Moni Read

If the woman is not free to be really a woman, man will never be free to be really a man either. ~ Osho

For many, loved ones and family are still important. But several differences become the reason for love-hate relations. Basic understanding is the foundation of good relations more than capability, right or wrong things. Whether it’s toward a family member, your parents, siblings, spouse, or other loved ones.

Life keeps going, and sometimes we only need a little understanding of the basics.

So here are some powerful lines by Osho to help you understand more about the Women, from The Book —

The Book of Women: a celebration of women and the female spirit.

Photo by Moose Photos from Pexels

Author Rrashima Swaarup Verma is a senior corporate analyst with over 20 years of experience in the corporate world. She is currently Senior Director with a leading US-based business research and consulting organization. Her organization works for most of the Fortune 500 companies on a global basis. 

Rrashima has worked across a very diverse range of industry and functional segments, and has tremendous experience in strategic research. She is also Chief Editor for her organization’s global newsletter, a multi-cultural publication, featuring news and human interest articles from across the globe. She is the Author of the book "The Royal Scandal". She has also written two bestselling books. 

INTERVIEW 

Conversation spotlight

(Rrashima Swaarup & Monika Singh)

Author Rrashima Swaarup Verma

1. Author Rrashima, please introduce yourself to our readers. They would love to know more about you.

Rrashima: Hi friends! I’ve been writing since the age of 7. I’ve written articles, poetry, stories and opinion pieces for leading national and international publications. I live in Gurgaon, love traveling around the world and absolutely adore Latin and Jazz music.

2. Your book cover - "The Royal Scandal," is interesting and says a lot. How did you get the idea about this cover?

Rrashima: Yes, I agree with you about the cover. It is mesmerising. So, the cover has been designed by my literary agency, The Book Bakers. My literary agent Suhail Mathur, my publisher Arup Bose, editor Stuti Sharma Gupta and I brainstormed for weeks before we finalized the cover design. We’re all perfectionists and wanted a cover that would effectively capture the heart and soul of the story. And then Suhail’s team truly did justice by successfully implementing what we had in mind. 

3. I am curious about the main reason behind the inspiration for writing this book - The Royal Scandal.

Rrashima: I am a self-confessed romantic. While there is some wonderful fiction out there in the romance genre, there is also a lot of romance and passion in real life. 

My literary agent Suhail watched a documentary film on the 10 greatest love stories from Indian history. The true love story of Lt Col James Achilles Kirkpatrick and Begum Khair-un-Nissa was one of them. He has an eye for stories that can be made into great books, and he discussed it with me. As soon as I heard the story I was instantly intrigued by the pathos and passion, and I decided to write this book. I have to say that it was one of the best decisions of my life. The Royal Scandal is a piece of my heart and writing it was a privilege for me. 

4. When reading, I came across a thought-provoking insight about the Hyderabadi Wedding, where Kirkpatrick sees Princess Khai-un-Nissa. Please share something about these characters. 

Rrashima: The two protagonists are from different backgrounds, religions and countries. Kirkpatrick was a Lt Col in the East India Company and Khair-un-Nissa was a princess from the ruling family of Hyderabad. But they had one thing in common. They had the ability to give up everything for love. They knew how much was at stake and how tumultuous the path ahead was, but they believed in love and stood by their decision. 

That chance encounter at the royal wedding was truly serendipitous. It was how they met for the very first time and both of them were oblivious to the fact that a single encounter can sometimes change the course of one’s life and destiny forever. 

5. Researching or even collecting so much from history is challenging. So, how did you collect the data you included in the book related to historical facts and characters? 

Rrashima: The research was as challenging as it was rewarding. I come from a professional research background, and I firmly believe that if the information is there, it can be attained. I spoke to noted historians with a specialization in that period of Indian history. 

I dug into archives both in India as well as in London. I managed to procure rare documents from London, old newspapers which contained vital information and spoke to Persian scholars and archaeologists.  

The Royal Scandal

6. How did you write the book as a Senior Director with a leading US-based business research and consulting organization, which is already a busy profession?

Rrashima: As I mentioned before, I have been writing since the age of 7. Writing is an integral part of who I am, and I simply cannot live without it. It is my means to express and emote. I try to maintain a structure which allows at least 2 hours of writing every day. If that means giving up on my social time, so be it. And yes, I do tend to write more at night which means that I get relatively less sleep.

7. Please highlight the three most important characters in your book.

Rrashima: It's difficult to choose since I always believe that every character in a book plays his or her own extremely significant role. Every character brings to the story a unique hue and pattern and the kaleidoscope that forms is what makes the story beautifully layered.  

8. Since you are an ardent fitness enthusiast, do you think the trend of going to the gym and doing a workout in a closed room is good for health and creativity? 

Rrashima: Fitness for me is a state of mind. I believe in variation. Some days I enjoy working out in a gym. The high energy atmosphere puts me in an upbeat mood and relieves me of any lethargy. Other days, when the weather permits, I enjoy going for a walk or run in the outdoors. Any passion is great for creativity and I’m definitely passionate about fitness and health. 

9. What are the key challenges you faced while writing this book? 

Rrashima: I think it was the emotional quotient of the story. There were several instances when even while writing, I couldn’t hold my tears back. Khair’s relationship with her children, the heartbreak, the struggles that the protagonists had to face, it was all extremely poignant and had a deep impact on me. So much so that I put my heart and soul completely into the process of writing this, because I truly wanted to do justice to this beautiful true tale of love. 

10. Since it's been a year, how this book has impacted your life? Did you feel something different as compared to your previous books? 

Rrashima: Absolutely. Even though I’ve been writing for many, many years, I can say that I have realized my true potential as a writer because of The Royal Scandal. A tremendous amount of hard work, patience and dedication has gone into writing this. The research was extremely intense and took a lot of perseverance. And yes, my readers have loved the story immensely. The reviews have been so gratifying. I am truly grateful to Suhail for bringing this story to me and giving me an opportunity to write this book.  

11. Can you share something about the book that isn't in the blurb? 

Rrashima: Well, then I would be giving things away. I would much prefer you and our readers to read the book because I know that you will love every character, every sub plot and every layer. But yes, there is one thing that I can tell you. The description of 18th century Hyderabad is so vivid in the book that readers will be able to easily visualize and imagine everything. You will feel one with the story, almost as though it is unfolding in front of your eyes.   

12. From where can the readers buy your books? (Like online platform links or some big bookstore names). Are you on social media, and can your readers interact with you? 

Rrashima: The Royal Scandal is available on major online platforms like Amazon, EBay and Flipkart as well as some of the biggest bookstores in the country like Bahrisons, Kunzum Books, W.H. Smith, Relay, Crossword. 

I am on social media and I love connecting with my readers. They can connect with me on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram or drop me a message on my website. After all, the love, support and appreciation of readers is the most precious gift for an author.   

Author Snehashree Mandal is an Indian. She has a Masters in Human Physiology and she has worked in the healthcare sector for a decade. She finally gave wings to her imaginations in the form of writing. 

INTERVIEW 

Conversation spotlight

(Snehashree and Monika Singh)

 1. Author Snehashree, please introduce yourself to our readers. They would love to know more about you.

Snehashree: I am mostly a vagabond by nature, as people see me, but in here, inside me, my attempt is to move towards the force or light source. I am trying to do it in every condition and through every situation that life throws at me.

To get to know myself better physiologically, I read Human Physiology after school.

To understand how the world of modern and primitive medicines works, I took up a job with healthcare and became a part of a few clinical trials. I always wanted to know which medicine was good medicine, and an idea of the side effects of drugs is the best way to approach it.

Now I write full-time for everybody and everything, as I am an innately curious person and believe in knowledge. I write my books to better understand the world around me. Wisdom rarely comes from knowledge and takes its own sweet time to grow within us. But knowledge too serves you well often.

2. I am also fond of animals. I am curious to know the main reason for your kind journey! 

Snehashree: Since I was three, animals have attracted me more than men. They are smart, intelligent, and high in IQ and EQ. It is often their wisdom and their power to embrace this world in the most undecorated way that show their true power.

They have only one weakness and one reason why men can abuse and kill them—their belief in this natural arrangement where men are put above all. When you see how men behave towards their own fellow beings, I have always felt they are better.

I have great respect for countries that don't treat animals wrongly and have the right rules in place. We too should assign stricter codes to ensure they are not abused. Even marine laws need to be reformed. But I know that men would consider it a petty matter.

However, the faster we lose harmony with the nature around us, the faster we will be doomed. Our energies are recyclable, and every single energy remains and gets circulated every now and then. We should know it, and we should stop acting stupidly.

Look at the animals! They are allowing us to commit the sin of killing them, knowing very well how humans would be doomed in the end if they didn't stop now. They teach us wisdom if only we have time from our minds and its thousand mazes.

3. Your book title, “From Chaos and Confusion to Confucius,” says a lot. How did you get the idea about this particular title? 

Snehashree: Chaos and confusion have been the center of my life. Things that surround me immediately are always chaotic. But as I kept growing up, I kept choosing between my actions. This choice and its execution from time to time showed me the way.

Often, I have failed to take up and perform the right action. But these wrong thoughts have brought me to the right paths, as I have hobbled and struggled to stay put.

Meeting people along the way who can transform not just your beliefs but also prove to you why the right way is right has happened to me, and I was inspired. I also learned why certain previous lineages have been able to achieve so much and why we call them and worship them as gods even now. Hence, I have named the book Chaos: Confusion to Confucius.

4. When reading the story overview, I learned about two strong characters in your book, Tahiti and Deecem. Please share how you have selected these characters—from real life or your imagination. 

Snehashree: I would like to point out that no fiction is entirely a fiction.It is always inspired by something we see or meet around us.

Similarly, these are also inspired characters. None of the characters are entirely the same in real life. These women are no dame and manage or live within this world for the sake of living and managing it every day like it is. They are not renowned or well-off people, but they manage to support the path and the path of light and the people traveling in that direction in the truest sense of the word.

5. Your education is in the health field; meanwhile, spirituality is poles apart. How did you manage to write the book while keeping a balance between your logical mind and your creative mind?

Snehashree: I think if we don't know ourselves, we cannot know anybody around us. The temple of Delphi, Greece, has an inscription that reads, "Homo Nosce Te Ipsum," meaning "know yourself to know the world."

Our knowing starts with knowing how we perform physically, and once you know it, we can only get deeper into ourselves.

Spirituality begins where the physical self comes to a close, and we need to know where we can safely close to begin our spiritual journey. To know the switches inside us, you have to know your body. That's how I perceive it, and hence the connection that I have used to move within.

6. Please highlight the three most important characters in your book.

Snehashree: Deecem, Tahiti, and Meru would stay in the book for a long time. They will make you cry, laugh, and live as we proceed with the books.

7. Since you have talked about novel drugs in your book, is it related to the health industry or is it about real knowledge?

Snehashree: It is what is happening and how some people are trying to change the world—through drugs and disease. It is about real knowledge.

8. What inspired you more to start spreading messages to the masses?

Snehashree: I feel people must know their bodies more than ever now as the world is becoming a more difficult place to live in with the spread of wars, global warming, and other obvious threats, and as people become more intolerant towards their own race based on some mere divisions created by the mind.

Often, what we choose to do is what actually chooses us. So I would say spreading the word about the mighty lineages like Shri Ram's and their family, some Celtic lineages, and some who lived and worshipped the stars and nature and struggled through this world to reach its end has chosen me. As long as the higher self would want it, it would make me work towards it, and only the higher self knows how much they would do with my path, and I want to keep it that way.

How I gained this knowledge is written in the book, and audiences need to read each and every book to see the world in a new light.

9. What are the key challenges you faced while starting to write this book? 

Snehashree: The path itself was not easy. As I began writing, all hell broke loose. People around me became more challenging to handle. Life throws me into situations, which I have to figure out by living them every day. Sometimes I don't even know what I have in front of me, and only after moving around could I fix it enough to live it and keep writing.

Collecting and conveying the information in the right order was also a challenge. I had to wait a long time to acquire information from my sources. It was a tough and long period to even present the prologue.

10. Since you are a human physiology student and have served the healthcare sector for nine years, what do you think is the main reason behind the continuous degradation of human health, especially physical health?

Snehashree: I would blame humans' continuous separation from nature as the primary reason. We are trying to create an artificial world around us. It is what is killing us.

The next thing that is killing us is this random chaos where every clan and small group of people are using different guiding laws.

We have constant strife, and we are using force to prove who is better than whom and why we should follow a certain set of laws.

This chaos is killing humans, and the lack of uniformity is the perfect breeding ground for those who want to be written off as the destroyers of this world, only to usher in newer stories and the right people. Since the nature of this entire universe is to balance everything, people cannot be sitting and breeding a newer history. The equation for the universe is fixed, and no one can change it. It's not in the power of men.

11. Can you share something about the book that isn't in the blurb?

Snehashree: The book would describe the end of Kali Yuga, which is the world of opposites. If you have noticed, what is written in the texts is the exact opposite of what we live with now.

So the fourth yuga is always designed to bring balance. People and orders that suffered in any form in the first three Yuga would find their space and voice in this Yuga.

Thus, understanding this problem was essential for the races that would rule the world in the coming years. They would again be the old clans as the universe tried to balance what they had faced in this Yuga.

But this time they don't want to follow the previous ways. They want to create the world in such a way that all voices find their way; hence, a lot of things are being considered, as you'll find through the story.

Humour is a universal language that transcends boundaries, and when wielded skilfully, it has the power to not only entertain but also provoke thought. "Haasyaavadhanam" by the talented author Ravishankar Avadhanam is a literary gem that excels in this art of blending laughter and insight through a collection of satirical comics.

The title "Haasyaavadhanam" ingeniously fuses two distinct words: "Haasya," which translates to laughter and "Avadhanam," an ancient literary folk art. This portmanteau perfectly encapsulates the essence of the book, promising readers a journey filled with humour, wit, and clever observations.

Ravishankar Avadhanam's book is a testament to his unparalleled ability to find humour in the ordinary and present it in a way that leaves readers in stitches. Each page is a canvas of witty jokes and astute observations that reflect the absurdities of our daily lives, society, and human behaviour.

The satirical sketches within "Haasyaavadhanam" cover a wide spectrum of topics. Avadhanam's keen eye dissects political absurdities, societal idiosyncrasies, and even the mundane challenges of modern life, offering readers a hilarious perspective on the world around them. Whether it's poking fun at the quirks of technology or unravelling the complexities of relationships, the humour in this book is relatable to a diverse readership.

One of the book's greatest strengths is its accessibility. Avadhanam humour transcends demographics and backgrounds, making it a book that can be enjoyed by readers of all ages and walks of life. The jokes are not only side-splitting but also thought-provoking, encouraging readers to reflect on the peculiarities of the world we inhabit.

Thanks to the convenience of online shopping, "Haasyaavadhanam" is readily available on Amazon. This means that readers from around the world can easily access this collection of satirical comics and embark on a journey of laughter and enlightenment.

In conclusion, "Haasyaavadhanam" by Ravishankar Avadhanam is a must-read for those who appreciate the art of humour and satire. It's a book that entertains while stimulating critical thought, reminding us that laughter is a powerful tool for coping with life's complexities. With its clever wit and insightful observations, this book is a delightful reminder that humour has the potential to bridge gaps, break barriers, and bring joy to all who embrace it. So, grab your copy today, and get ready for a hilarious expedition through the pages of "Haasyaavadhanam." Your funny bone will thank you, and your mind will be left pondering the witty wisdom within.

Find the book at Amazon