Today at Behind the Book we have Shilpi Chaklanobis the author of PANORAMA - an anthology.
Shilpi Chaklanobis hails from the beautiful city of Kanpur and has spent the majority of her adult life in Delhi. She currently heads the Digital Marketing division at an MNC. The amalgamation of her years spent amongst the quiet, calm streets of a small city and the hustle and bustle of a metropolitan like Delhi has lent her a unique perspective towards life. She aims to translate her experiences and understanding of human relationships into stories that not only move people but also resonate with them. She believes that the beauty of a story lies within its ability to be interpreted by the reader in the way they desire as is evident from her writing. Apart from writing, she spends her time devouring books by the dozen. This is her first endeavor as a writer and her writing not only shows promise, but also has a sense of sensitivity that compels you to think about the lives you touch every day.
Let's join her as she shares her journey of becoming an author with us.
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I never dreamt of becoming an author and when my book PANORAMA got published, it took a while for the feeling to sink in. When I was very young, I used to aspire about working in either a library or a publishing house. The idea behind was simply to be surrounded by books. But life had a different plan for me. I was a science student who later on shifted to computers. Although I have been an active blogger since past many years, but the thought of becoming an author never crossed my mind.
After working for more than a decade with a software company when I finally decided to write a book, it was a tough decision. On one hand I was super excited by the thought of creating something entirely new and holding a book in my hand with my name printed as the author on the cover, but on the other hand I found the idea extremely challenging.
And once I took the decision of writing a book, the juggling started between my responsibilities as the head of Digital Marketing division of a Multi National Company during the day and as a writer after office hours.
However, I have been an ardent reader since my childhood and my love affair with books started when I was very young. The first book that I read was an Amar Chitra Katha (gifted to me by my Grandma). Since then they have been my friends for life. I am a dreamer and reading takes me to an entirely new world of imagination.
When I was a kid, I loved reading comic books like Amar Chitra Katha and Indrajaal comics (Phantom, Mandrake & Rip Kirby), Tintin and Asterix that were very popular among kids those days. I used to spend my entire pocket money to buy my favourite books.
Gradually and eventually I started reading other authors like Jane Austen, O. Henry, Mannu Bhandari, Premchand, Shivani, Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore, Bimal Mitra, Ashapurna Devi and Satyajit Ray.
It is my strong belief that everyone has at least one story to tell. There are so many things happening around us which go unnoticed and I have always been fascinated by such moments that can be enjoyed to live life to the fullest. And this was the moment when I decided to pen down such moments into stories.
Writing is my way to interact with the world. Whenever I feel very strongly for something and want to communicate with everyone, I pen down my thoughts in the form of stories or articles.
Now after having started this journey, all I can say is:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.