A Review, And Another - If You Love Someone

Two reviews for 'If You Love Someone...', one by Dr. Ranjani, my friend and a writer herself, on her blog, the link for which is given below:

http://drranjani.blogspot.com/2010/03/book-review-if-you-love-someone.html


Another review, in her introduction of 'If You Love Someone...' at its launch in the Delhi Book Fari, by Smt. Anuradha Marwah, a novelist, social activist and academic. Anuradha teaches English literature at Delhi University.

'IF YOU LOVE SOMEONE...' - ANURADHA MARWAH, INTRODUCING THE BOOK AT DELHI BOOK FAIREverybody loves a good love story – and activists, feminists, professors of English are no exception to the rule. I think I would do grave injustice to the novel ‘if you…’ if I try and introduce it from a theoretical perspective. This is a book addressed to the reader and not to the specialist. So, it is as a reader I speak. Besides, a speaker who approaches her subject from the podium as a specialist is deadly boring anyway!

If you love someone is anything but boring – it is a great read. The story flows serenely through 236 pages bringing to life the 1970s in Mumbai and Goa, moving on to Atlanta, and back to Mumbai and Goa via a detour in Kerala. I use the word flow because the sea/ water is more than mere locale in the novel as is the sun – Aditya. The way Harimohan Paruvu describes it landscape is always symbolic suggesting the immensity and mystery of the cosmos and the relative insignificance of human desires, intellections and intentions. The prevailing tone of the novel is, I think, caught wonderfully in the striking cover picture.



For me the triumph in the novel is the characterization of Meghna - beautiful, intelligent, complex, extremely attractive, yet, instantly recognizable central character. Harimohan makes the reader fall a little in love with Meghna. She is an unusually bright student who matures into a formidable business-executive and entrepreneur - competent and ambitious - yet, so human. He places her in a time period that was restrictive for women in India but a woman like Meghna is impatient and dismissive of restrictions yet compassionate and loving to those who try and bind her down - parents or husband; children or in-laws. That at a point in her life, laughter should desert her, is grievous and unfair. The reader might ask herself: Why did it happen to Meghna? Were her choices wrong? Could she have lived her life differently? The answer might be yes for some; no, for others, but Harimohan has been able to take us through the process of Meghna's decision-making sensitively and non-judgmentally. So, once Meghna decides to love and laugh again - we are completely in sync with her, anxious that nothing should come in her way.

A question I always ask vis a vis a book I read - especially when it is a man writing about a woman is - is it empowering? Very significantly for me, Meghna is not a fantasy woman, even though she is stunning enough to turn heads at fifty. Harimohan has portrayed a real woman with concerns I recognize and sympathise with and in a prose that is never lugubrious, always lively and witty. As an instance, I will read out a paragraph that especially made me chuckle because of the images it evokes. This is Meghna getting ready to go to Atlanta family and friends pitch in to prepare her for the momentous event: (p108-109)

This is of course pre-liberalization India. A lot has changed. A trip to the U.S., for instance, is no longer such a voyage into the unknown. But I'm sure a lot of us recognize ourselves in the doting mother, the opinionated and advice-giving friends. Many of us would appreciate the innovative idea of using a rope to prevent branded air baggage from bursting or would be in sympathy with the compulsive urge to do everything cheaply - at minimal cost to ourselves, at least!

Of such intimate, heart-warming, and eternally familiar tropes is Harimohan's novel 'If you love someone' made!

A To-Do List

I sat down this morning feeling rather listless and wondering what I needed to do to get the zing back into my life. The chat with Vijaya in the morning helped me to focus on doing my workshop sometime soon for family and friends. Though Ranjani has been after me for doing the workshop I have been rather shy at promoting it among friends and family but I think I will now do it. Sooner than later.
Sometime in the evening I sat down with Shobha and we made a to-do list for ourselves. Mine included the following:

1) Writing at least 10 books in the next five years and get them published (The Misfit, The Gulmohur Stories, A new comedy, Recognising Excellence Within, The Men Within - College Challenges, Cricket short stories based on club cricket - 12 stories, A cricket novel on the trials and tribulations of being a test cricketer, a t20 novel, a cricket story based on the Replacements and one like Kane and Abel).

2) To write at least a dozen screenplays in the next 5 years (got a couple of ideas in place).

3) The third is to travel up North, see the Taj, the Himalayas, Golden Temple, Rajasthan and down South to Kanyakumari, Coorg etc.

4) I put workshops on my list - at least 24 a year (corporate, college, sports academies and school), and

5) Lectures averaging 36 a year at least in colleges and schools.

6) I also plan to build a steady revenue stream, and an organization that will support me in keeping this activity running smoothly.

7) On fitness I propose to lose weight until I am sub 90 - 85 kgs ideally by June 2010 (I weighed 105 kgs at the doctor's the other day).

8) I am hoping to get back to playing league cricket next year and need to identify a suitable team for that.

9) On fun, I propose to watch more movies, read quality books, have quality experiences and meet quality people.

10) I promise to give myself a bit more time with myself, Anjali and Shobha.

To begin with then, I shall first announce my workshop 'Recognising Excellence Within' for a group of about 10-12 people over the weekend.

Ram Gets a Nandi Award

Ram Gets a Nandi for Ashta Chamma
The big high of this week was Ram receiving the Nandi award, the Andhra Pradesh Government's film awards, for Ashta Chamma on Ugadi day from the Chief Minister Shri K.Rosaiah. To bag the award for his first movie is itself creditable but the praise that the movie won for its values, its clean script and entertainment value and for its ability to balance commerce with good cinema is what makes it more special. 'Ashta Chamma' got an award in the best movie for family viewing category and best actress category which Swathi bagged for her fabulous performance. She will go far, Swathi, without any effort because she has the kind of a talent I have not seen in recent years, and will certainly take home many more awards.
I do hope and wish that Ram and his team bags several more Nandi awards for making wonderful films like Ashta Chamma that are not only commercial hits but also provide great entertainment.

Vinod's Manuscript - Great Read
I read one of the early drafts of the manuscript of 'There's a drought here and you want us to wear ironed shorts..' - Vinod's first novel this week. It was extremely readable, very funny, with great characters and provides a wonderful peek into the life of the government officer in rural areas. His capacity to infuse humor into all kinds of situations, even the most tragic, is almost Sue Townsendesque. Vinod has put the first scene from his novel on his blog, the link to which is given below.

http://vinodekbote.blogspot.com/2010/01/first-scene-of-my-novel.html

Vinod is one of the few writers I have read who has the ability to make the reader laugh out loud. I am sure this book will find great success since I find it better than 90% of the books written and published by Indian authors.

More Pics And What Bookstores Can Do

Here are a few more pictures of the book event from Landmark. One thing I have noticed with bookstores is that they do tend to discount your estimates. (I can understand that because authors do tend to inflate the estimates of their popularity but it can have a negative effect if the author's estimate comes true.) For example I told the Landmark Store Manager that they could expect 100 or more people (because I am a local and I can expect that many friends and family). But despite many gentle reminders the store was ready for about 60 and that meant that at least 50 guests were left standing in the final analysis.
Due to this, the refreshments that the store offers, also fall short mainly because they tend to estimate everything on the lower side. So when someone in the audience does mention that 'yes, there were refreshments, but they never got to me...' - it does not reflect too well on the store especially if they are keen on footfalls. Events, stores must realize are a wonderful way to get new footfalls and convert them into loyal customers.
Thirdly, I find that there is a lack of preparation in many ways. Media, for example should be shown a predesignated space so that the audience gets to see what is happening. One experience should be enough to fine tune this activity. For example in the World Book Fair, where we launched the book in February, the organisers made it clear that the media cannot stand in the front of the dais and should be at the back of the hall through the event. That way the audience got to see the event and
the press got its bytes after the event.
Another thing that any bookstore could do well is to keep the podium at a place where there is sufficient lighting. This is important because one has to read from the book and if the lighting is not sufficient, it becomes inconvenient. Also picture quality gets compromised if the podium and the dais are in the dark.
I always find it amusing when store managers brush away all attempts of mine to prepare for the event. In fact in several places I have gone to the store and made an attempt to meet the manager and disscuss the event flow, the PR and other arrangements a couple of days prior to the event, and have found them a very reluctant lot. Several made me wait for long and then brushed off the whole affair as something that they have been doing often and know inside out. And then when the event begins, you find that they do not have the event flow properly, names and introductions of guests, no protocol when senior guests are invited, no script which makes them fumble and bumble like amateurs...which makes it all very embarrassing. A few minutes of preparation, an understanding of the flow and people, a written script, makes all the difference between a mediocre event and a good one. It is here that I would like the young managers take the initiative and do a better job because it reflects the store and its professionalism.
For example, the space for the event cannot be made arranged after the guests arrive (which I found in a few places). After we arrive, they start moving shelves to create space and then lay down chairs and stuff while we all wait including the chief guest.
Another thing is that there is no announcement made about sale of books, where the books are available and where to pay etc. Most guests are generally wondering how to go about the process and some go away without buying.
These small things make a big difference in the end as to how the event is perceived by the visitors. For the bookstore, repeat customers can be cultivated only if the guests have a good first experience!

Book Launch of If You Love Someone - Rocked

The Hyderabad book launch of 'If You Love Someone...' at Landmark, Banjara Hills went off extremely well. I reached the place at about a little past 6 in the evening with Anjali, Shobha and Chitra. A few people had already arrived and I remember Mithi, BS Murthy, Madhavi Puranam, Nagender, Nagesh, Rasana, Vrinda, Sailaja, Anjaneyulu, Das, Krishna Prasad, among the early comers. We chatted for a while and deliberated if it was appropriate to sign the copies. Gangaraju, the chief guest for the function landed up well in time followed by Mohana Krishna, Sumanth, Swathi and the show was all set to roll. The media was in place, more familiar faces strolled in and we knew that Landmark would be short of seats and preparation as I suspected. But then we all stumbled along happily, knowing book launches happen this way only.
After we were all invited on to the stage Mohana Krishna introduced me and the book in very warm tones. He spoke of how I appeared to be a person who is organized while also balancing a detached attitude to life, to success. He spoke of how the book 'If You Love Someone...' was a big shift from 'The Men Within' in terms of characters, story, perspective etc. How romance as a genre was so different and interesting. he spoke about how I write visually and in short paras which he likes.
Swati spoke next, in her usual, effervescent manner and spoke in, what makes her so relatable, sincere tones about the book, the earlier book and her impressions of me. She read a passage from the book and read it so well that my eyes welled up.
Sumanth spoke about how refreshing it was to be in a book reading session, how he identified with the character Aditya and how he would, if the book was made into a movie, would like to play him. At which Swathi, said she would like to play Meghna and Mohan said that he would love to direct the film! Sumanth read a passage too and did that very well.
I spoke next and did the reading from my bit. Gangaraju, the chief guest spoke next and said that he is launching what was probably a book that most people seemed to have read anyway. But since he read the book, he spoke about my writing style, the change in perspective and spoke so well and so succinctly that it took me completely by surprise. Not more than 10-15 sentences but it was so well put - something only he could have done and so well.
The book release was the next thing on the agenda and after the photo op, we waited for Mohana Krishna to announce the making of 'The Men Within' into a movie with Sumanth and Swathi as the lead pair. The book signing went on for an hour and I met so many people - my school mates (Vasu, Bro. Joseph), my OU Engineering college mates (Sanjay, Choudhary, Anjaneyulu, Sunil Jyothi, Narasimha, Anil and Sujatha, Rama Raju, Sagarika), my MBA mates (Hari Rao, Sravan, Bharadwaj, Sreeni, Vijay, PV, Ramesh, Srinivas Babu, Puppy), my cricketing mates (Venkatapathy Raju, Gajanand, Noel, Pawan, Suri, Krishna Prasad) my writing mates (Vinod, Major Shiva Kiran, Rasana, Vrinda, BS Murthy, Mithi), students from HCU (Amit Rathi, Sushil, the girls, Mayank, Rathinder), VJIM staff and faculty (Durgaprasad, faculty from across India who are attending the FDP), IDBI (Vidyasagar, Murli, Jayashri). family(Shobha, Anjali, Bavagaru, Peddakka, Ajay, Radhika, Nalini, Mythily, Rambabu, Chanti, Shashank, Ram, Sheila, Vajra, Chimu, Bhave's, Chitra and Prashant, Pratap, Shweta and Naren), Ram's friends (Arjun, LV, Papa, Sanjay Reddy, Sharath Marar, Nagender, Nagesh, Vikram), Mona representing the Jaisimha family, Antharyami (Sailaja, Roopa, Anuma, Ipshita, Urvashi, Reena, Ashok, Ranjani, Shanti, Sarita, Mamta) from the film fraternity (Ravi, RK), journos (Das), from my management side (Amar, Madhavi, Madhavi Puranam, Rao from Badruka), Priyanka from Evening Hours, Suresh, Rajan, Jaleel and Nazneen, Don, Madhav and Treena, Vasu and Geeta, Choudhary and Anu, Dr. Lakhsmi, Vidyanath, and so many more that I need to jog my mind to remember. For all of you, a big thank you for coming and supporting me in this big moment. Will post again later with more details and pics.

A Faculty Development Program - A First

Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management, Kukatpally, invited me to speak as a resource person for their Faculty Development Program. The topic was Personal Excellence and the audience of about 25-30 was a young, intelligent lot from all over India - as far flung as Jaipur, Bhagalkot etc. It was a 3 hour session and I dwelt on issues close to my heart i.e. excellence, giving our best, taking ownership etc.
This was a first and I think the next time I have a better idea to make the talk more effective in such FD programs.
Another new, another YES factor!

If You Love Someone - Day of the Hometown Launch

Today is the day! The Hyderabad launch of 'If you love someone...' at Landmark this evening is all set to roll. I have sent out invites, called people I know and left the PR to the Landmark agency. I think Indialog supplied sufficient number of books, Landmark is promoting the event well and we have a couple of nice surprises lined up for the evening. All on the panel have read the book 'If you love someone...' so it's easier.
What needs to be done normally is check and double check with whoever is compering the show about the script they have prepared. Normally they tend to take this preparation lightly and goof up big time which happens more often than not. So that is one thing left on the agenda today.
Will post details and pics of the event over the weekend!