The Indian Revolution in the making?

This happened while I was returning today from work. I had taken an auto rickshaw home and when it halted at a signal, the auto guy pulled out and put on his Gandhi topi with slogans of the Aam Aadmi Party printed in bold black font on it.

I casually asked him if he was a follower of the party. And here is what he had to say:

"Yes ma'am, very much so! Kejriwal is a nice guy and his party is very honest. I feel everybody must support him. Yes, he has committed some mistakes. But then, who hasn't? They are new and also learning. They have only good intentions in their mind and that is what sets them apart. Sometimes you need to forgive and give a second chance to the right people. In fact, you must try and meet the members of the party to understand how committed they are to the cause. I got the urge to join just by looking at their will to do good to the country. You should join too ma'am, if you wish to support the honest ones in their honest cause."

And then it was time for me to get down, so he stopped at that. I paid him the fare and wished him luck before getting down. 

But what left an impression on me was how happy and proud he felt by being a part of the party. I may not be sure about the potential of AAP in making the country better. I may not be sure of AAP winning in the first place. But my heart sends out a silent prayer for them each time I see AAP's success - not in terms of the change they brought about in the policies of the country, but in terms of the change they have brought about in the people of India - by making them more conscious than ever of their role in Indian governance, by bringing out the goodness of the people and their will to do good for the country, by inspiring them to come forth and do their bit, and by creating a wave of this consciousness among each one of us. For this, I salute the party and wish it all the very very best for all its endeavors!

Something I wrote...

And here is my first official publication....!!! :)))

Yes! And here's how it happened...

Like most amazing things in life, this one too happened suddenly, out of the blue. As I have mentioned in one of my earlier posts, the journey from my office to home is a very long one. So to keep myself occupied during this time, I finish all my pending chores - making calls, catching up with friends, reading mails, listening to music, taking a nap, and of course - reading.

One fine day, as I was reading on my cellphone while travelling on this looong route after a looong day, I happened to come across Frank Zuben's blog post Whatbrickwall. It mentioned about Stella Wilkinson's upcoming Charity Anthology and called out for donations for this noble cause. It instantly caught my interest. I read through the post in detail and decided to give it a shot. But as luck would have it, the last day for the submissions was 28th February, 2014. And what date was it that day? Yes - 28th February, 2014. It meant I only had a couple of hours to spare if I intended to submit a story.

Well, what the heck! I opened the notes app on my android and began drafting something. Obviously, as it generally happens, words don't come out when you want them to. So after 5-10 minutes of pondering, I gave up and decided to instead just relax and take a nap. As I began to drift to sleep, my mind wandered to a discussion I had read earlier that day - something on "ignorance being a bliss". I wondered if that were really true. Hmm...food for thought!

I thought some more as my bus passed through the dense jungle of Aarey Colony in Mumbai. Surely ignorance cannot always be a bliss, right? Suppose...

And that's how an idea took shape. I could not help but put it down. I was back on my notes app and before I knew the story was on its way! 

Now I was getting excited. I had never written a short story before. Poems yes, blog posts yes, travelogues yes. But story - no! This was my very first attempt and I couldn't wait to finish it. Alright, in reality I was in a hurry to finish it - because my stop was approaching and I feared I would lose the plot due to over-thinking if I did not finish it in one go. So I kept writing and writing. I could not finish before my stop, but for a change shunned my laziness and got back at it after dinner. After a couple of edits, and hardly believing even for a minute that it would be selected, I drafted the mail to Stella and Frank. This was an anthology that already had 2 parts published. It was to have established writers from across 7 different countries. The book was to be a serious effort towards charity. Ugghhh! I definitely did not stand a chance at it. Yet, for some odd reason, I hit send before I could think twice. 

Fast forward to 10 days later.....I see a mail from Stella Wilkinson. The subject line read Surprise, Surprise! I could not believe it. I read it and re-read it, sure that it was just a polite thank you note for submission. Nah! IT WAS CONFIRMATION! Yes, the story was selected! They were printing my story!!! Thrilled would not have described it adequately. Thrilled to the power of 100 would come close perhaps. It was the best moment ever :)))

Fast forward 20 more days...And we did it! The book has now released on Amazon. All thanks to Stella, Frank and team and a big congratulations to all the authors. Each story is so unique in its own way. A thorough pleasure to read.