Tag Archives: book

Books & Books

Being a Self Published author using Print on Demand, I had grown accustomed to the idea that I would not sell to Bookstores. It was too much work and book keeping is certainly not my forte.

But my dear friend Teva kept telling me about her friend who was manager for Books & Books  one of the leading bookstores in the Miami area often referred to as the Mecca of Miami. It wasn’t until April that we managed to arrange a meeting.

Books and Books on Lincoln Road is a charming store with an ambiance of its own; part bohemian and part erudite. Vivienne, the Store Manager, was such a joy to meet. I had prepared my speech to sell the book to her and was quite taken aback when she just took the books from me and gave me an invoice for it. My book was in.

Imagine my surprise when the following week I see a picture of the book kept with all the bestsellers. The store hosts over 50 events monthly and it very hard to get included for a book reading but like everything about my life I don’t give up hope. I keep trying and I know it will work out.

Check out the website and the next time you are in the store pick up your copy of “When the Lotus Blooms.”

Long Island Book Launch

On March 24th Dr. Kusum Viswanathan arranged a book reading at Herricks Middle School under the auspices of the Young Indian cultural Group of Long Island.

I sound a little naive saying this  but being the first time travelling alone and navigating the trains of New York and New Jersey was daunting. I worried more about getting places than talking at the readings

 

I reached Mineola, Long Island, without a hitch and was so happy to meet Kusum. What can I say about her? I have never met a more amiable, dynamic, erudite, multifaceted, talented, well spoken, friendly, cultured person in my life. Kusum takes my breath away, for I have never seen one one person with so many selfless qualities. She had spoken with Rathi Raja who very kindly agreed to host the event. I went there expecting nothing which turned out to be a great thing.

When we reached the school, no one had arrived and at 2pm only 3 of us were there. Kusum had arranged tea and snacks and we were busy setting up. As we turned around almost 30 people had come for the reading. This was unbelievable!

Other than a couple, no one had read the book and the reading took on a more informative tone.I introduced the characters and read out sections pertaining to each. It was also interesting to note that we had men in the room including an 87 year old who had read the book in its entirety. I also got a chance to talk about connected topics like self publishing, getting books into a library (almost impossible if you are self published) writing style and editing, areas of publishing that have taken up all of my time this past year.

I felt very satisfied as I boarded the train for New Jersey. I had sold all the books and perhaps generated enough interest for others to pick it up and spread the word.

Its is not enough to have good book. You have to tell others about it and though marketing is a bottomless pit, out of the blue a friend helps you out and when you speak to small groups like this it fills you with a feeling of accomplishment. For me this accompanied by waves of gratitude and awe as I looked back at Kanchana 4 years ago; miserable and lost and I wondered where and how  she had disappeared

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on the Power of Womanhood

In an effort to express themselves women sometimes lose sight of the power that they innately possess. Being a housewife/ homemaker all my life, I was at times despondent at not contributing to family income and therefore believing I was nothing financially. It was while I wrote my book that I started appreciating my ancestors; women like Dharmu, Rajam, Nagamma and Mangalam, each wielding and controlling their circle of influence, some with authority and  others with a sense of helplessness. For them, like most women, power was either misused or untapped and they never took the time to seek answers and search  for strength within. 

Yes, I do believe that some women need to be empowered but strongly affirm that for most of us the empowerment is largely from within. We need to start believing in ourselves, stop doubting our place in society and instead focus on channelizing our energy to spread love, peace  and harmony that is our innate nature.

This is what SriSri has to say about women.

In Indian mythology, the female energy is depicted as Shakti  the embodiment of strength against injustice combined with beauty, love and compassion. Shakti is also represented in the trinity of Durga, goddess of valour and vitality, Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and well-being, and Saraswati, goddess of knowledge and art. Women just need a reminder that all these Goddesses are holding such important portfolios (Defence, Wealth and Education) and that they better start claiming their own portfolios too. Women must be proactive. Somebody else has to empower us is itself a sign of weakness. Women are innately powerful and they only need to realise it. Every woman has within her the right blend of strength with grace, courage with compassion, affluence with values, and wisdom with vision. In her lies the seed for a profound social transformation. In many facets of life the world over, the modern woman has epitomised this ideal of Shakti, using her innate strength to create a more humane and just social order. In public life, many women have worked to highlight issues that increase global peace, social welfare and international equity. In economic life, they have worked to make corporations more socially responsible and communities stronger. In literature, they have found new voices to raise social consciousness. Women always make an impact wherever they go. They can shape societies and countries. It is women who can inculcate values in the many people around them. I see women as a source of introducing values into children, the family and society. She is the glue who can keep everyone in the family intact. To keep them together, a woman brings celebration into the home. If the woman of the house is depressed, there can be no celebration. Neither can there be celebration where womenfolk are not participating. Women should be more celebratory, watch over and keep their family and society together. In fact, that is their responsibility. The real strength of a woman is her emotion when she channelises it in the correct way. Womens freedom and empowerment should not take away from their motherhood and their maternal or feminine qualities. The fine female qualities like softness, gentleness, compassion, nurturing instincts should not be lost while becoming powerful. So, women have a challenge to maintain two aspects of their empowerment  being in a certain amount of dominance and retaining the submissiveness, which is a womans beauty. It is indeed a challenge to bring about a balance between feminism and dominance in any field. A truly empowered woman is one who is confident, creative and one who brings people together rather than create disharmony. Only her own sense of insecurity and her lack of confidence in herself can prevent a woman from being truly empowered. I want the women of India to bring back the glory to the country, the culture and its civilisation. Our whole civilisation is based on the woman-force  Sthree Shakti. Thats why we call India Bharat Matha. We never say Bharat Pitha. Our country is named and personified as a woman. Though Bharat is a male name, we associate it with the mother/woman. Strength of a woman is persuasive not aggressive. Strength of a woman is elastic not brittle. Strength of a woman is subtle not obvious