Of New Book and New Life

It has become not much of a surprise that I disappear from this space for days or even months at a stretch. The situation or habit is so when it comes to many writers of this generation, with most of them pursuing writing as their passion/ solace, while seeking time to write down articles, short stories, novellas and even full fledged novels after sweating it out at their work place during a greater portion of the day. Kudos to their spirit!

Sadly, I find it extremely fetching a task to switch myself onto the writing mode after a long day at work. Most of my writing happens during the weekends or during short breaks between the courses I need to take up as part of my never ending medical journey. Not simply that, my social commitments too suffer an annoying lag when I am buried in the mutli facteted world of my work, which includes studies, thesis preparations, patient management and ER duties. There are times when I wish I were a more clear headed person – someone who can immerse herself in all her passions one after the other, regardless of the mental exhaustion one is left with during the process. Life doesn’t work so, atleast not for me, atleast not always. 

The most important factor that decides the intensity of creativity bursts when it comes to people who follow a day job is beyond doubt, the presence of inspiration. For me, inspiration needs to be planted inside one way or the other that I end up being nudged, poked, pointed and atlast punched right on my face to be finally shaken enough to dust free the tentacles of creativity hibernating somewhere in the depths of my soul and emerge a writer once again. Everytime passion is rekindled in me, I find myself promising to the revived side of me that I would never again leave my love for words stranded in the dark for more than ten days consecutively. It is not that I fail in keeping up my promises, but the reason should, I deduce, lie in the indulgent nature of mine. I am someone who loves to give it my all when it comes to whatever that I am committed to. That said, that particular habit has its pros and cons. What might be the con, you might wonder. Well, there are a few which I have listed over years of contemplation. One is that I hesitate to pick up a new book to read when my days are otherwise packed with one duty or the other. I need to be completely relaxed to start a new book, for the chances are more that I end up finishing it in a few hours, sans a break. The same goes for writing too. After my post graduation last year, I happened to have a two month duty free period and the writing bug sought me from a far fetched land, instilling in me a potion( it ought to be!) to start and finish my first ever 60k manuscript without hiccoughs ( More good news on that line to be revealed soon). The pros of being indulgent are many as you would have already adjudged, and so I believe I would live with this particular character of mine for the time being.

Having bared that side of me, you must have guessed that there ought to be a valid reason for me to budge in here and flood your timelines after a long gap. You guessed right. There are a few announcements to make and I have been yearning to do so all this week, all the while waiting for the week end to let my mind free of the hospital thoughts. Both my professional life and my writing life have been eventful over the past one month. I managed to clear another entrance exam ( My third one in the past ten years, God bless a medical student) and right now I am undergoing higher studies in ENT after my post graduation on the same. I have moved to a new place, situated at a ten hour journey from my home. The hassles of settling down at a new place too have been keeping me terribly busy, not that I am complaining, for there is an undecipherable beauty in finding oneself immersed entirely, with respect to one’s heart, soul and body, in something. 

On the writing front, a collection of poems on love titled ‘The Garden of Love‘, compiled by author and friend, Anuj Kumar released last week. Ten poems of mine find a humble space in this collection and if you are someone who wouldn’t mind spending a few hours to savour the freshness of a debut work of poetry, then you would love this book. The pre order link is here – Pre order ‘The Garden of Love’.

I am not sure when I would be posting next. Until then, why don’t you order a copy of my book and keep yourself engaged in the same? I am leaving behind a few lines from one of my poems, ‘The Wait’. I hope it serves to pique your interest. 

“The bed was made up-

Impeccable and neat

Floors, brushed hard

Till the last speck was peeled.

Music hummed

Slow, mellow and sweet,

Awaiting your return

Your presence, upon me.

My soul brimmed,

With regret thorough

I wallowed much-

The cries muffled and deep.“

                                                                          ~ From ‘The Wait’ by Maliny Mohan

The Blurb :

If there is something with the amazing power to take you on a journey through mesmerising alleys and soothing silver rivulets, and the power to shatter you from the very core, nevertheless poignantly, it would be love. Love, in any form, is simply, beauty at its zenith. And so is a beautifully woven form of poetry. It captivates you, enthrals you, soothes you and at times makes you shed a tear. Such is the power of a luminous few lines of verse. Our book aims to bring under the penumbra, a collection of poems, which highlight the varied shades of the emotion named love.  Love is not all about extremes of emotions; it is nurtured in the simple belief of togetherness too. But here in this realm, we have focussed mostly on the evocative aspects of the emotion rather than its subtleness. ‘Garden of love’, our poetry collection, includes the poems authored by Anuj Kumar, Maliny Mohan, Akash Deep Gupta and Abhijeet Yadav. The anthology has been categorised into two sections – one that follows the theme ‘Heaven of love’ and second that follows the theme ‘Hell of love’. With each poem the authors have tried their best to bring out the essence of love. Be it the Elysian flavour of romance or the devouring potential of unrequited love, this anthology tries to capture love at its most beautiful and frighteningly powerful forms.

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