Anupama Dalmia is a 30-time award winning blogger, author, serial entrepreneur, social influencer, creative writing mentor, choreographer and crazy mommy to a 5-year-old. She is a Karamveer Chakra (Silver) awardee which is a global civilian honour presented by International Confederation of NGOs in association with United Nations. She is also a Sheroes Champion and motivates a community of 15 million women through her posts. She is a certified Amazon Influencer with her own storefront of recommendations on Amazon. She has been featured among the top bloggers and influencers of India on multiple coveted platforms, magazines and newspaper dailies.
You are anxiously waiting for the announcement of the next book from an author. The day finally arrives. You are delighted, only to realise that the book is written in a genre you rarely read. I might be going against the tide here, but mythology has never piqued my interest. I watched Ramayan and Mahabharat as a child on television because it was a family ritual. Whatever I know about this subject is based on the tidbits I heard from my grandparents and parents during my growing years. For me, it was about bonding through story-telling rather than my curiosity to delve further into this space.
Not often do we come across books which are telling in more ways than one. “Hiraeth” by debutante author Shivani Salil is not just a book, but is an experience that will stay in the realms of your world in perpetuity. It is for everyone. It is for every mood. It is truly for keeps.
As we are engrossed in the preparations for your birthday, which is just a fortnight away, my mind keeps wandering back to that special day- the day you entered our lives. The memory of that day is still etched in my mind so vividly. Those tiny hands and feet transformed me completely. I felt emotions that I had never felt before. I had my most precious possession in my arms, looking back at me with infallible trust.
My spunky daughter was having a fun banter with one of my relatives when she was told that she will be missed in the future. “Why? Where am I going? I am here only!” She was perplexed.
“Oh! You will get married and become a member of someone else’s home”, was the answer she received.
Kamya gazed at the fumes which seemed to be taking the form of an abstract artwork. The artist in her always found inspiration in the mundane. The brain wave had swept her away into the tides of unbridled, cathartic imagination. Though blissfully submerged, she was brought back to the realms of reality soon enough. It was that sane, soothing voice which had made her almost jump up in exhilaration.
My confidence is my pair of heels, To me there are layers and peels. My perception of the world is the kohl of my eye, My dreams are the permanent mascara I apply. The blusher on my cheeks is every life I touch, Every smile is my precious jewel that I fondly clutch. My imperfections and scars make me feel beautiful from within, I am a not so Plain Jane who is comfortable in her own skin.
It was a misty, dreary morning. There was something off about the day. The cook had called in sick at the last moment. I had an article submission deadline to meet. And then my periods arrived just in time, as if to fan the flames. As I tried to gather the scattered ‘me’, my few months short 5-year-old spilled a bottle of juice on the floor, inadvertently of course.
That empty feeling has become a part of me. Indispensable to my existence. It gives me the fuel to keep running through the mundane. I do not feel exhausted anymore because there is nothing remaining to get drained out from within.
The moment someone starts filling the gaps and voids, I begin to feel uneasy, unsettled, sometimes even anxious. This unknown space is deceptive. I know the bliss is temporary. Which is why I dash into the emptiness again – that feeling of nothing, but a comfortable nothing.
Once in a while, there comes a book which compels you to read and re-read it because there is so much more to it than what is visible on paper. “From An-other Land: Making home in the land of dreams” by author Tanushree Ghosh is one such book which made me ponder, wonder and surrender to peel its layers and read between the lines. The theme of the book is all the more relevant in today’s times post the 2016 US elections.
