INTERVIEW WITH RAJEEV PANDEY - BY NAINIKA GAUTAM

Born on the multicultural land of India in 1991, Rajeev Pandey, is an animator, a short story writer and a blogger working as a System Engineer in Tata Consultancy Services. Presently, he resides in the city of Nizams - Hyderabad. He has been writing articles and short stories for the "Abhyukti" and "Moksha" Magazine for over a year now. He is a highly dedicated person, full of romance and passion in his work. Creating animations, reading, and watching Hollywood TV series are his pastimes that keep him engaged while he isn’t writing.

Hello Rajeev, how would you define yourself?

I was born in Dhanbad, coal city of India, and completed a degree in engineering before embarking on a writing career. During my teen time, I started writing short stories, that were appreciated by family and friends, who encouraged me to write more. I still remember that day when my two lovely friend (Nitesh and Soubhick)advised me to write a book , First I laughed but  later I realized that I have a story , i just need to frame it. I took on the task of writing my debut book, "Campus Diary- of Bikes, Booze and Babes and completed on Oct. 2014.Apart from writing, I love Designing and Coding. Currently, I am working as Business Intelligence developer in Tata Consultancy services. Reach me at: www.fb.com/rajvivan

Engineer or Writer? What do you enjoy most?

Definitely an Engineer, I love what I am doing and whatever I am today, all because of my Engineering skills. I never thought that I will write any novel but it happened. But let me tell you one thing, what I learnt in past two years, Writing software is much easy than writing fiction novels. If you will dig deep there is also one similarity between Writing novels and Engineering. Like Engineering, Writing novels is an act of creation in an unconstrained and ethereal medium with few well-established construction rules.

How different is life as an engineer and as an author?

Tough Question..As an engineer, I am getting very less time for myself .If you are an Engineer, you will hear few words often like “deadlines”, “make it fast” etc. Also, you need to do extra hours work, production support but this is not the case If you are an author. The best thing being an author happened to me, I was able to develop a mind –soul connection. Writing gives me immense power and satisfaction. In a nutshell, I can say author never get bored but sometimes engineers do.

If given a choice, what would you choose? Writing or engineering?

I love engineering but writing gives me satisfaction. I will choose both. As I am a technical person by profession and the best technical ideas are worthless if they are not communicated effectively to the peers and supervisors. I want to be a successful man and success will depend in equal measure on the technical competence and on the ability to communicate both orally and in writing. In other way I can say, if I want to be a Good engineer then I have to be a Good writer.

What do you feel is the strongest part of your writing?

Description of the characters and their feelings.

How important is reading to a writer?

I’m one of those guy who loves reading because reading exposes me to other styles, other voices, other forms, and other genres of writing. Importantly, it exposes me to writing that’s better than my own and helps me to improve.My impulse to write comes from reading. To write well, there are only two things, we absolutely must do: read and write. Everything else will flow from these two activities, which are essentially yin and yang. Without each other, reading and writing cannot exist. They rely on one another. If we are not reading, then we cannot writer either.

Tell us something about your book, "Campus Diaries".

The novel is about four parallel enthralling and astounding love stories of 4 friends and their years growing up at hostel. Every Character catalyzes the depth of this novel that kindle the train of their allegiance love that will lead us to an own unique version of romance. Their uncanny understanding, care, expectations, experiences and feelings form the core of the story.it is a funny, touching, beautiful story of a bizarre friendship bound to keep you alive through the end. It will leave you dancing or at least snapping your fingers, if you dig deeper, there really is more to it………

Please tell us something about the lead characters of your book.

Aarav- Who is the epitome of gallant heroism, and a true friend.

Aarush- A flirtatious character by birth, rich, handsome and popular jerk, tough, manly attitude that turns the girls on. He is fun loving, mysterious, elusive and usually a player.

Ayaaz- A kind hearted, good looking cheeky fellow and undisputed cupid capers winner for consecutive 3 years.

Apurv- A complete nerd, even his jokes are related to technology. But don’t reach to the evitable conclusion because he was more successful among the juniors.

Start reading the book… you can definitely connect yourself with them..

Who is your favorite character and why?

Navya: The most alluring and ravishing girl who treats every boy as the nail of her foot. She is moody, arrogant and snobbish and has an obsessive need to be the center of attention

Why do think the readers should choose your book?

Campus Diary is an endearing love story which takes us into a world of love and passion, where the characters play out our dreams and reflects a glimpse of delight and satisfaction with sense of motivation and conflict, which in turn provides us with a longing for more. The four inseparable souls rare to be found in this nasty era spends the most innocent of lives together miles away from the filthiness and dirty aspect of the selfish world. But LIFE plays a prank with one of them that made their happy life go topsy-turvy. Life taught them such things that they never wanted to learn.

Define your book in a single word.

Page-turner.

How is your experience with Gargi Publishers?

I would like to convey my sincere thanks to the entire team of Gargi publishers for their thoughtfulness and Indulgence. It was just what I needed but never expected.They gave me hope when I thought hope was gone. Their generosity and help have been a strong support and an inspiration to me .One thing I would like to add, Gargi Team  always seem to know what’s best for literature and Pulkit and Ila are the two pillars of Gargi Publishers.

What message would you like to give to your readers?

Do what you love to do and give it your very best. Whether it is coding, writing, the dancing or any field. If you don't love what you're doing and you can't give it your best, get out of it. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. When you want something bad enough, let that drive push you to make it happen. DON’T STOP YOURSELF.

* Do order your copies of "Campus Diaries" today from : http://www.amazon.in/Campus-Diaries-Bikes-Booze-Babes/dp/9384382035/ref=sr_1_1/277-3013406-5164847?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427523671&sr=1-1 *