My Journey Through Three Books: A Reflection

 

Writing Touching Void… Surviving a Car Accident was like reliving my past. It was not only a cathartic process but also a resurrection. It meant revisiting memories and the darkest corners of my life, reliving the trauma not for the pain but for healing. This book was, after all, a source of healing for me more than anything else. Through each chapter, I peeled back layers of my fear, resilience and unexpected hope. It was not at all easy, but I wanted my story to serve as an inspiration for other people who went through a similar situation; that they, too, could find hope, as I did. It wasn’t at all necessary to do, but I wanted my story to reach people. This book was about choosing life again.

 

It was in these pages that I rekindled the strength within me, and I started to rewrite poetry, something I had taken a long hiatus from. It just wasn’t about the accident but about the silence that followed. The strength and the slow rebuilding of life. Each word was like stitching an open wound I didn’t know was still open.

 

My journey being an author only began with this book and started taking form a few layers after the release of my first book. My next journey was to combine fiction and non-fiction and create a masterpiece of a story with which I could relate my life. It was like drafting a letter to a city which was my birthplace and a city which also inspired and overwhelmed me. Through its towering skyline and subway stations, I was able to find metaphors for ambition, alienation and reinvention. Writing this book was just like jazz–improvised, layered, but deeply personal. I could explore how the city shapes one’s identity and how we, in turn, try to shape the city around us. It was like my cultural passport into stories of art, the New York hustle and grind and the poetic pulse of urban life. 

 

Then came Inside Mumbai: Stories from the Heart of a Vibrant City – a homecoming of sorts. This book was born, of course, through my print media and journalism roots, but blossomed into something more intimate. Through the eyes of seven young interns, I rediscovered the soul of Mumbai – its chaos, culture, as well as contradictions. Every story was a thread in the fabric of the city that I adored. Writing this book was like walking the streets of Mumbai again, only this time with a pen instead of casually walking.  This book is closest to home, literally and emotionally. All 7 of the characters reminded me of younger versions of myself, and it was through them that I got to explore Mumbai again. I poured myself into this book, and my belief that Mumbai is more than just a city, but it is an emotion. 

 

Together, these three books form the arch of my life as a writer. It is a great legacy for me.  From surviving to seeking to storytelling, each book had its own different kind of mirror. Every word that I had written was a step towards understanding the world and myself – A little more deeply. The books are all very different in tone and theme, but together they are a reflection of me; my journey from surviving to seeking and to storytelling.