“Being sane is boring” - Tanya Shrivastava who’s indeed a fanatic about three things in life - marketing, writing and food, believes that she is born to be a little crazy and more of a misfit.
She has just completed her MBA from IMT Nagpur and is ‘suiting-up’ to enter the corporate this summer. She is an avid reader, a passionate writer and an amateur shutter bug. She is a nationally published author with ‘Dear Diary…’ being her debut novel which was followed by ‘Crumpled Voices’ where she was a contributing author with her story ‘The Last Whisper’ which was based on a societal evil of ‘Marital Rapes.’
‘I am not strong enough to change this world with a sword but I am capable to do it with my pen’ says Tanya who is an active philanthropist who dreams of a ‘better world someday.’ Her other hobbies includes activities like petting animals, travelling and public speaking.
She can be contacted at:
Here we get to know her more closely
Nainika: Hi Tanya, how would you define yourself?
Tanya: Maverick by nature, marketer by profession, human by religion and an author by heart-that’s how I feel I have been caricatured, though the world may have different opinions; I respect them all. J
Nainika: How is you pen capable to bring about change in the world?
Tanya: In the land of story-telling, there cannot be any better medium but words that could seep down to the souls and guide them towards a better society. The words that my pen spuns, help me fight oblivion, and by oblivion I refer to all those virtues that have been lost somewhere beneath ‘materialism’ and ‘disguised realities’; a stroke of pen, I feel, can bring them back.
My pen helps me reach thousands of souls beyond the spatial and temporal barriers, and I ardently hope that my stories join hands with them to paint a better picture of our society.
Nainika: What changes do you observe in your life after being an author?
Tanya: Well, there are umpteen changes, all for good, that I feel I’ve undergone after being an author, but, out of all of them, the one that makes me feel good about my existence is that now I can empathize better with flora, fauna and humans as well as their pains. I feel, now, I understand the importance of every minute element of this universe as each of them has a story to tell. I know life is not at all fair to any of us but with writing, I think, I can spread optimism about all the odds of life.
Writing completes me; I can confide in my words; I know it would never leave me.
Nainika: If you would not have been an author, what would you have preferred to be to achieve your goal to make this world a better place?
Tanya: Honestly, I could never imagine of ‘not writing’ as that’s my life, I could not live without my words. So, I’ve never thought of any substitutes.
Nainika: Which genre do you enjoy writing and reading most?
Tanya: I am a voracious reader and thus I read almost everything but, compositions on social issues, thrillers and mysteries, supernatural and paranormal and autobiographies adorns my bookshelves.
Though I’ve never tried my hands on writing supernatural and paranormal stories, people say that I’m good at narrating them. Out of the tried genres, I prefer writing on social issues and relationships.
Nainika: Give single word for your journey as an author from beginning to now?
Tanya: Splendid !
Nainika: According to you, how different is CRUMPLED VOICES-2 from other anthologies?
Tanya: Being a part of both the series of CV, I feel that anthologies come and go but this one makes a strong impact on the minds and hearts of the readers. All the contributors have made sure that they initiate a change in the society by the stroke of their pens. The stories insist you to introspect, and I believe that this is what the society needs; there is a need to challenge stigmas, to break free the shackles of baseless social practices that are barriers to betterment and progress.
Nainika: Throw some light on your story “That shade of Vermilion” in Crumpled Voices-2
Tanya: My story, “That shade of Vermilion”, portrays out the fact that on one hand we blabber about ‘India Shining’ and on the other hand we indulge into practices like Child Marriages on the name of tradition; Child Abuse by adults for their carnal pleasure; Domestic Violence to prove yourself as the supreme authority; Selling off girl children, sometimes for money and sometimes for getting rid of her. My question to all of my readers is simple and clear, why are these concepts still a part of our ‘progressive society’? Why do we do nothing but crib about incidents that takes place around us?
My story is about all those innocent saplings whose childhood has been crumpled beneath the strong paws of evils disguised as you and me.
Nainika: While almost everyone now a days is talking about Woman Empowerment and is writing about their plight, how is your story different from others?
Tanya: We could only empower women if we go down the roots and empower our own conscience. My story does not talks about the plight of the feminine gender of our society, rather it throws light on the crippled mentality of some people who have found out ‘right ways’ to do the ‘wrong things’; those ‘right ways’ are nothing but social practices like ‘child marriage’, ‘dowry’, ‘patriarchal dominance’ et al.
Nainika: Please tell us something about the lead characters.
Tanya: The story revolves around two young saplings, Ashwin and Aastha who were yet to see the world when they were plucked from their roots and trodden under the weight of societal practices. It also talks about Ashwin’s Amma who gave her life to make sure that her son is shielded from the evil. She does fair in her pursuit but could not save her daughter-in-law to fall into the prey.
The trio is still searching for justice; I hope someday they would be happy to see that this world slowly transforms into a better place to live in.
Nainika: How close is your story to reality?
Tanya: My readers would answer this question for me.
I believe that writing on social issues is writing reality itself, unfortunately. Unfortunate because you’ve to cover all those plight and suffering that the mankind goes through; reality is cruel most of the times.
I believe ‘child abuse’ is not considered grave and gory yet, I wonder why. I feel this societal evil should be dealt seriously, after all we’re talking about the torch bearers of our societies.
Nainika: Would you like to give any message to our readers?
Tanya: Live for love, live for passion, live for others and live for yourself. We have too many things to do, in our hectic life, embroiled in ourselves and caught up in the times. We often miss ourselves, in the hullabaloo, the crowning glory makes us forget and miss ourselves in the enormity of the moment, in the desire to excel, forget the touch of humanity, that which makes us humans. Slow down, ease into a rhythm and never back down. Learn to love, and free yourself, pour yourself into the brew, slowly, stirring and mixing in the cup of life. The devil lies in the details, magnify them and glorify them. You get just one shot at life, make it count.
(This interview was taken by Nainika Gautam under internship program by Gargi Publishers)
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