Inspiring through Words and More

by Anupama Krishnakumar

[box]Words are magical, they are powerful, and to be able to use the magic of the written word to inspire people is indeed an immensely beautiful gift. Anupama Krishnakumar speaks to three people who have used the power of words to inspire thousands and gets them talking about what inspires them, how they feel about the inspiration they are providing others, and more – meet Preeti Shenoy, author of ‘34 Bubble Gums & Candies’, ‘Life is What you Make It’, & ‘Tea for Two & a Piece of Cake’, Swapan Seth, author of ’This is All I have to Say’ and Varun Agarwal, author of ‘How I Braved Anu Aunty & Co-founded a Million Dollar Company’.[/box]

Words. They make you laugh. They make you cry. They make you reflect. They make you aware. Words – they are so powerful. So powerful that when strung together to form sentences simple or profound, but honest, they hold within their confines the magic to inspire. Inspire you to beat the odds, inspire you to better your perspective of life, inspire you to ride above challenges and emerge successful, inspire you to make the best of this gift called life, inspire you to follow your heart. And to be able to use the magic of the written word to inspire people is indeed an immensely beautiful gift.

In recent times, thanks to the fast-growing Indian publishing scene that has welcomed talented writers with open arms, inspirational words have taken very interesting forms. What is also worth noting is that the authors, on the personal front, are as inspiring as the books they write.

Getting Inspired and Inspiring Others

Preeti Shenoy is the author of three national bestsellers, all of which have inspired thousands of her readers. Her first book, ‘34 Bubble Gums and Candies’ (Sristhi Publishers, 2008) is a compilation of her blog posts sharing experiences from her own life while her second book, ‘Life is What You Make It’ (Sristhi Publishers, 2011) and third book, ‘Tea for Two and a Piece of Cake’, (Random House India, 2012) are works of fiction that have been inspired by real people. Preeti’s writings revolve a lot around life and its beauty, the challenges and the aspect of facing them. The hallmark of Preeti’s works is the simple language and the fact that it is straight from the heart.

“Life is What You Make It was a story that I felt was very inspirational and had to be told,” says Preeti about her second book, which revolves around a young woman called Ankita who has bipolar disorder. “The book is based on a true story and when I first heard the story, it moved me so much that I decided it had to be written and shared with the world. The real life Ankita is a very inspirational person,” shares Preeti.

Her third book, ‘Tea for Two and a Piece of Cake’, is an inspiring story of Nisha, who doesn’t let a broken marriage affect her life and moves on to find success and love. In this book too, the characters are inspired by real people.  Explains Preeti, “Nisha’s character draws heavily from the people I know in real life. Akash’s character too is based on someone I know and so is Mrs.B. Tanya is loosely modelled on any child that age.”

Inspiration for ad-man Swapan Seth’s book also came from his own life. Swapan is the chairman of the ad company ‘Equus Red Cell’ and the author of the book, ‘This is All I have to Say’ (Roli Books, 2011). This book is life’s lessons presented in a very different, not to mention, highly captivating format – lyrical, crisp, well-categorised, to the point, nicely designed, inspiring and driving home the point very beautifully. Swapan began writing his thoughts on what he learnt from his life as a gift for his elder son’s birthday and what emerged at the end of it was a book that was meant not just for his sons but a whole lot of readers who have related deeply to the book. Swapan admits that the book, which was not really planned, had him feeling relieved when he completed it. “I felt like I had flung an albatross off my neck. I was done with what I had to say to my sons or to anyone about the things I strongly believed about,” he shares. He also thinks finishing the book made him more responsible as a person.

On the contrary, Varun Agarwal, entrepreneur, and the author of the bestselling book, ‘How I Braved Anu Aunty and Co-founded a Million Dollar Company’ (Rupa Publications, 2012) says that writing the book hasn’t changed him in any way and in fact, Varun thinks that he has not written “a great piece of literature”. The first section of the book, even before the story begins is titled, ‘Dude. This guy can’t write for shit.’ where Varun shares that he is a storyteller and not a writer. The book talks about how Varun, an engineer with plans to become an entrepreneur, much to the dismay of his mother and her friend, the formidable Anu aunty, braves obstacles including Anu aunty’s measures to steer him ‘back on track’, and ultimately sets up his own company. Written in simple English, the book’s success lies in the fact that it is laced with humour, is whacky, honest and is again a work inspired from one’s own life.

Touching Readers’ Lives

While Varun doesn’t think he has written “a great piece of literature,” what makes him happy is that the book has inspired its readers. “I am really happy that students are reading my book and are getting inspired to do something on their own, and that’s something I never expected. When people write to me that I have managed to bring out a small change in their lives, I feel that’s a great achievement rather than the book doing well or me writing the book,” he explains.

In fact, Varun has received mails from people saying that they started their own company after reading his book. “They needed a little push and they got the push from the book,” he shares.

Preeti’s fans pour their adoration for her through comments on her Facebook page and her blog as well as through emails. “Honestly, I am overwhelmed by the tonnes of mails I receive which tell me how much I have inspired them and how I have touched their lives,” says Preeti.

Swapan shares that he received some really unexpected reactions to his book and in fact, some of them were humbling. “Someone read out chapters from the book to his dying father. Another father, upon losing his young son, distributed copies to his deceased son’s friends. I think at some level the book resonated far more than I had expected it to,” he states.

Varun cites an instance when a son gifted his 52-year-old father a copy of the book. The man, who wanted to be a painter when he was young, was forced to take up a government job.  Says an excited Varun, “His son gave him the book and he read it, and for the first time he took up the paint brush in 25 years – so stuff like that really inspires me a lot and makes me happy.”

Preeti too has a similar story to share about one of her readers. During an event in Delhi, a fan waited for three hours to meet her and gift her a small statue of Ganesh encrusted with semi-precious stones. “It occupies a pride of place in my home now. People also send me cards they make expressing their love and admiration for me.  I am really amazed at how much my words move people,” reveals Preeti.

Leading Inspiring Lives Too

Beyond inspiring people through her words, Preeti also is an admirable multi-tasker. She is certified in portraiture, does commissioned portraits and makes personalised cards based on the quilling technique on request. She blogs regularly, each post different, captivating and not to mention, inspiring, in a unique way. All this while also working on her books. So it isn’t surprising that people throw the question, ”How do you manage you time so well?” so often at her that she decided to write it out as blog posts! From humble beginnings as a regular blogger, Preeti’s ascent to becoming a popular author is indeed an inspiring journey – one that has involved lot of hard work.  “Becoming a published author and that too a successful one, is not as easy a task as most people normally perceive. There is a lot of back-breaking hard work involved. You need to breathe, dream and think about it,” she points out.

Swapan’s life is an equally inspiring one. Swapan actually repeated a year in school (class 8), and then went on to do well in class 12 and secured a university rank as well. Not just that, he took the bold decision of quitting college (He studied at St.Xavier’s, Mumbai) to pursue his dream career in advertising. Well, he also became a creative director at 23 – India’s youngest! Quiz him on what actually was running in his mind when he had to repeat a year in school and when he took the decision to drop out of college, pat comes his reply, “When I had to repeat a year, there was a sense of humiliation which over time transformed into determination to prove myself all over again. When I dropped out of college, I just felt a certain sense of lightness. I have always distinguished education from learning. So to that extent, I knew that I would never stop learning. And I haven’t!”

25-year-old Varun, after braving Anu aunty and other obstacles, is now an inspiring entrepreneur managing not one, not two, but three companies – Alma Mater, that specialises in making school and college merchandise for alumni; Reticular, a social media management firm, and Last Minute Films, an Indie film production company. The first few years are the most demanding for an entrepreneur, as that’s when you really have to put your company in the growth track. And when you have to divide your time, work and attention between three initiatives, how manageable is that? Varun seems unperturbed. “I got really good co-founders plus some good tracking and support systems and I can actually manage all the three at a time. I guess it is really about how you balance your time plus the fact that you have started it and you have taken it to wherever it is. It is not very tough to manage,” he responds confidently.

Other Ways to Inspire

The confident, young entrepreneur has also been giving motivational talks in colleges across India. These talks focus on how he started his companies and are nothing technical. “It is more about life techniques rather than text bookish techniques,” he says. Varun is also a part of the INKtalks conference (the Indian version of TED) that will be held in Pune in October.

Swapan runs an interesting Facebook group called Sethoscope where he shares all kinds of information with people. “I just post a nugget a day. It could be about a nice book, a great wine, a simple tip. People respond with their perspectives. The group is more about informing people by sharing information. Information is a critical weapon during these times when there is a paucity of time and scarcity of attention. I am just the ’curator of cool’ for them,” he explains.

Preeti has done two TEDx talks recently. The first of her talks focused on the theme ‘Five Lessons for Growth’. “I thought sharing my life experiences or what I have learnt and how I have grown would be interesting,” she says. Her second talk focused on ‘Creativity and Daily Life’. Why did she choose it? “I chose it because most people believe that creativity is only limited to artists, writers and those in this field,” she reasons.

And…some motivating thoughts

Even as success and admiration accompany her, Preeti continues to be inspired by one important person – her father. “He is my inspiration, my idol, my mentor, friend, philosopher and guide. He continues to live on inside me,” she states. For Swapan, there are so many people around him who have inspired him, especially those as he puts it, “who have confronted adversity and won over it.” For Varun, the satisfaction that comes from doing what he wants to do is the greatest inspiration, like he beautifully sums it up – “The simple thing that inspires me every single day is the pursuit of happiness.”

And that’s exactly the inspirational nugget he has to offer. “I would just say one thing for life – take the leap and then think, don’t think before you leap. Sometimes you end up not doing a lot of things because you think too much,” he suggests. Preeti shares some important things that she would tell anybody to live life like it should be lived. “Chase your dreams – never give up on them. Laugh a lot. Tell the people who are closest to you how much they mean to you. Cherish the time you spend with them. Life is so uncertain and so short. Stand by your words. Keep up your promises and do not let people down. Be true to yourself and to others. LIVE, don’t just exist!” she outlines. And Swapan’s inspirational thought is the philosophy of the Navy Seals of the U.S. “The only easy day was yesterday.”

Beyond the inspiring wisdom that their words have presented for readers, it doesn’t take long to realise that these are people who have come from common backgrounds and have gone on to achieve big things, thereby making their lives as inspiring as their words. And that is inspiration enough to realise the potential that lies within each one of us, waiting to be unleashed. In the end, all it takes is the right spirit.

Anupama Krishnakumar loves Physics and English and sort of managed to get degrees in both – studying Engineering and then Journalism. Yet, as she discovered a few years ago, it is the written word that delights her soul and so here she is, doing what she loves to do – spinning tales for her small audience and for her little son, bringing together a lovely team of creative people and spearheading Spark. She loves books, music, notebooks and colour pens and truly admires simplicity in anything! Tomatoes send her into a delightful tizzy, be it in soup or rasam or ketchup or atop a pizza!

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