“Sometimes, we do not get a chance to thank each one who has helped us in our Journey.” Let the readers get a chance to know about all the important people who have played a part in this ‘Author Journey of Yours’.

My memory goes back to my junior college days when I wrote an article and it was rejected since the magazine committee felt that my English was not up to mark and I should not attempt writing. Trust me I love failures, it propels me to excel and that day I had a goal, goal to be a published author. I started visualizing the same. Visualisation is one of the greatest tools. I worked on it. I started reading a lot. Almost into all genres.

When I joined Indian Navy I got an opportunity to further hone my skills. I started writing for the Navy Magazines. Many of my articles got published and was well-read. My strong point is observing and writing about the same. With time I derived that writing about humor was my strong point. 

I started Road running in 2004 and running marathons. During the course of this journey, I would find people run for various reasons and each one of them has inspirational stories. This inspired me to write about them and bring their stories to the people. Social media proved to be a boon.

In my journey of being an author I would like to thank my wife Mala and each member of my family, my close friends, to all the readers who appreciate my writing, to the amazing people who shared their stories with me and last but not the least The Write Place from Crosswords who showed confidence in my work. To Rupal, a dear friend who connected me to Anup Jerajani from Crossword, and the journey began. I would also like to put in gratitude to Rohini who designed the cover for my second book BHAGH.

When and how did the idea of writing a book come to you? Can you tell us a bit about your books & anthologies? Who is your favorite character from the book and why?

When I started sharing the interviews and profiles of the inspiring distance runners on Facebook, the stories were well received and shared multiple times by others. There were times if I use to miss posting a story, I would get calls and messages on why I didn’t share the story for that particular week. This further inspired me to write about inspiring runners. As soon as I published 30 stories an idea came of compiling the writeups and touching the number of stories to 42. Now, 42.197 is the golden number for all the distance runners. The number signifies the Full Marathon.  I got in touch with The Write Place through a friend. They loved the idea and my 1st book #TheyInspire happened.

It soon became a loved book and also topped few charts for a couple of weeks. 4 years after my 1st book and during the lockdown, it gave me ample time to compile my 2nd book BHAGH(Bijays Hilarious Anecdotes Gags and Humour) which is again a collection of articles of my humorous take on various situations which an amateur distance runner will encounter.

Anthologies of which I am part of are “Locked In Tales” written during the lockdown and the story was part of an initiative by “Did You Read Today” a book lovers group incidentally founded by Me and dear friend Reji. The work of 23 authors was part of this Anthology.

The other two anthologies which I am part of are through my short stories in the book “Changed Forever” and my poems got published in “Dare to Earn”.

Out of my books the story which inspired me most was that of Kiran Kanojia first blade runner of India, then my coach Satish Gujarans story wherein he fought all odds to become India only 10 times Comrades Finisher.  Further my short story in the anthology “Changed Forever” was one of the best short stories I have ever written.

According to you which are the 5 books, everyone should read and who are your top 3 Authors, and what impact they had in your journey as a writer?

For me, the 5 books I would recommend are:- 

1. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harri 
2. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
3. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
4. Indias Most Fearless – Part 1 and 2 by Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh
5. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

I love reading  Ruskin Bond,  Khaled Hosseini, Hussain Zaidi 

Ruskin Bond had a great impact on my life in the sense I started writing and reading short stories. Through his work, I could envisage the hill station set up and the life around it. Khaled Hosseini is a magician when he weaves the story. I love the real-life crime stories and Hussain Zaidi is a magician. I have read all his work and he has an amazing skill to make the characters come alive through his narration.

Are you working on anything at the present you would like to share with your readers?

Yes, currently I am working on a collection of humourous anecdotes which I have written as Fauji quotes and am soon planning to convert it into a book. My other book on which I am working is the continuation of TheyInspire 2 with 42 more stories.

When did you choose to become an Indian Naval Officer? Tell us a bit about your experience with the Indian Navy and the sacrifices made for the nation.

When I was in 8th grade, I was mesmerized by the white uniform which I saw for the first time. Further TV serials in the 1990s like Fauji and Paramveer Chakra fuelled my ambition. My goal was pretty clear and I started living that dream. I worked pretty hard for it and earned the whites. Life in the Navy was all about learning and giving my everything. I am proud that 10 years I donned the uniform I could see a war in 1999 and a near war-like situation in 2002. I am proud and privileged that I could wear the uniform. I learnt a lot and whatever I am today is thanks to the Navy. I got decorated with commendations, operation Talwar Medal and Prakaram Medal. 

Could you share a few tips for the Young Authors?

Ahhaa, I am a young author too )))).  I would say that believe in you. Read a lot and observe. Once you are a good observer you will be surrounded by ideas. Whenever writer’s block sets in you, you will come out of it soon if you keep observing.

What inspired you to start- “DidYouReadToday” and “DidYouWriteToday” – Facebook group?

I am an avid reader and a blogger too. I am always on the lookout for a group of like-minded people who shares the same interest. Being an avid runner, I am part of various running groups and once such running group goes by the Title “Did You Run Today” in fact this was my eureka moment and thus the name of the group got christened and “Did You Read Today “ happened 3 years back. Subsequently, we thought of having a parallel group that will be more on writing and expressing thus was born “Did You Write Today”. 

In 2020, Did You Read Today was declared as the Best Book Club in a Global Book Award Ceremony.

Tell us a bit about your family, likes, and dislikes as a person.

I am blessed to have a wonderful and supportive family. Along with my parents, wife, and daughter, we live in Mumbai. I love my workouts and run, I love beer and lots of books. Dislikes- I hate traveling in the rains in Mumbai. 

How can a writer keep the mental block or writer’s block away from his/her creativity?

Each one of us goes through this phase of having writer’s block. I believe in observing a lot and derive creativity from the observations. When the mind doesn’t prompt you to piece in the sentences required then it is advisable to switch off for few days and spend quality time in other productive work of yours.

“A Motivational Speaker, Storyteller, an Anchor, and an Ultra-Marathoner,” – a versatile personality with multiple talents. How do you cope up with all of these talents at the same time? What is the story behind an ultra-marathoner?

Yes, it’s great to Multitask and wear so many hats. It’s all about time management and the flair for picking up talent. 

Any distance above Marathon is Ultramarathon. Being in the Navy, the Naval Academy had the annual camps, we need to clear the camp wherein one needs to run 50 plus km with all gear. So initiation of being an Ultramarathoner happened in the Navy. However, when I came to the civil world picking up distance running as a hobby sport, I wondered how people run 90kms, etc. So in 2019, I took the plunge trained hard and completed a comrades marathon in 11hrs 48 mins thus becoming a comrade.

At Sharing Stories, we have an ongoing campaign ‘Let’s Empower Our Kids’. Please suggest some books here that you would want your child to read before the age of 15 which could help him in understanding certain dimensions of human life like empathy, sympathy, relationships, etc.

1. The Diary of a young girl

2. Malgudi Days

3. The fault in our stars 

4. Bhagavad gita

5. Muezza and Baby Jaan : Stories from Quran

Rapid Fire Round

1. Favorite Place, Actor & Actress, Person, Food, beverage….

Mumbai, Fahad Fazil , Shobhana, APJ Kalam sir, Pulses, Beer, etc 

2. Your First Love….

Family

3. Your other Talents than writing…

Ultramarathoner, Poet, Humorist, Story Teller, Motivational Speaker

4. Favorite Quote…..

“I Run therefore I am”

5. Favorite Character from a book…

It has to be Swami from Malgudi Days.

What if Round 

1. What if you had to live with only three things all your life, what would the three things be?

Family, Running Shoes, and Money to survive.

2. What if you were given the power to change one thing from this world, what would you change?

Probably I would diffuse the boundaries of the world.

3. What if you had all the money in this world, what would you do first?

I would do charity.

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