Interview with the gem of a writer the Jimmy : Komal Raichandani

1. Introduce yourself to the audience.

Hello, myself  Komal Raichandani, an M.phil in English literature, working  as a writer in Kutch. Have authored a book named ‘Literary Riaz!’ along with ‘Let There Be You!’ and various other stories. I’m an ardent reader, interacting, and deeply in love with life and  its beings.  Love to travel, write, surf and watch movies. Cult cinema and food interests me. I barely skip a movie. My area of study is post modern literature. Love to watch and read interviews leading to learn something new everyday. I wish to be a cinema maker very soon. Love to love people.

2. Define yourself in one word.
Jimmy.

3. At what stage of your life you started writing?
I started scribbling at a very tender age of 4, but I started poetry at an age of 10.

4. What motivates you to write?
I feel writing is a very personal process, one takes everything from life and its beings, but while writing I always prefer sitting in a locked room and reproduce whatever has remained with me with utmost intricacy and simplicity. Love of all kinds motivates me to write and be at my creative best.

5. What interests you most; fiction, nonfiction, travelogue, biography, horror, adult or young adult?
Yes, I have a taste for aesthetics, ecstasy and sublimity, all weaved into one, hence adult or young adult genuinely interests me the most.

6.To you, which is a better medium to express; prose, poetry, art, film, play or any other and why?
Personally I prefer poetry and words with taste, belonging to any genre, but I also feel that words are perhaps the hardest medium of all the material art. One must simultaneously express visual beauty, beauty of sound, which I feel films are the greatest medium to transform and encapsulate the whole idea of expression into one.

7. What would you like to be reborn as?
Once a film-maker with one’s spouse, always a film-maker with one’s spouse.

8. Which is more important to you; money or fame?
Both. It’s a rare combination, but yes I aspire for both.
9. How do you react when rejected by the publishers?

Yes, rejections are something no one would like to have in their baskets of destiny, but I feel there is always some force or magical power which is aware of my being, who knows me better personally and helps me taking the right decisions . Also, somehow I’m blessed with a fearless persona and have this innate inner faith that something or the other always works in my favor, yielding me the best results, letting me do and actualize whatever I have always dreamt of doing. 

10. Your valuable suggestions to the prospective writers?
Keep writing and expressing, be it in any medium or genre. Even if they are two lines, one must write, everyday, and strive for finer self, with every passing creative work, an artist not only raises up the scale for oneself but also pushes the general audience’s acceptability limits. Importantly, stick to your conviction of articulating a point or an emotion which maybe not so well received initially, but, if true and seasoned with love, it will be accepted and loved by all. J

*****

Review of 'Sacrifices' -- story by Shriya Gupta

I happened to read this story by Shriya as a part of submission material for the anthology Love: A Sweet Poison 2 of which I'm the editor. Selection of the story speaks itself that it's the story of substance and merit.

'Sacrifices' is the story of a married couple Vipin and Meera. Where Vipin is highly ambitious, Meera is quite submissive and tries to compromise with the situations prevailing between them due to Vipin's overindulgence in his job to the extent that Meera has to bear solitude for a long time quite often. When the things go beyond her endurance, she takes a bold decision and breaches the threshold to fulfill her own dreams. What does she do and what transpires between them due to her agitation, read the full story in the anthology.

Merits: The story is written with so much clarity that the tension between the husband and wife overwhelms the reader right from its tagline. The story tells everything so beautifully -- like the life of the couple has become so tense and mechanical that they hesitate to share their achievements and happiness with each other and they had to sleep without almost congratulating each other by heart. Really amazing!

Demerits: I tried to find some flaws in the story and read it a couple of times. The biggest flaw of this story is that it has none.

 Punchlines: 1. "I have succeeded as a husband but I have failed as a soulmate."
                   2. "We talk but we don't speak. We smile but we don't laugh. We do sex but we don't                                  love..."

Shriya, I congratulate you to write such a wonderful story with such a mature mind that the reader will find hard to believe that you're an undergraduate student. I think you have an amazing talent of seeing life as it is truthfully. Keep it up! I look forward to read more and more from your heart and pen, and to learn a lot from you my friend.

Rating: 5/5 which is first time from me given to a writer.

I hope you'll not spoil my hopes in future.

Best of luck!

An interview with a perfectionist : Rashi Shrivastava

Introduce yourself to the audience.
My name is Rashi Shrivastava, 23 years old and a student of English Literature at the University of Delhi, currently pursuing a Masters degree from Hans Raj College. Reared in a convent school, I have always been an avid reader and writer by default. Writing fiction is something that came naturally to me, and I hope to make it big as a bestselling novelist one day. For now I am waiting for the pen to coincide with my thoughts and animate them into a beautiful book. I am also a regular blogger and write about numerous aspects of life ranging from Books, Love, Writing and Beliefs. My blog address is as follows: www.temptationofwords.wordpress.com Besides, I also run pages on Facebook and Instagram  Temptations of Words.

Define yourself in one word.
Perfectionist. Without sounding over the top, let me clear that it pertains only to the fact that I like being perfect in everything I do and I also know that I have a long way to go.
At what stage of your life you started writing?
As far as I remember, and that memory is intact because I still have that first piece of my writing in my possession. It was when I was in 7th grade and I wrote a poem for my school magazine. I named it The Element and it was about how each one of us are unique in certain ways and that each one us have an element inside us which makes us special.  There has been no looking back after that.
What motivates you to write?
Well, that's a tough one to tackle because I don't believe in motivation for writing, for me its more of an instinct. I feel every writer has an instinct to write and that is the only motivation, if you would like to call it.
What interests you most; fiction, nonfiction, travelogue, biography, horror, adult or young adult?
For me, the bias shall always be towards Romance, be it fiction or non-fiction. Though I read all sorts of books, being in a Literature course I have to deal with all genres but Romance shall be my favourite.
To you, which is a better medium to express: prose, poetry, art, film, play or any other and why? 
Prose has a wider range of amalgamating emotions and that is why I think it is more preferred but poetry is I think is a better medium, though it requires an elevated sense of intellect in order to be understood. Its hard to decide on any one, each genre has its own attributes and something that can be expressed explicitly in poetry may not enjoy the same in a film and likewise.

What would you like to be reborn as?
Maybe a Panda! That's because inherently I am a very lazy person.
Which is more important to you: money or fame? 
Fame. Money shall follow thereafter.
How do you react when rejected by the publishers?
I won't say that I don't feel bad about facing rejections in this profession but then I also believe in a simple rule of life; the universe is the best judge and one gets what one deserves. Though at first a rejection does incite a tinge of sadness in me, it is easily overcome as well.
Your valuable suggestions to the prospective writers? 
Barely a writer myself, I am nobody to suggest anything to others because I don't have that kind of experience as of now. But because it is asked and from what I have learned, I think all writers must try and write about what lies inside them. Writing about what is in fashion or what will appeal to the readers is, I think, artificial writing. This act must be natural and what you spill on paper must come straight from your heart. For me the rule is simple, when you write something the pen must not stop and the point when it does, you must not strive further.
                                                                 
                                                                             *****

REVIEW OF S.O.A.R BY Abir Mukherjee

This is the story of three young men; Adhyayan, Uday and Rajsekaran working in a software firm based at Bengaluru. This is the story of their friendship and frustrations, love and longings, ambitions and aspirations, success and failure, love-life and married-life and much more.

Soon, stereotype and monotony of their job force them to seek another alternatives to fulfill their ambitions of doing something unique in their life. Boredom takes its first toll and Uday resigns from his job to start his own venture Schoolyard; a website providing almost every information regarding schools. Adhyayan is married to Shristi and soon he also joins Uday. Due to overindulgence, firstly in the job and later in nurturing their own website, he fails to provide enough time to his wife Shristi who reminds him time and again about his duties and responsibilities towards their family. Later, Rajsekaran also joins them. In realizing their dream Schoolyard, they end up with all their savings. When Shristi is planning to buy a flat and is going through pregnancy, Adhyayan asks her to handover all her savings too including her LIC policy's accrued money. Suddenly, as their website is supposed to hit in a big way, something very grave happens and eventually a misunderstanding and difference of opinion crops up, mainly between Adhyayan and Uday.

What happens next! Read S.O.A.R ( Success Over Adversity Reigns) by Abir Mukherjee, published by Frog Books.

Merits: Abir has woven an interesting story highlighting the frustration of today's workaholic and career oriented young generation. The plot, the flow and the character development and their compulsions and emotions are perfectly narrated. Nowhere you'll feel that the story is being dragged.

Demerits: The subplot describing the mystery behind Uday's arrest and its unfolding could've been more tight as in today's world you cannot expect a businessman not keeping a track of his bank account without the facility of internet banking and sms facility. Moreover, getting a fake website registered is far more complex than creating a fake email id. Here it involved both. Some minor issues of editing are also there but they don't spoil the reading. The one thing I noticed is the area of its cover which has to be improved. I would suggest to reverse the cover page and you may feel the boys dreaming to soar. Or, a new cover is strongly recommended for the next edition.

Quotes I liked most:
"In spite of the unrelenting effort of human beings to win over nature, he is left defeated every time by nature."
"Adi, we will talk about it tomorrow. Anyway, there is no point talking to a drunken person who can't realize anything even in full consciousness," she answered through the closed door.

My Take:
Abir Mukherjee has done a wonderful job by writing this book. It may be an eye opener for the restive younger generation who jump over new ventures without going deep into the all the nuances pertaining to the start-up, without going through a detailed project report, without keeping a fine balance between their duties and responsibilities towards their family and business together. I wish him all the best for the success of this book and would like to read more from his pen.

Overall Rating : 3.5/5

Rajeev Pundir

कौन हूँ मैं -

https://storymirror.com/poem/56364dfb2086f7ea06c5b503

 

कभी मुझे पैदा होने से पहले ही !

मौत के घाट उतार दिया जाता है !!

कभी दहेज़ के नाम पर !

आग लगा कर मार दिया जाता है !!

कभी प्रेम की आड़ में तेजाब फेंक कर !

मेरा चेहरा बिगाड़ दिया जाता है !!

कभी गोद में लेकर खिलाने के बहाने !

मुझसे बलात्कार किया जाता है !!

कभी झूठी प्रतिष्ठा के लिए !

मेरा गला रेत दिया जाता है !!

जिन पेड़ों पर झूलना चाहती थी मैं !

उन्हीं की शाखों पर मुझे उसी रस्सी से

फांसी पर लटका दिया जाता है !!

कौन हो तुम ?

मेरे भाई, चाचा, ताऊ, पिता, प्रेमी, या संरक्षक...?

कौन हूँ मैं ?

तुम्हारी बहन, बेटी, माँ, पत्नी, प्रेमिका या दोस्त ...?

इन्सान नहीं, हैवान हो तुम !

धिक्कार है,

थूकती हूँ मैं तुम पर !!

जा रही हूँ मैं !

क्योंकि,

जब तक ये तय नहीं होता,

जब तक ये सत्य नहीं होता,

कौन हूँ मैं और कौन हो तुम ??

जा रही हूँ मैं,

कभी न लौटने के लिए,

छोड़ कर तुम्हें इस धरा पर,

अकेला...हमेशा के लिए !!

और,

एक भयानक अट्टहास की गूँज के साथ

संसार से सब स्त्रियाँ ग़ायब हो जाती हैं....

और,

कुछ ही दिनों में संसार के सारे पुरुष

विक्षिप्त होकर समाप्त हो जाते हैं!!

सृष्टि का विध्वंस हो जाता है !!!!

लेखक- राजीव पुंडीर

My Best Friend's Boyfriend- Story by Kajal N Lalwani in Crush 2 published by Authors' Ink Publications

REVIEW:

A triangular story of crush! This is the last story but not the least than anyone. A sea of emotions of two best friends; Riya and Soumya who die for the same boy Rohan. To solve the puzzle, unlock the eighteenth box and find the answer contained into it.

Merits:
As the whole book revolves around the teenage-crush, so as this story. Facebook friendship changing into crush and the crush changes into the love so naturally that the reader identifies with the story instantly. Whatever happens, happens in sheer innocence without designs or malicious intentions. And that's the strength of this story.

Lines I liked:
"In the war of friendship and crush, it's always friendship that wins over crush."
Incidentally this is the tagline of the story which says more than what meets the eye--the sacrifice in friendship.

Demerits:
Kajal has to work upon sentence formation as right now it's too mechanical in nature. Moreover, stories should have some turns and twists which are missing. Yes, there're stories like this- linear and straight, they do not arouse much interest in the reader to read more. The subplot of assignment submission is unnecessarily long and creates disinterest.
Hence, I would like to suggest--Try to say more in less words.

Ratings: 3/5

There's no doubt that Kajal has tried her best in bringing out this story. Certainly, she's talented and has great potential to be an accomplished writer in future. Moreover, one can not please all the readers and reviewers, so keep going honing your craft to excellence.

Rajeev Pundir

Love? Story by Zeenath Zaveri in Crush 2 Published by Authors' Ink Publications

REVIEW:

What happens when all of a sudden you find that the person you love has actually played a game with you? This story is about three characters-Kiara, Karan and Sid. To know who tricked whom, read this story by Zeenath Zaveri.

Merits:
It is a simple story straight out of school life. It flows like a river--serene with a slow pace initially which suddenly changes its course flooding and damaging the nearby fields. The opening of the story is unique and quite catchy. Good efforts have been put by the writer in developing the characters of the story.

Lines I liked:
"Before life gets boring and hair starts greying, I need to date. I should find some excitement. How about having a boyfriend?"

Demerits:
The plot of the story is not new and  has been oft repeated in a couple of films. So it seems not more than an old wine in new bottle. Paragraphs are longer and the narration and conversation are off balance. A crispy and shorter version with powerful dialogues in between should have made it more interesting.
Yet, I can understand the compulsion of the writer--being the story of  teenagers and what more you can expect from these characters when they don't have much experience of life except having innocent crush and falling for the guys inadvertently.

Ratings: 3/5

I have noticed a unique style of writing in the story. Congratulations! Keep inventing. I'm sure about the story-telling ability of Zeenath Zaveri and wish her all the best in life and reading more mind- blowing stories from her.

Rajeev Pundir