What is to be said about this year 2022? A momentous one for me. A year of tremendous gains and miserable loss. It turned me into an author as my first book got published and also an orphan as I lost my single surviving parent. A year of whirlwind tours, chats and of that feeling of being alone in a crowd. “There are moments in life where it gets so hectic that time becomes a blur. Keep calm and never give up,” actor John Cena once said. Keeping calm and not giving up on the different relationships and bonds that I struck up this year is what I hope to do.
2022 brought so many new experiences and relationships. It was the culmination of a journey I began three years back when I embarked upon the project of writing a book. It all started in 2019 when I began meeting with the subjects of ‘Being the Change in the Footsteps of Mahatma’, a book I co-authored. An anthology of seven stories from my backyard, the interiors of Vidarbha region, this book took me on to less walked paths. Meeting with the subjects about whom we wrote, getting into their homes and hopefully their hearts too, it was an experience of a lifetime novel for its tinge of honesty and innocence.
The process of writing a book too was a journey of self-discovery for me, a journalist who turned into an author. It was about bonding with the people I wrote about, of getting into their minds to understand why they do what they do. It was about getting an understanding of the editor’s mind as she decided upon what to retain and what to cut out. It was an education of sorts to know about the entire process of publishing a book and to observe the efforts that Harper Collins India who published us, take to make a book.
It was a wonderful experience to get onto the other side of the fence and answer questions. The process, the approach, the collaboration and the final product. There were so many queries and so much to talk about with so many good people.
And then there were those who read and appreciated this effort of ours. Especially the young minds who took to Instagram to create storyboards around the book. Young readers like Pragya, books.tinn, Arzoo, Devanshi Joshi, Suyogya Awasthi who wrote to say that the stories had inspired them and made them believe that humanity is alive. I am so glad that we could touch so many hearts and mind through our first book.
The most cherished takeaway from this entire process is the collaboration with my co-author. The convergence of thoughts, sensibilities and perspective which brought it about was rare. The sensitivity towards the subject and empathy for those we wrote about pushed up the emotional quotient of the stories. “But we are strong, each in our purpose, and we are all more strong together,” novelist Abraham Stoker’s quote stands true for this book and the two of us who worked on it.
As 2023 dawns upon us here is hoping that the book carries forward its purpose of bringing recognition to those whose lives are encapsulated here. Wishing more power to them and their stories.
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