Piya Gajbe
Piya Gajbe
Book Title : When fate Kicks
I am a mother to an eight-year-old boy who keeps me on the toes. Fortunately, he shares my hobby of reading and we often share our views about the books we read. My husband is a banker, a non-literary person. Yet, he believes in my passion for writing. As a person, I like positivity around me. I try to see good even in the worst of the situation. As for dislikes, I can’t sustain an unnecessary nagging atmosphere. I love my individuality and sense of freedom. I need my solitude more often to be a sane person.
1. What or who inspired you to start writing?
I have always felt more comfortable in expressing my thoughts or feelings in written form. The words find a way for themselves and guide me to my most innermost ponderings. Slowly, from pages of my secret diaries, I moved out and explored the world of writings in the form of non-fiction, articles, blogs, short stories and finally a book to express the message which I want to send out to the people.
2. Can you share a few lines from your book and maybe give a bit of background?
My book,‘ When Fate Kicks’ is a story which has a piece of life for everyone. The seeds of this book got germinated over a phone call with a long lost childhood buddy. It is a story based on a real-life person and his passion. An average, middle-class Bengali boy named Gautam is my chief protagonist. His simplicity and his dedication towards his dreams are what makes his story stand out. This book sends out a message that we should all believe in our dreams and shouldn’t give up just for the sake of stereotypical existence in society. Life gives a jerk to Gautam when everything seemed going perfect. This is a story about fighting the battle against all odds and finding a way to make your dreams come true.
A few paragraphs from the book, where Gautam is trying to find a life partner for himself –
Money is important for me, but if the earning source of money is not driving my passion, I won’t be able to hang on for a long time. At the end of the day, I don’t want to feel like tied down to my work; I want to live my work. I believe every person should have a passion for something or else in life.
I want my partner to flourish with her talents and passion. Cooking or no cooking, but the recipe of happiness should be known. I believe in growth and freedom to choose what one wants to do in life and living life together means respecting such choices of each other.”
After I submitted my profile, I frequently received notifications and alerts about the girls who had shown interest in me. They were all the same. 22 to 24 years old, graduate, postgraduate looking for a well-settled boy. Some were good looking, some were average but beauty wasn’t the essential quality I craved for.
I couldn’t access other sites from the office computer and had to go to another cybercafe for personal use and then would return home. Thapa would arrive by 7.30 pm and cook some of his delicacies. Mostly he would cook chicken Chettinad or methi mutton for me. I used to tease him that soon Ma would bring the maalkin of the kitchen and his days were numbered.
“Arey maalkin toh aaram karenge…hum rahenge na sab sambahlne ke liye.” He would reply showing his typical grin.
“Nandika Nath has shown interest in you.”I got the notification.
I glanced at her profile picture and could see a pretty face with deep eyes. I clicked on her profile. It was simple. Name, date of birth, educational qualification and mention about some hobbies and interest. No articulations while describing herself. What attracted my attention was that she was working in Citibank as an assistant accountant, but she aspired to open her own dance academy. I could sense that there was so much more to her than what she had mentioned in her bio. I tapped show interest button on her profile.
3. Can you talk about any interesting character from your book?
Ans. Though most of my readers adore Gautam’s character and want a sequel of the book to get to know more about him, I personally love the character of Nandika, Gautam’s wife. Her character is full of strength, stability and belief. Her immense love for Gautam and belief in his dreams make her stand like a strong pillar of support throughout the pages of his story. She fights for her love, sacrifices at times and yet doesn’t come across as a shadow to her husband. She is a woman of substance, who has her own identity and she knows what she wants in her life.
Rapid Fire
1. Your First Love….
Sleep
2. Favourite Place, Person, Food, beverage….
Beaches draw me towards them in a mysterious way. Person…umm, that’s pretty difficult to pinpoint on any single person. Right now…my son?
Food- Anything simple homemade…like steaming hot dal chawal with ghee.
I love sugarcane juice and cold coffee.
3. Your other Talents….
Painting, cooking, hosting parties, listening to people and making them feel understood and running away from the crowd.
4. Your Mentor…..
Life…each day, each situation …it has taught me the best.
5. Sports & Sportsperson…
Do I have to choose only one? Ok…my crush- Rahul Dravid.
What if Round
1. What if you had to live with only three things all your life, what would the three things be?
a). Love. Without it every luxury of life is meaningless.
b). My ability to write. When I don’t write, I simply feel suffocated. That’s the way I express.
c). My ‘me time’. If I don’t get to live some moments of peace with myself, I tend to get anxious. My solitude is really important to me.
2. What if you were given the power to change one thing from this world, what would you change?
I would have erased the boundaries between the nations. I wish the world was a big home for everyone without any divisions of nationality, religion, colour and creed.
3. What if you had all the money in this world, what would you do first?
Hop on a road trip, around the world…!!
Tell us a bit about your family, likes and dislikes as a person?
I am a mother to an eight-year-old boy who keeps me on the toes. Fortunately, he shares my hobby of reading and we often share our views about the books we read. My husband is a banker, a non-literary person. Yet, he believes in my passion for writing. As a person, I like positivity around me. I try to see good even in the worst of the situation. As for dislikes, I can’t sustain an unnecessary nagging atmosphere. I love my individuality and sense of freedom. I need my solitude more often to be a sane person.
According to you, which books should be included as a part of the school curriculum that can bring positive change to humanity?
Being a mother, I take a keen interest in what kind of books or literature kids should read. It’s really disheartening to see that the younger generation is unaware of our history and culture. I strongly feel that books based on historic events should be included in the curriculum. Also, biographies of inspiring personalities, both historic and contemporary, should be a must-read. Given a choice, I would definitely recommend ‘ Wings of Fire’ by APJ Kalam to be included in the curriculum of teenagers.
What were the challenges faced by you while writing?
The first and foremost challenge was of managing time. When you have a kid at home, your tasks are endless. I had to balance my writing schedule accordingly. Also, I had to talk with the person on whom the character of Gautam is based over the phone. We had to match our time and the long duration calls were difficult. The research about the game and places in the book was also a part which needed time and attention. In between my father was in the hospital for a couple of months. Procrastination is another challenge I had to deal with. Being a creative person, mood swings tend to take me over at times. With time, I learned to be disciplined and finish the work in a certain time frame
What is your take on Sharing Stories Campaign, “Writing for Harmony- Writing 15 minutes a day to bring clarity in life”?
I am totally in sync with this campaign. Writing indeed brings you clarity; clarity in thoughts, clarity of goals and clarity in implementation of methods to achieve those aims and goals. Whenever I am in deep confusion or facing any emotional pain or when everything seems going on too rigorous to handle, I choose to write. I have developed this habit of writing my innermost thoughts in my personal notebook or journal from time to time. At times, when you look back and read those pages, you definitely see things from a different perspective and see yourself as a person in an unbiased way. This helps you in improving yourself and connecting with your thoughts. I would suggest it to everyone, writer or non-writer, to pen down their thoughts. You will definitely see and feel the difference.
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