Everyone Sees, Some Imagine

March 2018

Everyone Sees, Some Imagine

A tall wine glass sitting on the desk. The symbol of the wheelchair marked in public lavatories. The marbles on a brainvita board. The dice in the game of Monopoly. Everyone sees them. But only some imagine them.

 This is my story of discovering that I was an imaginer.

Since as long as I can remember, I looked at everything differently from what the object actually was. I related even the rain to the gratifying feel of a bath.

Discovering various aspects of literature was a journey that started when I was one and a half – when I began to read which was encouraged by my parents. This adventure soon led to when I started writing.

The first book I had ever written was for a school project. For enriching our knowledge, our school in the US gave us such activities to complete by the end of the year. With ‘My Animal Stories’ as the title, we were to write our stories in the given book. Considerably huge boxes were too given to illustrate our small stories with pictures drawn from our imagination.

The cover page of my book 🤣

When I grow up, I would like to be a cowgirl doctor

Some of my hobbies are playing power rangers  art 😝

Little did young me know that this book, with crazy illustrations, was going to be my most prized possession.

As I grew up, I loved doing anything related to art – just like I mentioned in last month’s post. I found joy in crafting even though nine-year-old me had the skills of nothing more than the average five-year-old. But in the meantime, I wrote small journals and travel-logs. The thought of becoming the author I am today never crossed my mind even though I liked writing.

My 'Book of Trips'

My 'about the author' page 🤣

And after all this, the metamorphosis arrived, just after I realised that I wasn’t good at art.

Writing in new, empty books was a habitual practice for me when I was younger. Upon receiving it, I wondered what I could write in the new diary gifted to me by my close neighbour.

There began the story of Shravya, who now embodies the character of Siya in my first novel, ‘Kairos – The Perception’.

At first, I wrote small stories loosely bound by events that happened in real life. Shalini Ma’am, English teacher of my class since grade 4, encouragingly read these stories and gave me delightful feedback. Now looking back at it, I do giggle at how silly the stories were and at the fact that she read my childish stories.

That title is super cliché 😛

Compelled by the enchanting escapade that storytelling took me through, I wrote for days on end. Soon, my fingers grew tired and told me to stop the trouble. I had aches during school hours and could hardly write. I soon went to my dad for a solution.

On my birthday, I saw a gift that is one of the most valued items I own – my computer.

Writing on my computer (screengrab from interview preview)

Just to frolic in the world of literature, I wrote on my computer with no intentions of showing anyone. But on a normal day when I browsed the internet, I realised what I could do with my book.

My parents supported me immensely when I told them that I wish to publish my book after completion. I spent hours in my room, writing the fictional story of wizardry. But then came the final exams for grade 5.

Immersed in my own world, I hardly studied for my assessment. Being on the verge of finishing my book, nothing could stop me from writing – even if my aim meant scoring poorly. My parents strongly disagreed with my choice; like any responsible parent would but I had a goal set in my mind – becoming India’s youngest novelist. I wished to accomplish the target at any cost.

Though I didn’t score as well as I always did, I consider the occurrences as a learning experience.

Just before the exams ended, my book was complete. Cheerfully, I started sending various publishers requests to publish my novel. But to my dismay, the results weren’t as cheerful.

I was rejected by one of the publishers I sent to while the other one didn’t reply (they still haven’t).

 Time was spent waiting for responses since most of them take about six months to a year to reply. My hope was slowly dying. But my parents were there for me. My mom edited the book herself while supporting me as well. My father helped in the formatting of the book and soon, my masterpiece was completely edited and formatted.

And then came my current publisher – Educreation Publishing.

Two months after their acceptance, my book was officially in the market in print. The Kindle version of the same had been released about three months prior, on my mom’s birthday.

My book on Amazon! 🎉

Meanwhile, I had also started my blog – January 2017 being the month of my first post.

Another of my silly moments at that time includes when I constantly replied to every tweet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pleading him to release my book. I tweeted him about 50 times with the same text but the effort was all in vain. Even the hand-written letter I sent him got no reply.

A few weeks later, my mom’s close friend, Dr. Shankar, recommended a famous Karnataka news channel to interview me. After a colossal amount of cleaning the house, the interviewers entered our doorstep on a Sunday. Giving the interview in Kannada for the all-time favourite news channel TV9 and the English channel News9, I went for some sandwiches and ice-cream for lunch. Eating my cool desert, I stared at my mom who was joyfully eating talking on the phone. Soon, my heart exploded with elation – I was going to be interviewed once again for a thirty-minute broadcast called ‘Nanna Kathe’ (Kannada) and'Small Wonder' (English).

(Above) Preview of my interview

On the 26th of June, zest tingled in my spine as I watched myself speak on TV. I received glorious feedback from fellow friends and even got some fan messages!

💖

After this event, I heard that our principal had sent all the teachers of our whole school a message that conveyed that my interview would be broadcasted.

I was then recognised in our school as the ‘author’. Everyone referred to me as the ‘author kid’ and so many juniors bought my book and asked for me to autograph their copies. 😍 

These small but phenomenal situations were such an honour for me.

It was absurd how that small journal of mine had created such a huge impact in my life. Although there was so much joy around me, some negativity I also faced.

Many ridiculed me and found the smallest of faults in me. But I have learned that with good comes bad. With accomplishment comes failure. And with love comes hate.

And so, I did as many say – ignorance is bliss. To say the least, the method worked. Only on studies and writing, I focused on as I progressed.

To improve my writing and to give you – my readers – better pieces of literature to delve into, I am completing an online writing course on Udemy. Wall Street journalist Shani Raja unlocks the secret to becoming an elite writer on his course Ninja Writing.

I am also working on two books – a novel and an anthology of modern literary pieces. My parents are the only reason I am here today and I am definitely glad that I have parents who don’t restrain me from my dreams and force their own opinions on me. Instead, they let me do what I wish and support me as I climb higher into the different phases of life.

Love you!

And so, here I am today, breathing as a matured individual. My cruise through life proved that even the most trifling things can lead to ideas. Ideas worth considering.



Links:
Book: https://tinyurl.com/kairos-perception
First blog post: https://tinyurl.com/tadoba-post
News9 interview: https://tinyurl.com/news9-interview
TV9 interview: https://tinyurl.com/TV9-interview