The Old Shoe that Shines

The one thing we spend our lives looking for is often something that has been there all along with us. We never noticed it. No, it's not philosophy. It's just what happened to me.

I started reading storybooks when I was 5 years old. I still now remember my first storybook that I read on my own, Daisy's Ducklings. Soon after I started reading kids' magazines, classics and novels. My school librarian refused to lend me Tolstoy's Anna Karenina when I was in class 6. Storybooks stayed with me throughout life, stabler than most friends and relatives.

Reading was my Hobby No 1. Others being painting and singing. However, I also wrote. The lazy lump that I was, I never gave writing much thought though. It was always one of the everyday things I did. After I joined the professional world, then too writing stayed as an integral part of my job. In fact, it was like the old pair of shoes that you slip into on a day when you want to relax, but never wear on special occasions.

It started 3 years ago when in a fit of stress I decided to write about a real life incident. A short story. Took me a couple of months (I rewrote twice). Then I switched jobs and landed myself in one where I hardly got time to get my forty winks for the next two odd years. However, I managed to pen down two more stories. I tried to snatch 30 minutes before dinner everyday. Of course there were gaps of many days when I couldn't spare even those 30 minutes. But the old shoe had made me realize its worth. I knew what I wanted to do. I knew that this was the most natural thing for me to do ---- write.

I wrote two more stories this year and finally managed to self publish my first book, Five Spice Curry. It's a collection of short stories about modern Indian working class.

The learning journey that I went through while self publishing deserves a separate post. So, I won't talk about it now.

Do check out Five Spice Curry on Amazon or Flipkart or Kindle stores. And just in case you can spare time to read it, do let me know your reactions. Good, bad or ugly. Your feedback will help me learn.

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