Rooprashi's Blog

When we believe in ourselves and our life, do we really get what we lookout for? Does everything come…eventually?

Between the covers is a story of a simple girl. Aarohi. Life is not as simple for her. She is a dreamer and it is some of her dreams which she herself finds weird. While facing heartbreak and finding love with a broken man, Aarohi works hard to achieve the goals she has made in life; sometimes even wondering if they are too high for her. The pursuit of her goals is her destiny; one she has to fulfill. Giving up on Rudra and diligently taking her tough profession, she meets Dr. Aditya Vardhan. .

But was Aditya the man of her dreams?

Did she understand what destiny was trying to tell her through her dreams?

Was she ever able to get over Rudra?

Were her efforts enough to bring success?

Was she The Girl Who Saw It All….?

When you finish a book, you are not the same person that you were before reading it. A book impacts our personality to the extent that we cannot imagine. This is the reason for the increasing sales of the books which bring positivity and motivate you. Every good book stores a magic within itself and leaves an everlasting impact on the readers’ minds. Let’s see the reasons how it happens:

Connection: The story of the book makes an invisible connection with the reader’s mind. They start to co-relate with the story and the happenings. The readers start to imagine the things they could have done in that similar situation and accordingly it effects their way of thinking and makes them think broader in the way story takes turn in the book.Introspection: Books give a chance to the reader to introspect about themselves through various ways like from the protagonist’s role in the book or the teachings in the book. The readers feel the urge to explore themselves, to think out of the box, to look at things from the other angles too.Effect On Sub-conscious Mind: Books have a great effect on the sub-conscious mind. The things which happened in the past, the feelings which we suppressed, the situations which we avoided. We move on but all these remain dumped somewhere in the sub-conscious mind. The books make us realize the importance of expression and relieve us from the burden of these sub-conscious memories.Confrontation with reality: Books take us to an imaginary world away from today’s materialistic world and artificiality. They confront us with the realities, real emotions and the things that actually matter in life. They help us see beyond the curtain that covers our mind when we get too much involved in the worldly things.Decision Making: Many a times when we are stuck in a situation in life, books come to our rescue. They suggest and guide us to take a decision in life. They give a clarity of thought and helps us quantify the pros and cons of a particular decision. Just the way, Bhagwat Gita stores the solution to every problem in life because it gives the readers a clear perspective of the situation and its solution. Books also help us to find strength within ourselves to do things which we want to do and take decisions accordingly.

Books are your greatest friends. They teach us things in a unique way and never leave us alone. A person is never alone when he/she has a book in hand. The books have the same impact on the reader’s mind as a friend/guardian can have on you. That why, pen is said to be a powerful weapon which can leave everlasting impression on a reader’s mind.

-Rooprashi  (Author of The Girl Who Saw It All)

PC: Anukampa Sharma (@astralrover_) 

Q: How to start writing a book?

A: Every new writer is confused about how to start writing a book and whether he/she will be able to write a book or not. I would suggest that you just need to pick up your pen and write and take the first step, everything else will follow. When I started writing my first book, I tried to pour the thoughts as raw as they were coming in my mind because I think that the best way to write thoughts is to pen them down as raw as they are.

Q: What are the hardships one faces during writing a book?

A: Writing a book is an amazing journey. Its not easy but you will enjoy it if you love writing. A few times you may feel stuck too and you may think that you would not be able to proceed further as writing a book can be mentally draining at times where you feel short of thoughts and ideas. I think at that time what can help you a lot is reading. You can stop writing at those moments and read. I think reading opens up your mind if you are stuck with ideas. Reading can be the best way to open up your mind when it feels tired and short of ideas. It gives you other perspectives and other angles to see things around you. You can perceive things, other’s emotions and perspectives in a better way. So, I think reading and writing go hand in hand. You can proceed slowly and only wrote when you actually feel like writing and never take it as a task to complete. I think writing is something which comes from the soul. If you do it as a task or job, it loses a bit of its flavour.

Q: Why is editing important?

A: A good editor gives your book a new look grammatically, formation of sentences and expression of words. I think it acts like garnishing a food item to make it look beautiful and presentable. Good editing can make a huge difference to your book’s performance. So, I would recommend a book to be edited before being sent to the publishers for final publishing.

Q: How to get book published?

A: I think getting published has become very easy these days. You can easily get your kindle version published. Self-publishing has also opened the way and made path easier for writers. Getting published used to be a big thing in the past but now a day many publishers offer self-publishing packages. But I do not believe in getting published this way. I think one should always try to get published traditionally. Getting published traditionally is still a very tough task. Traditional publishing means that the publisher selects your script to be published from their publishing house. They do this because they see the potential in the book and expect the book to sale and do good business for their publishing house. I think one should compete and try to get their book published through traditional publishing if they really want to grow as a writer. I feel that before getting the book published, the book should have all the qualities to be read and be appreciated by the readers. Because in the end the quality of book matters a lot.

Q: What are the basic requirements of publishers when we contact to get published?

 A: Most publishers usually accept the manuscripts through emails. You can send the 2-3 sample chapters to different publishers. Every publisher has their specific guidelines for manuscript submission which you can find on their websites. Some of the main publishers where new authors stand a chance to get published are:

HarperCollins

Rupa Publications

Penguin

Random House

Srishti Publishers

Leadstart

Fingerprints

Invincible Publishers

Papertown Publishing

Juggernaut

Mahaveer

Roli books

Westland

Getting published traditionally can be a tough job many times. So, I would advise not to lose patience and keep trying. The publishing houses usually take 2-3 months to respond and it can a quite a tough time sometimes. But if the book is selected for publishing traditionally, you will be at a great advantage because the real struggle starts after getting the book published. So, the whole process of book writing and publishing will require a lot of patience and most importantly belief in oneself. All the best.

-Rooprashi  (Author of The Girl Who Saw It All)

PC: Anukampa Sharma (@astralrover_)

Who is the best judge of our life? Who is the best judge of our situations? The one who goes through it or the one who is watching from a distance? The one who goes through a situation knows exactly how it feels and what could be the best thing to do at that very moment.

Whatever decision you take in life there is always someone who watches you.That someone tells you things, guides you and helps you take a decision. That someone is you. You are the best one to decide in a particular situation. You are the one who sees things so closely and know minute details. “Yes, I did this right. This was so perfect” Or “I could have done better, I never do things right.” Both of them are our own thoughts. Me telling myself that this world is a beautiful place or this is such an imperfect place to thrive. Both these opposite thoughts are my own thoughts. You always have a positive or a negative opinion about the situations you go through. In fact, you are your biggest motivator.

It all depends on your attitude to see life. If you are determined to thrive difficult situations, no one can de-motivate you from your path. A self-motivated soul is the toughest competitor for anyone because it competes with no-one else but own-self. Such people try to improve and do not lose hope when they fail to do things. They get up again with more enthusiasm and zeal and proceed towards their goal with all their might.

Failures give them a challenge, a push and make the path of life more interesting rather than discouraging them to leave their dreams mid-way. Everyone has tough moments in life and it all depends on our own attitude whether we motivate or de-motivate ourselves.

To live life on your own terms you need to have your own terms accepted by yourself first and to strongly believe in them. There is no perfect life but fulfilling our dreams and living life as we want, we can add more happy moments to this imperfect yet perfect life.

-Rooprashi (Author of “The Girl Who Saw It All”)

PC: Google Images

It was Sunday, I was sitting in my balcony sipping my early morning green tea. The peaceful mornings with a cup of  green tea in my hand is one of my favorite times of the day. And it was Sunday too. So, this was a more relaxed one.

I was enjoying the serene view of the cloudy sky when some kids walking on the mother earth caught my glance. One of them was my neighbor’s kid. “Where are they going with their school bags on Sunday?” I thought.

“The school is taking extra classes on Sunday” his mother had told me a few days back.

“Extra classes for a 5th standard student?” I had asked with a shocked expression.

“What kind of world are we living in?” I thought looking downwards at the kids from my sixth floor balcony.

We are living in a world where everyone is running a race, a race to exceed. But if you ask anyone what is this race all about, no one knows. We want to exceed in life but no one is clear about the goal they want to reach. We are just following the crowd and we also make our kids a part of this race and put them into unnecessary pressure from the very childhood.

“I want to be an IAS” Their kid had told me once.

“What is an IAS?” I had asked and the kid had no idea about it.

The parents had imbibed it so well in his mind that he wants to be an IAS. Such kids do not even get to explore their own interests and end up being dissatisfied in their career. They surely get the best jobs in the country but still are not happy with it. They always keep wondering as to why they are so dissatisfied with their life.

Their life is like walking a trek and reaching the destination which is desired by others not by them. The undue pressure of the parents and the school is making the minds of kids work like a robot which is well trained to follow the instructions but is too scared to explore life.

Why can’t the schools and parents teach their kids the importance of things which actually matter for their happiness? Why do we prepare them to run this never-ending race of coming first in class and excelling in job?

As the size of the school bags of the kids is increasing so is the size of their spectacles. They are either studying or are in front of screen (mobile/tv/laptop).

Every other day we hear a news about students succumbing to this pressure and committing suicide. Many of the students fall prey to mental illnesses like Depression, Anxiety etc. Is this an age to be depressed? What is the depression about? For not becoming an IITian or a doctor? Should we be satisfied with this kind of life that we are gifting to our kids?

We really need to have a thought on this if we want our kids to realize the true sense of living a happy and soulful life. We need to work towards giving our kids a blissful life without undue stress to run and run.

-Rooprashi (Author of “The Girl Who Saw It All”)

PC: Anukampa Sharma (@astralrover_)

Spend time judiciously because time is even more precious than money. Unlike money, time once wasted in life never comes back. But yes, sometimes time actually is money in cash. Like I learnt it the hard way when I missed my flight and had to spend double the amount by re-booking a new flight. That was a clear example for me that time is actually money.

Time management is an art. It’s not something which an individual carries in his/her genes, it’s something which can
be learnt by anyone. But sadly only a few are capable enough to implement it in life. We keep on hearing people that they wanted to do something but they do not have time. It’s all about priorities and time management.

We can save a lot of energy and avoid stressful situations by a proper time management. Specially, when you have a busy schedule and you need to multi-task. A proper planned and managed way of doing things avoids a lot of confusion and last minute hurry. It is applicable anywhere, be it home, office, holiday plans, travel etc.

Here are some time management hacks which can help to lead a happy and successful life:

Priortise

For an effective management of things, the works needs to be prioritised. The things which are important to be completed should be given a priority to be done first. Mostly, in the process to complete many tasks the important ones are left out. It does include the things that are important but which we ignore. For example doing things which actually make you happy is equally important as completing some other important work in a day. We mostly ignore ourselves in the process to multi-task and end up being stressful; even after doing things as we had planned. So, including your own happiness in the to-do list is very important because only a happy person can spread happiness.

Write Down

Mostly we tend to forget if there are multiple works to be done. For the people who have a packed schedule, writing down the tasks can be very beneficial. The works to be completed can be written down and completed one by one. This helps an individual to keep a track of the tasks to be done and also we do not skip on the important works which can make life a bit easier.

Rise Early

Being an early riser adds some extra active hours in our life. Also, it is good for a healthy body. The early risers get more time for themselves and also with themselves. You get to be close to yourself and do things which you want to do including your hobbies, morning exercises. This adds overall to your physical and mental fitness. It enhances your time management skills in terms of a sane mind in a sane body and also resolves your complain of not getting enough time for yourself.

Take Help

Do not hesitate to take help from the ones around you. Time management does not mean that you have to become a Super-man or Super-women. Effective management of time also includes division of responsibilities. No one is perfect enough to do everything on their own. So, you should not consider it a negative thing to take help from others or to divide responsibilities. For Example: House hold works are not a single person’s responsibility or an assignment at office may involve the help from the other colleagues. It makes the work easier and also adds to your knowledge by knowing other’s viewpoints and ways of doing things.

Practice

Time Management is not as tough as it seems. A few days’ efforts help you imbibe this skill in your personality. Once it gets imbibed in your personality, you need not do extra effort to remind yourself to manage things. It becomes something which you do automatically and effortlessly because your mind starts to work in a way to plan things and manage accordingly which is beneficial in the long run.

Time management helps us save time for ourselves. We just need to priortise things and go on accordingly because time is something which cannot be reversed. So, it needs to be spent judicially in things which really matter to us. There is no dearth of time in life to do things we wish to do. If time is managed properly, we can live a life which is profound in terms of fulfilling our desires and achieving our goals.

-Rooprashi (Author of “The Girl Who Saw It All”)

PC: Anukampa Sharma (@astralrover_)

We complain about a lot of things in life. But do we ever think if we really have a valid reason to complain? Whether we are complaining just to crib or we really want to find a solution? Most of the people crib about things and happenings in their life but they forget that they are the ones who are in total control of their life, they are the ones stopping themselves from living a life as they expect.

No one but we ourselves hold us back from doing things which we are destined to do because we are too scared to experience the unknown, to bring a change in the life that we have become habitual to live. This is the basic human tendency. But then as the ship is not meant to be at the shore forever but it is meant to sail and explore the sea and have its own experiences. In the same way, life is not meant to be lived as a cycle of events and routine which keep on repeating themselves. We need to find courage to break through this cycle and explore the domains which will bring us true happiness and satisfaction.

The times when we feel alone, lost and distracted are actually the times when we are undergoing a major transformation in our life. But it depends on us how we deal with it, if we take it on a positive note and work towards it or we are too scared to accept a change in life. Life mostly prepares us before bringing a change in our life. Many a times, we remember the incidents when destiny had given us the hints that this was going to happen in our life and how we ignored it at that moment. We realize this later but this unpredictibility is the beauty of life.

Complaining about things can bring a temporary relief by venting out our thoughts and emotions but this is not going to bring any permanent solution. We are the ones who need to take the charge of your life and decide if we just want to complain or work towards finding the solutions to the problems in order to live a blissful life.

-Rooprashi (Author of “The Girl Who Saw It All”)

PC: Anukampa Sharma (@astralrover_)

Sharda was flipping through the photo album. It had been so many years back when Neeti’s first birthday was celebrated. All the relatives, friends and neighbours were invited. The excitement in Neeti’s eyes still had the power to take Sharda back down the memory lane by just a look at that photograph. “The way Neeti was excited to see her birthday cake and was trying to touch it had brought a smiles on the faces of all the guests. It seems like yesterday when she started going to college and see how time flies. She is married now.” Sharda thought. “I had never expected that my 1 year old Neeti would say Thank you to the guests who gave her gifts. She had surprised everyone by speaking her first clear word that day.” Sharda smiled as that day’s visuals were still clear in her mind. How could she forget that day too? After all, it was her daughter’s first birthday.

Sharda flipped the photographs and came across Neeti’s photograph with her friends at college hostel. “See the way she is smiling in this photograph. She enjoyed so much with her friends in the hostel and used to tell me all her hostel adventures chirpily. But it was exactly the opposite when I left her there for studies after her 12th class. The way she was weeping and was asking me to take her home still moves me from within. I was so unsure if she would adjust to hostel life. But she proved me wrong and adjusted there so well. The same way she has adjusted so well to her life after marriage. Now, she is taking care of her job, her husband and her kid all on her own.” Sharda was proud of her daughter but also there sadness to be away from her.

“Why did she grow up so fast? She has become a wife, a mother and many more relations have been added to her life. She is so busy in her life and hardly gets time to talk. Have I lost my daughter in the process? Have other relationships taken my place in her life? Does she still love me?” Sharda thought with wet eyes. She was missing Neeti so badly today. All the memories had flashed in front of her eyes. All she wanted right now was to have Neeti in front of her, the way she used to come running in her arms for the magic hug when she was a kid. “I find so much peace in this embrace maa.” Neeti always said.

With a heavy heart Sharda got up for the daily chores and left the photo album aside.

The faint phone ring of the mobile phone from the other room caught her attention.

Sharda went there and picked up the call. It was Neeti. “Maa, I  had forgot the recipe to cook Dum Alloo. Please tell me naa. Some guests are coming today.” She said.

Sharda told her the recipe.

“And yes maa, the kids are having their vacations starting from next month. I am planning to visit you this time. It has been a year we have met. I miss you so much maa” Neeti said.

“Come soon beta. I too miss you a lot” Sharda said hiding the sadness in her voice.

“Yes mom. I will get the tickets booked today. Ok now, I have to go and cook food for the guests. Bye Maa.. Love you.” Neeti said disconnecting the call.

Sharda felt like her secret wish coming true. She smiled and thought “She is still my young Neeti who always needs me. I was feeling so emotional right now and wanted to talk to Neeti badly. But then I thought she must be busy and I dropped the idea. But see the telepathic connection that we both have. How I can ever lose her? How can I lose my own daughter who is a part of me? I am the one whom she remembers the very first moment when she needs help, is sick or sad. She has this assurance that her mother is always there with her. Then why do I need this assurance that she loves me?”

Sharda felt like she had found her daughter again. She had realized that this was a bond of unconditional love which could never break. She was so happy and had already started making plans for Neeti’s visit in her mind.

-Rooprashi (Author of “The Girl Who Saw It All”)

PC: Anukampa Sharma (@astralrover_)

Does my kind of love really exist? I often wondered. The heart always searched and mind thought about it. What exactly do you want? My mind often asked my heart and then there was a blank feeling as if I myself did not know what I actually wanted.

Everyone has their own feeling about their kind of love. But do we really look for our kind of love or we often try to find the perfectness in the other person as per our own criteria. Many of us face this issue and we often try to dig into ourselves to find the void that we feel with the inquisitiveness to know what your soul craves for.
But then a time comes when we learn to look beyond our own mind and our idea about the kind of love we look for. There comes an understanding that the love is not conditional. There comes a realization and we no more try to fit the other person into the frame of our expectations. The perfectness we look for sometimes blindfolds our mind and heart so badly that we overlook the love around us and all the positives in it because we focus too much on the perfectness of our kind of love.

This realization may come sooner or later that the love you look for is already with you and around you. He/she may not be someone who pampers you with gifts but his/her eyes shine when you are happy. He may not be a handsome hunk as you thought but has a beautiful heart. He may not shower you with all the praises but feels it  an accomplishment when he makes you smile. They may fight with you over petty issues but you will always find them by your side in the time of need. The one who will not let you have a single peaceful moment when around but their absence makes life lose its flavor. The one who makes you feel that everything is going to be alright if he/she is around.

We need to realize that our kind of love is not the one that is there in our mind, it’s there in the outside world, in the person who is imperfect just the way we are not perfect. When you will look at this kind of love with an open heart with a feeling to accept it unconditionally along-with its  imperfectness, you will be surprised to find that your kind of love was always there with you or around you.

-Rooprashi (Author of “The Girl Who Saw It All”)

PC: Anukampa Sharma (@astralrover_)

Why am I suffering? We ask ourselves many times when in a situation of distress. We mostly question life at its unfairness and the question “Why ME?”.  While we need to understand that suffering is a part of life. It also has some positives which we mostly ignore.

The days when we are sad and are suffering inside remind us of the things and people whom we ignore in our happy days. The people whom we take for granted, the things and blessings which we mostly ignore and focus on the things which are lacking in our life.

Suffering is important to make us realise that man is a social animal. When we look for the people with whom we can share our feelings, we realise that we need our loved ones. We realise their importance in our life.

Sometimes, when we become too much competitive and ambitious, we tend to focus only on the things which we lack in our life. When we focus too much on something, it too blurs our vision.  In today’s busy life when we become habitual of ignoring our blessings and the things that we have in our life, sufferings help to make us aware of the ground reality. It makes us realise that what we have is better than many others in the world.

Sufferings have an important role to play in our life. Just like day and night have their own roles and importance.  In the day when we become lost in the hustle bustle of the world, the peaceful night brings us close to ourselves and gives us the moments when our conscience speaks to us. The days will not have an importance if the nights were not there. It is because of the night that we wait for the day to start.

In the same way, happiness will lose its flavor if sufferings were not there. Than why should we consider suffering as a negative thing?  Why should we focus only on the deadly part of the night when the night may be deadly as well as peaceful. It all depends on our perception. Than why not to accept sufferings as a challenge and consider it as a part of life?

The understanding that sufferings are not permanent and will soon get over can make our life easier. Acceptance is the key to life. Accept the night with all its positive and negative traits and soon it will be followed by a bright sunrise.

-Rooprashi (Author of “The Girl Who Saw It All”)

PC: Anukampa Sharma (@astralrover_)