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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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The English Literary Society of Shri Ram College Of Commerce, will be conducting its three day annual literary festival Zephyr, under the theme ‘Utopia,  from 22nd to 24th February respectively. The first day of this lit fest witnessed substantial participation from different colleges across Delhi University and provided platform for those seeking to apply their creativity diverse forms of literature.

The day started with the first event- Timepan, a creative writing competition, yet with a twist of strategy building and bidding. One had to bear in mind the cost of time to write a piece of fiction (both poetry and prose). It was followed by another event- Newsroom 2.0, a blend of drama a false news reporting and was subsequently judged by the Bazinga team of DU Beat. The teams were given with a fictional headline (like Rahul Gandhi invites Sunny Leone to Congress) and were required to enact this piece of information for ten minutes in the most ingenious way possible. First position was secured by Yashasvi Tak, Bhartendu Verma, Ishita Kishore, Vasu and Avikal Parashari from SRCC for their performance on the topic ‘KRK goes to Hollywood’.

Durjoy Dutta
Durjoy Dutta

 

After the events came the most awaited speaker session. Durjoy Dutta, an Indian novelist, screenwriter and entrepreneur, famous for works such as ‘Of Course I Love You’, ‘She Broke Up, I Didn’t!’, ‘Hold My Hand’ and other notable titles, addressed the crowd and bagged their support and appreciation, by his modesty and compassion. He talked about his journey towards fulfilling his dream of becoming a writer, on how he had to quit his job and after sheer hardwork and support from his family, finally found success. He confessed that in his initial few releases, he wrote about his ex-girlfriend, who happens to be an alumnus of SRCC.  On being asked in a Q&A round, he revealed that he hasn’t really tried his hand on Thriller but will surely be working on it in coming years.

The day ended with the second keynote speaker of the day, Ravinder Singh, bestselling author of ‘I Too Had A Love Story’ and ‘Can Love Happen Twice?’. He shared his experiences, answered questions by his fans and also motivated the students to pursue their dreams. “Organising a literary festival in a college is a new experience altogether, as it requires a new perspective and focusing on new concepts. Moreover, the ELS team has put in tremendous efforts this year to make it a success and I’m proud to be a part of such a dedicated team.” said Archita Mittal, Public Relations Head of ELS, SRCC.

Tamanna Goel

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Inputs from Archita Mittal

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