Interview with Bernard D'sa- by Nainika Gautam

Bernard D’sa is born and bred in Mumbai but settled down in Bangalore. He has a degree in English Literature and has also studied philosophy and spirituality. He writes a blog “Beautiful Inspirations” which is instrumental in inspiring and motivating masses .He is also a prolific writer of poetry and philosophy. His books include “Symphonies of Love”, “The Essence of Eternal Happiness”, “When Cupid Struck its Arrow”, “Sweet Temptations” and “Amazing Grace”. You can find his recent work on Amazon, Flipkart and Infibeam. He also writes on topics of Inspiration, Business, Philosophy, Spirituality, Arts and Poetry. He is involved in NGO activites and owns a publishing house “RainDrops Company”. 

Bernard has been a freelancer writer for various magazines and newspapers like Times of India, The Hindu and The Deccan Herald. 

He regularly writes to magazines such as Renewal Voice, Prision Voice, Philosophical magazines. In 2009 he introduced a newsletter called Inspirational Times which had inspirational stories inspiring quotes and then he introduced a small booklet called Bernard Poems which had poems written by him...later on he started writing love sonnets into a book called Collector’s Guide. Soon it became very well known among his friends and they began demanding for copies was difficult to manage all three at the same time so he merged both together into one giving a complete new platform to Beautiful Inspirations.

And then from newsletters to books, emails to blog, orkut to facebook..... 

The tag line goes very well stating “One Source, Many Inspirations”.... Keeping God as the mail source of all inspiration.

His first poetry book “Symphonies of Love” published by The Poetry Society of India was well appreciated by the critics and poetry lovers it was the bestseller list at #79.

His second poetry book “The Essence of Eternal Happiness” was an anthology of 29 poems written by 29 poets from 6 different countries. This book was on the Amazon bestsellers list at #8.

His third book “When Cupid Struck its Arrow” was again on the bestsellers list with 21poets from different spheres of life.

His fourth book “Sweet Temptations” was launched on 14th Feb 2015 at The Delhi World Book Fair. He was recently on the list of 21 Top Indian Poets to Follow on Facebook by http://e-booksindia.com/

Twitter: @BERNARDDSA 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com

To read his poems in “Skipped Heartbeats”, order your copies today here

Here we get to know him more closely:

Nainika: Hi Bernard, first of all congratulations for Skipped Heartbeats:

So Bernard, owning a publishing venture yourself, how do you feel to be a part of team Gargi Publishers.

Bernard: Well it feels great to be a part of Gargi and working on this book alongside Pulkit. For people those who don’t know, RainDrops Company has been doing marketing and distribution of books published by Gargi in South India. We have time and again discussed about a collaborative project on poetry books and it has been delayed a lot. We both individually are so engrossed in our respective works. Let’s see if 2016 works in our favour.

Nainika: How do you feel to live a life with so many achievements at this age?

Bernard: It feels great to have a dream and work hard towards it and the pleasure you get when you achieve it.

Nainika: What difference do you see in your life before and after entering literary industry?

Bernard: I was lost in wilderness and kept on looking out for meaning in life. In spite of having a successful career there was something lacking into it, eventually found my lost life in words.

Nainika: Do you see yourself worthy enough to be called successful, if not, what still do you feel lacking?

Bernard: Success is a by-product of hard work and persistence. Well compared to what we started with, I feel we have moved on but again to make a big mark; a continuous hard work is required.

Nainika: If not a writer/poet, what would you have been?

Bernard: I would be have been a Computer Expert 

Nainika: Tell us something about your poems, “When love begins to evolve” and “I am there besides you”.

Bernard: I always consider God as the main source of inspiration and always believed that it’s God who makes relationships. Both of my poems are based on this theme of a strong relationship blessed by the almighty. The poems are personal for me as few life instances have been mentioned here

Nainika: Which among the two is your favorite?

Bernard: Both (laughs) Very difficult when it comes to judging your own poems, among the two “When love begins to evolve” is pretty close to me 

Nainika: What is the part of your poems that you feel great about?

Bernard: I feel my poems are pretty simple and easy to read and understand. I don’t want my readers to sit with their dictionaries widely open.

Nainika: What would be your tips for young and aspiring writers/poets like us?

Bernard: Keep writing and never worry about how it is going to be shaped or how the book will be its not your job to worry about, your publisher will manage that. Never write for reviews or to impress any one. A genuine piece of art is much appreciated.

Interview with Ayaan Basu- by Nainika Gautam

Ayaan is an engineering graduate and an author known for his best selling debut novel- Story in my Mind and anthologies like: Moonlit Matinee-1, Upper Cut, and Fusion. Being single apart from writing, he is an ardent reader, backpacker and a cook. 

He can be contacted at:- 

Email - ayaan.basu5@gmail.com 

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/authorayaanbasu 

Twitter - @ayaanbasu5

To read his story, order your copy of Moonlit Matine-4 here

Here we get to know him closely: 

Nainika: Hello Ayaan, many congratulations for Moonlit Matine-4:

Please tell us something more about yourself.

Ayaan: Profile remains the same – Techie, Back-Packer, Cook and a Struggling writer .I will keep you updated if there are any changes J

Nainika: Out of so many books that you were part of, which one is your favorite?

Ayaan: As an author, each book is an individual effort of hard work and creativity so generalizing them will not be fair on my own hard work as all of them are very close to my heart.

Nainika: Among your hobbies, writing, travelling and cooking, which one do you enjoy most?

Ayaan: I travel because I write and I cook because I travel and keep tasting delicacies in and out of India so all three are linked to each other. 

Nainika: According to you, what can better express feeling of love, poetry or prose?

Ayaan: Listen to your heart – many a times it gives answers to the question you might have been searching for a long time, may be in form of love or expressing through a story, poetry or a prose.

Nainika: Please throw some light on your story, “Christmas Eve in Park-Street” in Moonlit Matinee.

Ayaan: Christmas is very different in my hometown mainly due to the existence of the huge Anglo community and over the years it has become a festival of Kolkata rather than being limited to one particular community and meeting Radhika accidentally after half a decade suddenly in Park-Street triggered the idea of writing this story keeping the festival as the main theme. 

Nainika: Who are the lead characters of the story?

Ayaan: The story mainly has two characters: Rupam – a successful writer settled in Bangalore with roots from Kolkata and Radhika – happily married and once upon a time Rupam’s batch mate and his college sweet heart.

Nainika: Which character is your favorite and why?

Ayaan: Radhika is my favorite character because in real life there was someone similar like her who taught me to value human emotions.

Nainika: How close is your story to the real life?

Ayaan: Pretty close but not entirely – When you start your graduation days with adrenaline rush to explore and challenge the unexplored, stepping into a new world with oceans of opportunities , everything looks like either black or white but this girl Radhika added colors to the energy , eventually through which maturity came into existence which made me a better human being.

Nainika: How was your experience writing romantic story?

Ayaan: Good as always – I mainly love writing romantic stories more in form of serious emotional connection and with good reviews from my readers it gives the motivation to write something even better making the experience till now worth having.

Nainika: Give me one reason to pick this book, as a reader.

Ayaan: Romance cannot be packed in one box and labelled but it should have varieties which the book offers.

Nainika: Would you like to share any experience you had while writing,“Christmas Eve in Park-Street”?

Ayaan: When one of Rupam’s & Radhika’ S mutual friend read the final draft, I was asked – “So did this incident in Park-Street really happened which I am not aware of?”

Nainika: Would you like to give any message for readers?

Ayaan: Read us! - That’s the biggest encouragement we look for to come up with something even better in future in form of stories or poems in multiple genre.

Interview with Rajendra Kumar- by Nainika Gautam

MCA, MBA and IT professional by profession, Rajendra is currently working in Delhi-NCR based MNC. He used to like the encounters which occur in software development lifespan but his desire embraces reading and writing concurrently. He is someone who believes in living life to fullest and doing something exceptional without bothering about risk and tradition. 

He was born and brought up in Bokaro Steel City, from where he did his schooling as well. He did his graduation from Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribag in Commerce stream. 

In his leisure time, he loves reading, watching Hindi and English movies and listening to all kinds of melodious music. 

Recently, he contributed in an anthology named “Was It Really Love?” which was published by Arusha Books India. 

He can be contacted at:- 

Email - its.rajendra@gmail.com 

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/rajendra.bscity

To read his story, order your copy of Moonlit Matinee-4 here

Here we get to know him closely

Nainika: Hello Rajendra, many congratulations for Moonlit Matinee-4:

Rajendra, you are an IT professional, had I given you to choose between your profession and writing, what would be your choice?

Rajendra: No doubt by profession I’m an IT guy but by passion I can consider something like reader & writer myself but honestly it didn’t fulfill my practical liabilities cum responsibilities once moved to life’s race. So once it came to choose about profession and passion I tried to create a load balancer, primarily to stand with profession and later to express my zeal towards literature that is happening now. But if you are going to ask to choose something specific one then I’ll answer yes one day I’ll pick my passion fully, I’m waiting for that moment eagerly.

Nainika: How do you manage between your profession and pursuing your hobbies?

Rajendra: It’s pretty easy to make you happy yourself and you’ll get the way to fulfill the desire and same thing is occurring in my case too. I’m fully devoted with my profession in office time and as soon as get leisure time then used to drench with literature, it would be either reading, blogging or writing etc. Even my better half supports a lot to make this possible in each manner.

Nainika: According to you, what can better express feeling of love, poetry or prose?

Rajendra: I believe love is a feeling, an emotion to express the care and make pleased to him/her without thinking a little bit in returning. It’s a just bonding between two hearts rather than look, cast & religion etc. and to express these feelings can be applicable via poetry, story etc. but depends person to person. I feel feasible to express using poetry and story. 

Nainika: Please throw some light on your story, “An Internal Bonding of Two Hearts” in Moonlit Matinee.

Rajendra: Very honestly you can get lots of love stories based on teenager or youth but I tried to express the moments & love scenario which occurs post love marriages. Since now a days life is too fast and expectation is on pick demand so mid of these how can people get the real balance between hearts and daily life schedules that was the my story which narrates about pure love which say love exist in your hearts, in the moments which you spend together. Love never end it’s just spreading just need to blow the feelings from bottom of hearts.

Nainika: Who are the lead characters of the story?

Rajendra: In this story lead characters are young couple, either it is girl Deepna or boy Ayan both are having equal space to express their feelings & moods and impatience simultaneously. 

Nainika: Which character is your favorite and why?

Rajendra: I like personally Ayan’s characters which somewhere indicate a matured guy who think about love and want to hold the love of life by keeping value & respect of marriage.

Nainika: How close is your story to the real life?

Rajendra: I believe it’s much closer to real world and the new era of generation where new generations are running behind practical life and achievement but losing the rules & custom as well as traditional value concurrently.

Nainika: How was your experience writing romantic story?

Rajendra: It’s an endless season of writing once theme comes to romance because we people feels it heartily and see the same everywhere in life.

Nainika: Give me one reason to pick this book, as a reader.

Rajendra: Moonlit Matinee is a well-known anthology published by Gargi Publishers and there is no doubt about quality of stories so it would be enough reason to pick this book as a reader.

Nainika: Would you like to share any experience you had while writing , “An Internal Bonding of Two Hearts”?

Rajendra: Honestly all characters and scenario are factious but the feeling of romance & emotion are somewhere replicate our lives. Once I was writing this story I was bit worried to make balance between new generation’s love and value of marriage. Even I was bit tense to show the real pain which comes in divorce because divorce is not a solution it’s just a stage.

Nainika: Would you like to give any message for readers?

Rajendra: If you love anyone then respect him/her, respect their feelings and values without thinking little bit in return something.