Author Spotlight and Interview: Prachi Garg, Author of Superwomen

I love reading non-fiction, especially the kind that inspires me into action and celebrates the lives and efforts of people doing legendary work.

Which partly explains why I loved reading the book Superwomen. (Check out my review here)

Today, the mind behind the book joins us for a conversation.

Kritika: We begin with the question every writer is asked: what made you write this book, what was the trigger, the motivation?

Prachi: I always wanted to write since my childhood. You may say writing was in my genes, but where I was always stuck was, what to write. As I started my start-up www.ghoomophiro.com , I faced a few challenges, and this is where I thought of speaking to a few lovely ladies, and then I decided to pen down the stories of these superwomen, so that this could be inspiration for all. And this is how Superwomen was created.

Kritika: How did you go about writing the book? What was the research like? 

Prachi: First I chose my subjects, which were entrepreneurial women, who started their ventures between the ages of 25 to 30 years. Then I researched about such women, spoke to them, took their consent for interaction, interacted with them, wrote their stories and finally got it verified with them. I am highly thankful to each one of them and the publisher for the final product.

Kritika: What role does your interaction with the entrepreneurs play?

Prachi: I think the entire book is based on their interaction, hence it played an important role. However, during these interactions, I myself learnt a lot and how to come out of challenges.

Kritika: Being an entrepreneur yourself and having studied a lot of them, any advice you'd like to dole out to the aspiring ones?

Prachi: My only advise is "Don't get disheartened by small hiccups and don't listen to the people who don't matter, as you can't make everyone happy. It is your life, live it the way you want." 

Kritika: What is the process of writing your first book like?

Prachi: It is a long process. Especially for a debut author, finding a publisher who can trust your idea is very tedious. It might take lot of time, then multiple rounds of editing require a lot of patience. But yes, the final results are indeed worth the wait and beyond.

Kritika: You talk about the trials of being a debut author, any advice to authors in the process of penning down their first novel?

Prachi: Debut authors should trust their ideas and shouldn't get disappointed at rejections. Instead they should work on the feedback and multiple rounds of peer reviews. This helps to hone the whole manuscripts.

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Book Review: Super Women by Prachi Garg

About the Book:

This book brings forth the stories of twenty women entrepreneurs who have struck a perfect personal-professional harmony, and a chord with their immediate consumers. Their innovative ventures encompass a varied range of services – from supporting victims of acid attacks, to providing free skin care solutions; from online retail of lingerie, handmade bags and fashion accessories, to eco-friendly products of everyday utility; from pet care products, to quirky merchandise; from empowering folk artists, to providing clinical assistance to those going through tough times; from image consulting to house hunting; from arty solutions, to innovative marketing and corporate communication; from creating happy readers to making religious ceremonies simpler – these entrepreneurs have opened avenues formerly unexplored. Superwomen is an interesting journey of how they played all their roles to perfection, aligning their families with their ambitions, showing the world their true mettle
Paperback, 168 pages
Published February 10th 2016 by Srishti Publishers & Distributors

About The Author:

Prachi Garg is a true blue Mirandian, who is an entrepreneur herself. She co-founded Ghoomophiro.com and Anmoluphar.com. An alumna of Great Lakes Institute of Management, she is passionate about writing and travelling.


My Review:

The best part about such books that enlist a cluster of entrepreneurs is the dose of inspiration and optimism in every story.
Rashmi Bansal's Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish started this trend and it caught up on fast, with Anuradha Goyal's The Mouse Charmers chronicling the contemporary, technology-driven enterprises.
Super Women comes under the same genre as a breath of fresh air, enlisting very fresh and recent ideas start-ups/businesses/enterprises.
What helps the cause of this book is the fact that the author herself falls in the category she writes at length about, and yet the enterprises and enterprising women she has  chosen are all so varied and vivid, one cannot help but be awed by each story.

The substance is like the books I mentioned above, it is a summary account of everything encompassing the journey- the ideas, the hopes, the struggles, the process, the risks, and the eventual success and learning.

The author writes about the initial ventures in a very simplistic manner, with the factual details gaining precedence over the journey, it is when I reach the sixth or seventh account that the writing is infused with the emotion and descriptions it deserves. Thereon, the journeys have been defined precisely, picking the right details, aligning it with the readers' expectations from the book.

It apprises one of many different, uncanny and quirky ventures functioning out there, while at the same time imparts crucial lessons in business acumen, management, establishing credibility, etc.
Some of these enterprises functioning in a niche segment include make Love not Scars, Heads Up for Tails, ShubhPuja etc
The book is definitely worth a read for the upcoming entrepreneurs.

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Book Review: My Last Love Story by Falguni Kothari

About the Book:

Perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes’s, Me Before You, My Last Love Story is a heartbreakingly romantic tale about the complexities of trauma and whether love can right a wrong.

I, Simeen Desai, am tired of making lemonade with the lemons life has handed me.

Love is meant to heal wounds.

Love was meant to make my world sparkle and spin.

Love has ripped my life apart and shattered my soul. 

I love my husband, and he loves me.

But Nirvaan is dying.

I love my husband. I want to make him happy.

But he is asking for the impossible. 

I don’t want a baby.

I don’t want to make nice with Zayaan.

I don’t want another chance at another love story. 

Book Links:Goodreads * Amazon US * Amazon IN

My Review:

It is not often that you come across a book whose plot gyrates to touch every human foible possible. This is a story of three people from India, while the setting is abroad. Initially, as you delve into the book, it might seem just another story about Indian immigrants abroad and their struggles of fitting in, while battling conflicts with their culture. This book has so many levels, you could be on the last page and still be peeling through more dimensions added to the plot. This, is partly why the end is what it is, although I do yearn for a little more solidity in the conclusions. Yet, it was in measured exactness real and raw: no cliche, no fantastical unblemished happily-ever-after.

My Last Love Story delivers what it promises: an exploration of the protagonist's love story, as seen from her own eyes, and to contemplate and decide whether it'd be the last. There's so much about this story that is unconventional, that sets it apart, a review wouldn't suffice to enlist it all. The friendship and the trials and tribulations that accompany the friendship of our main characters is so unusual, its conception is a brilliant work of the author's mind. 

Above everything, the story is also a narrative of the difficult decisions one is forced to make in life. There is a tragedy, and then there's you dealing with the tragedy. There's a problem, and then it's your call on how you'll deal with it. To mess it up a notch, add love to the equation. 
The characters face some real tragedies. And the expression has been so real and raw, you almost relate to it. At one point, it is, "I wished that my anxiety could be stripped off as easily as the raincoat."  At another, it is "In my mind, I perpetuated the fantasy we’d once imagined for us because to think about the truth of our situation, about the inoperable metastatic tumor inside my husband’s brain, was anathema to me."

The reading experience has been enriching and productive too, with a rich and steady stream of vocabulary and rich phrases and witticisms. 

No mention could probably end without that inevitable, inexplicable comparison to JoJo Moyes' Me Before You. Here's my verdict: the richness of content in this story, due to its Indian roots far surpasses that of MBY, while I'd yearn for an ending like the one Moyes gave, with a conclusion to the character portrayed ill.

About the Author:

Falguni Kothari is an internationally bestselling hybrid author and an amateur Latin and Ballroom dance silver medalist with a background in Indian Classical dance. She writes in a variety of genres sewn together by the colorful threads of her South Asian heritage and expat experiences. When not writing or dancing, she fools around on all manner of social media, and loves to connect with her readers. My Last Love Story is her fourth novel.

Website * Blog * Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest * Goodreads

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Author Interview: Falguni Kothari As A Part of b00k r3vi3w tours

Author Falguni Kothari Joins us to talk about her latest book, My Last Love Story!

About the Book:

Perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes’s, Me Before You, My Last Love Story is a heartbreakingly romantic tale about the complexities of trauma and whether love can right a wrong.

I, Simeen Desai, am tired of making lemonade with the lemons life has handed me.

Love is meant to heal wounds.

Love was meant to make my world sparkle and spin.

Love has ripped my life apart and shattered my soul. 

I love my husband, and he loves me.

But Nirvaan is dying.

I love my husband. I want to make him happy.

But he is asking for the impossible. 

I don’t want a baby.

I don’t want to make nice with Zayaan.

I don’t want another chance at another love story. 

Book Links:

Goodreads * Amazon US * Amazon IN

Interview

1. What made you write this book? What was the trigger?

There were several triggers over the years. A book I’d read about three people in a relationship together but the end was horrible and I couldn’t stomach that. I knew several cancer victims and know even more survivors, and their spirit in the face of such trauma humbles me. This book is dedicated to them. I know what families experience while taking care of a sick loved one. And lastly, Simeen. The minute I started writing her down, she blossomed.

2. Has the idea of an "Impossible Forever" been inspired from Me before You (the book by JoJo Moyes)?

No. I finished My Last Love Story much before I read Me Before You. Though, MLLS is inspired in part by Megan Hart’s Tempted. I was so outraged by the ending in Tempted that I ranted for days to my book clubs and decided that if I ever wrote such a book, I’d have a better ending for the threesome. I don’t know if I have a better end in MLLS, but I certainly think so.

3. You've touched upon poignant details of human lives, what does this mean for the readers?

I hope it will mean that the readers can identify with some of the events in the book. Every household deals with some amount of sickness and stress and bad mojo in this world. It’s how we deal with it, how we keep our wits about us that make us who we are. It’s what defines us and I hope the readers will find some definition in this book—and a positive one.

4. At its core, what message would you like to give to the readers?

Love is the only thing that matters.

5. A quick one, in one sentence- Why should someone read My Last Love Story?

Because this book is an intimate portrayal of what it is to be human.

About the Author:

Falguni Kothari is an internationally bestselling hybrid author and an amateur Latin and Ballroom dance silver medalist with a background in Indian Classical dance. She writes in a variety of genres sewn together by the colorful threads of her South Asian heritage and expat experiences. When not writing or dancing, she fools around on all manner of social media, and loves to connect with her readers. My Last Love Story is her fourth novel.

Website * Blog * Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest * Goodreads

Giveaway

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To get your book reviewed, read my review policy here. And then contact me here.

Follow for regular reviews, author interviews and bookish love: