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On Monday, 29th August 2019, a book discussion with the bestselling writer Ravinder Singh was organised by the English Literary Society of Miranda House.

The English Literary Society of Miranda House celebrated the presence of Ravinder Singh, the bestselling romance writer for their first event of the session 2019-20. The writer talked about his latest book: “The Belated Bachelor Party”, in a book discussion which was attended by a great number of students of Miranda House.

The author, most famous for his book I Too Had a Love Story, began the event by introducing himself and his works. He then went on to narrate the real-life incidents that took place, and which inspired him to write The Belated Bachelor Party. From friends that made little sense, to a Europe trip that went wrong in more ways than one, he kept the audience engaged with his little anecdotes. He revealed that the story is about him and his three other friends who went on a Europe trip for their Bachelor’s Party long after their marriage. By saying this, he also justified the title of the book.

“Since I’ve been writing romance for such a long time, I wanted to challenge myself. So, I decided to write a book that makes people laugh, after writing ones that made them cry,” said the author, explaining why he decided to write this book in the genre of humour.

He went on to talk about friendship and advised the audience to hold on to the friends that they have in life, and also said that the only kinds of relationships that we choose in life are: a lover and friends. He said, “Romance is a subset of the larger set called friendship.”

He further added that the book is about friendship and the special bond you have with people you have chosen yourself to let into your life. 

After he finished talking about the books, he took in questions from the audience as well. The audience, eager to participate, asked insightful questions such as- how he dealt with the ups and downs of being a primarily semi-autobiographical writer, and how he integrated social issues in his writing.

On being questioned about the agenda of addressing social issues through his books, he clarified that his book, Your Dreams Are Mine Now, addresses the issue of youth politics and in his another book, Will You Still Love Me talks about road safety.

He further addressed a major issue about the lack of readers in the Indian society. He mentioned that currently there are only a handful of authors in India who work as full-time writers and make a good living out of writing. The problem behind this was, he explained, that the people of our country do not read. Reading is a great task for us and book stores are getting shut. People are going from bad to worse. He made a comparison between India and UK and said that in the UK, people read 10 times more than us.

According to him, “Reading a book is like watching a story getting unfolded in front of your eyes. You live a thousand lives when you read a thousand books.”

The writer further addressed the problems in the publishing market and told the students to focus on their creativity and try the options of self-publishing. He advised the students to try to build up an online audience and then try to approach big publishing houses.  

The event was a complete success buzzing with humour, candor, and a lot of life tips.

 Feature Image Credits: The Literary Society, Miranda House via Instagram

Priya Chauhan

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Satviki Sanjay

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“Our backs tell stories no books have the spine to carry.”

Rupi Kaur’s milk and honey has been a New York Times Bestseller for 52 consecutive weeks. One of her initial works, the book is a collection of poetry and prose. A 24-year-old Canadian writer of Indian descent, Kaur has housed her times of struggle in this piece of art. Her style of writing is based on the Gurmukhi script in which just one case and only periods are used. Hence, she writes in lowercase and makes use of only periods as a way of honoring her culture. Her books have been translated into about thirty other languages; which explains the increasing love for her poetry.

Rupi tackles various issues through her poetry, from growing up seeing broken families to love and heartbreak, or gender and race, before finishing with a healing full of wisdom and lessons learned. People consume poetry through lyrics on a daily basis without ever realising, and that’s what she manages to do with the simplicity and brutal honesty of her words. She fearlessly challenges taboos, and this brave form of expression inspires her readers. Her honest, authentic voice speaks to the young people who relate to her portrayal of pain and struggle at different points of life.

The emotional intensity of her message of self-empowerment and affirmation, combined with her passionate expression truly resonates in the book. With a firm belief, her relatable poetry, not clouded behind elaborate metaphor or archaic syntax, can heal and prevent convulsions. Kaur breaks her book into four parts; “the hurting”, “the loving”, “the breaking” and “the healing”. The poems open in a certain dark aura depicting her battles with sexual assault and familial issues. The next section, “the loving”, is a more  emotionally uplifting read, about building and realising a sweet and idealistic bond of love. “the breaking” brings aching poems penned during heartbreaks. The last section of this book is about empowering women to embrace themselves and to value who they are regardless of the turmoil they have endured. Kaur holds nothing back; there is no mystery in her poems, but each one captures a seemingly familiar thought or feeling with such an exquisitely satisfying and unique form of expression. The poems are illustrated with simple line drawings, to accompany or offer a new understanding to the words.

While reading the collection from its beginning to end, one can walk through her own journey, or can find herself in a poem or prose while letting the book fall open on a new page, and venture into that one poem, exploring that one expression to its full depth. Whether you’re a regular poetry reader, or someone who dives into verses from time to time, you can quench your thirst through these poems.

Feature Image credits:  Stella constellations

Radhika Boruah

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