So Many Books, So Little Time : grapevine publishers

About the book

Happiness is a state of mind. Yes, it is. It is not a condition or situation that is presented to some and kept away from others. It is in our own hands to overcome guilt, self pity, regret and anxiety to lead a fulfilling, happy life. Shama Patel, a professional psychologist, enlists the ways and tricks to stay happy, forever.

21 Ways of Being Happy is written with the aim of bringing you closer to yourself. It is a book that will help you charter the course of your life, your own way

About the author:

Shama Patel holds a Post-Graduate degree in Marriage and Family Counselling. As a psychologist, she has worked with mature adults, confused teenagers, couples, senior citizens, alcohol and drug addicts, survivors of abuse and human trafficking and has been associated with various NGOs working for underprivileged children.

Correctly fitting in the term 'Jack of all trades', she is often found glued to books or locked inside her art den, bringing black and white images to life through sketching. When she is not being a psychologist, Shama spends her time listening to music, practicing yoga, appreciating nature and meeting people over masala chai

My Review:

This book is an answer to all the questions that doubt the relevance of self-help books. When it comes to this particular genre, I am myself highly skeptic and selective. Keeping that in mind, I loved reading this book and would definitely recommend it to others as well, which a great praise to say.

Down to the nitty-gritty: as is evident from the title, this book expounds on the ways you can keep yourself happy.

Now why I liked this book is because

a) This book, unlike other self-help books, hasn't been written in the patronizing or sermonizing manner, you know, the kind of books where the author glorifies himself/herself much to the readers' misery. This book is such a good respite from those pseudo-self-help books, for the author takes it upon herself to be the example. Now, the whole point of such books is to make the reader feel better by telling her that she is not alone, and that the person who is helping her recuperate has experienced the same things, and made some mistakes, but has learnt from them nevertheless. For a reader who is suffering from a loss of hope as she picks the book, this book nails it.

b) This book is empowering. Just like Eat, Pray, Love, the philosophy of this book is not to spread universal brotherhood or any lessons from the class of those not-so-easily-achievable ideals, but rather to love our own self, and I really really do believe that loving one's own self is the most liberating thing to do, especially when the society tells us otherwise. Granted, there is a thin line between what is vain pride and what is loving one's own self.

c) At times when you are felling low, you might want to pick up a book that answers all questions for you, and elevate your spirits, This book beautifully serves that purpose.

In addition to the content, the book has also been organised very well into 21 short chapters, which begin with anecdotes, proceed with the lessons learnt and end with a "how-to" list on bringing positive change in life.

If there has been any turn-off in the book for me, it has to be this: the book explains definitions from wikipedia at a point, which in my opinion is a very odd and unprofessional thing to do.

My Judgement:

A must have, it brought me much-needed love and goodness and optimism and empowerment, especially coming at a time when I was battling multiple problems at once. I can never be thankful enough. Trust me, as I reader, I have done myself a favor by reading this book.

Find the book:

I thank the author for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange of an honest review!

Saurabh Garg has authored a murder-mystery with a twist. It has Bollywood, it has pets, it has police at work, it has an investigative journalist, it has life, it has strife. This is how we review it:

A lot of thought, research and plotting has gone into scripting this masterpiece. Honestly, coming from a debut author, this is an expert writing.

(Read full review here)

Interview

Congratulations on getting published. So, tell our readers about that moment of epiphany when you realized that you are going to write this book?

Thank you!

There was no epiphany per se. But, there was this inkling that I had for almost ten years that I want to write a book. And rather than just one blinding flash of lightening striking my head from up above, a lot of things came together to make this book possible.

One was my hectic job. Even though it was as exciting as they come, it was sapping. Two was this short story that I had written that I thought I could extend into a book. Three was this friend who told me that he's starting a business and needs my help. Four was my then-girlfriend who was in Mumbai and wanted me to move to Mumbai. Five was the eternal question, "if not now, then when!"

So these things came together, conspired (as Coelho would say) and made me work on the book!

It has been an observation that everything in the book was quite thoroughly researched: the descriptions of Mumbai, the details about legal system so on and so forth. How tedious was this part?

Very!

But most it was done using two tools - Google and Wikipedia. And it took a lot of time and effort to do so. Plus a lot of bandwidth and coffee. Good to see that people are appreciating it.

Even though it was tedious, I enjoyed it. Probably because I am very curious as an individual. The research for book helped me feed my curiosity.

For my next book, I am currently reading about Navrasa - the nine emotions. And I am reading the Geeta. And about the Bombay of the 70s! Let's see what comes out of this concoction.

How difficult was the writing process? And what was the most exciting part- etching the plot, sketching the characters or proofreading it?

Proofreading. Definitely.

Because while I was sketching the characters, I was, sort of, playing God. I could give all sorts of shades and hues to the characters. I could create good, evil, interesting, boring, funny, drab and all other sort of people. I know there are a lot of things that I can't do in real life. But I could get my characters to do those.

Talking of the plot, t I don't really work on a plot per se. I start with a theme. I work on characters. I think about locations. And then I throw them all together in a blender. And then I let fate decide the outcome. I could get lucky with things and get a pot boiler that everyone wants to read. Or may be get something that even I would be ashamed to put my name to. I work hard and then hope like hell that I get lucky.

Proofreading is boring because you know the story. You can't make changes. You can't add things. You can't twist the story again. You can't play God. All you can do is find your mistakes and cringe over those. You can spot inconsistencies and whine about those. And the mistakes, the typos, the inconsistencies don't seem to end ever. Even after 8943 revisions!

Was there any instance in the novel where you made the story an outlet for your repressed feelings: good or bad?

Haha :) Tough question. You expect me to be honest with this one?

Few things did come from my real experiences. Most characters are inspired by real people - just that I don't really know more of them. For example, Nishant Kapoor is loosely inspired on one of the leading actors of the yesteryears. Rujuta is inspired by a friend's girlfriend. Prakash's bald head is inspired by mine. So on and so forth.

The story, the plot however is original. As they say, correlation to any person dead or alive is purely coincidental.

This one is an off-beat question: Rujuta and Prakash both had a personal story of their own, but the stories were left incomplete. Why the cliffhanger? We get it that the end of the story doesn't mean the end of their lives, but leaving your readers pondering about these facts, you seem to have acquired the status of John Green already!
Jokes apart, will characters from the book ever make a comeback and reprise their role for a sequel of sorts?

Thanks for mentioning John Green and me in the same line. You made my day!

And yeah, a sequel, a reprise may happen. But the characters have to get a case worthy of their time and attention.

I am toying with the idea because a lot of people who've read the book have told me that they want to read more about the characters. So, along with Navrasa, Mumbai in the 70s, I may throw in characters from #tnks back in the blender. Let's see how the story writes itself.

How does it feel in the post-published phase? where do plan to go from here: probably experimenting with genres or churning more racy reads?

Despite the cliché, trust me, life is still the same. No one has sent me love letters. Or hate mails for that matter. I dont get stopped to ask for autographs. That million-dollar movie deal is still a distant dream. I haven't been invited to give motivational talks. My mother can't remember the name of my first book. #sgMS hasn't responded to my rather public proposal. I haven't been sued by anyone for throwing mud at their legacy.

So, life is still the same.

However a lot of good things have happened. People seem to have liked the book. Lot more than what I had expected. Most readers have been tolerant of typos and grammatical errors. Some have sent letters and I have made few new friends. So, life has been good.

In terms of writing, I am trying to convert the book in to a screenplay. A friend recommended that I write a love story - only because it sells! I may give it a shot. You think I must?

Apart from that I am working on my next. Hope to release it in Nov of 2015. But then, I cant really predict the future. Lets see what's in store in 2015. I am really looking forward to it.