right opportunity. My dream of becoming an author has now come true and I want to pen my journey to immortalize it.

I was lucky that the habit of reading was instilled in me at a very young age. I remember how I engrossed myself in reading Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie. As I grew up I read Arthur Conan Doyle, O Henry, Sidney Sheldon, Rabindranath Tagore, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Rudyard Kipling and Shakespeare while still at school. My school library played an important role. Also, the books my parents had at home fascinated me and I am grateful to both. 

While doing my Honors in English Literature, I studied the works of Jane Austen and it was there that the thought of writing took birth. ‘I want to write a book someday,’ I scribbled in the last page of my notebook which came alive today, some twelve years later.

In these years, I did my post-graduation, grabbed a flourishing job in my dream company, married the love of my life and had two adorable kids. Then came a phase of my life where I was eventually cocooned at home, taking utmost care of my kids and spending the rest of the time in reading and playing my keyboard. Making the best use of solitude, by now I had already started writing. I wrote poems, stories and some parenting blogs which turned out well and I also won awards for it. It encouraged me further and I thought of writing a book on a serious note.

It is rightly said that when you truly wish for something, you get help from unexpected sources to fulfil it, and my source here was Twitter! I was new to it and started following some of my favourite authors and that is how I came across Blogchatter’s Ebook Carnival. Without wasting time, I immediately connected with them and registered for the carnival which was just a month away.

With a one-month-old baby in my arms, still recovering from my caesarian surgery, amidst a pile of diapers, sleepless nights, nursing blues, post-partum depression and with lots of people around, I couldn’t find a log to hold upon to fulfil my dream. At times I gave up completely because I would wait for my kids to fall asleep so that I could write. By the time I got that required pin-drop silence at home, I was too tired to look for my laptop.

Blogchatter, on the other hand, was highly encouraging, the session they arranged with established authors, their microblog sessions and facebook chats all motivated me to keep going. I then decided to first ditch the laptop and switch to my mobile for writing and second, write anytime and anywhere.

I wrote while I was feeding my baby, I wrote when I was awake at three in the morning, I wrote while waiting for my turn at the hospital, I wrote while eating, I was always scribbling something and eventually I ended up finishing the entire book in my mobile. To my surprise, I was ready with not just one but two books simultaneously.

Then came the difficult part of editing, designing covers, and formatting which was not possible in mobile. To add to my woes, we had to move to a different city at that very time. Till now an entire village helped me with my kids but now I was all alone. It was impossible to take out time for yourself, managing a toddler and a newborn. I still tried to work smart but my laptop crashed and so all my hopes too came crashing down. The only possibility to complete my book was now to work on my hubby’s office laptop. To test my patience, it was also his go-live month in office and he would return home not before midnight and sometimes as late as 2 a.m. So, on a weekend I hijacked his laptop for two days. He too helped me with the formatting, the last-minute hassles, we also fought while our ideas clashed and finally I hit the submit button!

Then came the big day of the book launch. Blogchatter made it a very special event for all of us and launched all the books of the carnival one after the other. I was impatiently waiting for my turn and was extremely proud to be part of the august group of authors. Blogchatter made it look like a cake walk, brought smiles to our faces and changed our lives forever.

May 22nd, 2018 at 2:30 p.m. I witnessed my cherished dream come true, I was now a published author.

Ebook 2: I pass on the Baton of Blogchatter Ebook Carnival to Kathakali whose ebook 'Love in the Battleground: A Maharashtrian Saga' is also part of the mix.

About Kathakali's ebook: The novel is based on a 19th century Bengali fiction “Maharashtra Jiban-Prabhat” by R.C. Dutta. Raghupati took up a soldier’s job under Shivaji at a time of political unrest. He falls in love with Saryu but things go wrong.

Book Review : ‘Ancient Cities of India’ by Sayan Bhattacharya

‘Ancient Cities of India’ is an interesting read for people having a proclivity for history and mythology. It is a well-researched book and the author has done an outstanding job in bringing about some captivating facts about our country and its roots.

I loved the idea of keeping the book crisp yet informative. This would attract readers who might not want to get into the details of the archaeological facts but might be interested in giving it a read for mere knowledge. Another striking feature of the book is, it is listed in alphabetical order and it must have been a challenging job for the author to dig out information of the cities named accordingly. The author has done a commendable job in compiling information from various sources and bringing it out in his own writing style.

He shares information about cities, some of which have been mentioned in the great epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata. ‘Lavpur’ was named after Lord Rama’s son Lav and a temple that was built some thousands of years ago can still be found today as Lav temple. ‘Dwaraka’ dating back to Lord Krishna’s time was submerged by the ocean but the remains of the city can still be found. Some of the ancient cities are geographically now located in Pakistan and Afganistan.

This book represents the country’s historical past, traditions and rich culture which is depicted by the majestic temples and the beautiful cities. The author also pens about the rise and fall of various kingdoms in ancient times. I liked the author’s style of writing and how his descriptions lead to a picturesque view of the cities like Hastinapur, Bairat, Lahore, Multan, Varanasi and many more.

The author beautifully brings to light the facts about our rich cultural history which is unknown to many. He, also, very remarkably compiled his incredible research into one comprehensive book. This book will definitely serve as a reference work for history lovers and an interesting read for everybody else and thus, ‘Ancient Cities of India’ gets a thumbs-up from me.

Book Review : 'Finding Your Writing Flow' by Sona Grover

I loved the book ‘Finding Your Writing Flow’ for its simplicity and to-the-point tips. It is a thin book but good enough to inspire the writer within. The author has kept it short and comprehensive and I liked it the way it is. It is a book which one can refer to time and again to clear self-doubt, get guidance on writing tips and to enhance writing skills.

Every writer sometimes might stumble upon or reach a point from where they cannot find a way to restart. This book will guide you and help you come out of such situations as the author shares her experiences. This works as a handbook for writers.

The author shares her personal journey of writing in her book and divides it into five important parts of ‘Why I Write,’ ‘Finding Inspirations,’ ‘Being Productive,’ ‘Getting Better’ and ‘Self Renewals.’ She begins with a very relevant question that every writer should ask oneself before one begins to write and that is ‘Why I Write?’ Her take on finding inspirations is also unique and should work well if followed as she guides in her book. Keeping the end publication in mind and writing for best results is a tip that might work as an inspiration for many writers. Her personal narration of how she makes time to write is also worth giving a read. The idea of a ‘Muse’ is interesting and writers can follow this tip accordingly.

The author is very clear and sound while giving tips and advice. This book can be referred to by anybody who wishes to write, not just authors but even for our daily basis writing needs. It should help new writers, bloggers, reviewers or even for drafting official write-ups. It touches on the fundamentals of writing and how to overcome blocks and limits. I liked her writing style which is honest yet inspiring. Because she is a writer herself she knows very well what goes inside a writer’s brain! Thus, helps and guides in getting productive, staying creative and writing your best.

This book should find a place in everybody’s reading list and it is a must-read for beginners. Read this book before you start writing. You can refer to it whenever you need your dose of inspiration and thus it gets a thumbs-up from me.

Book Review : 'Bhumi' by Tina Sequeira

Before I write anything about the book, I would like to draw your attention towards the book’s cover. It’s beautiful, in-depth and just cannot be missed. Another striking thing about the book is, it is dedicated to the spirit of womanhood and you will know it’s true to its sense when you read the book.

I loved the author’s writing style and how she maintained the beauty of it throughout the twenty-six diverse short stories. The characters are so realistically woven that you can easily relate to them. Each story is different and complete in itself. The curated anthology of stories portrays women’s dreams, struggle, desires, strength, determination and independence in its unique way.

The title of the book is also one of the fine stories where the author draws a parallel line between our biological mother and mother Earth, ‘Bhumi’ and how she bears the brunt of our negligence and abuse.

Every story has a message and interesting protagonists, like ‘Amma’ makes you think till the end why it has a male lead. Saira’s ‘Crazy Courage’ helped her shape not just her future but also of her children. Ira in ‘Fat Chance’ is a woman like you and me, every woman is body shamed either for being fat or skinny. ‘Naked Illusions’ deals with the heartbreaking truth of how newborns are thrown away like trash just because they are born as girls. It also touches upon the lives of prostitutes and their struggles.

The secret love notes of ‘Dried Roses,’ the perfect backdrop of ‘Ending,’ the strong older women of ‘Grey,’ the taboo of ‘Hush,’ ‘Instant Gratification,’ ‘Juxtaposition,’ ‘Karma,’ ‘Unbridled’, are all penned artistically. The author touches many lives and their struggles as those of rape victims, women ostracized from society, a bold journalist, physically challenged and ends the stories with positivity and hope.

It is a well-researched collection of stories with varied characters, settings and a strong narrative. It is an eye-opener for many hidden but rampant issues like body shaming, late marriage, menstrual taboos, gender discrimination, eve-teasing, blackmailing, infanticide, slut-shaming, rape and are dealt with immense maturity and sensitivity.

It also depicts the author’s perspective towards women and how she is moved by these issues. Looking forward to reading more from her. Bhumi gets a thumbs-up!