When a simple autograph can bring smiles

Jennifer Lopez (珍妮弗·洛佩兹) (Photo credit: pamhule)

Recently, I visited my old office mates who had purchased a copy of my book. On seeing me, all of them broke out into such big smiles that lit up even the darkest corners. Wasting no time, they formed a beeline with their copies for my autograph. And when they got one, their happiness knew no bounds.After signing all the copies, I thanked them and proceeded to the exit. I left the place but what didn't leave me was the thought that just a simple autograph from a debutant author could bring so much joy. I was both, honoured and humbled.

I know I'm not that great an author or a big public figure. But come to think of it, the simple things of life hold so much joy. Just like an ice gola on a hot summer afternoon or your pet licking your face. If a simple autograph which hardly takes a minute can bring some joy then why deprive someone of it? I know this is not going to boost sales or increase my social standings, but still, its better to have a choice than not. Hence, for those who would prefer an autographed copy I have opened the Nelton D'Souza brand store at www.neltondsouza.com where my books would be sold at the MRP of INR 199/- and with free shipping. All the books would be personally autographed by me. And yes, the proceeds would go to charity.

My book is on relationships, love and life but it doesn't talk of the immense joy it brings to people. I wish I could write a book on that, but wonder if it would ever have an end. 

My Thank You Speech

Before starting I would kindly request you’ll to close your ears while I try to say this at the top of my voice – “Ram sir, we did it. Woo Hoo.”

I’ll need to pinch myself before starting. There have been times during the writing and publishing of this book when I thought this dream of mine would never get fulfilled. But beating all odds, including my father’s illness, long hours at office with no weekends and constant rewrites and postponement’s I’m finally here, happy and accomplished. 

First of all I would like to thank God for this day. If it weren’t for him, for the talents and blessings he bestowed on me there wouldn’t be this book, this day, me standing in front of you as Author Nelton D’Souza and giving this speech. Thank you God - my best friend. Only He knows what I’ve gone through. I hope this achievement makes Him proud.

My family is here today and it’s nice to see them travel all the way from Goa just to be with me. Though my mother doesn’t speak much I’m sure deep down within she is very happy. I remember the times when I and my mother used to go the market to purchase some groceries. I, more out of a habit used to put my arm around her shoulder. Looking at the stares she used to get from onlookers, my mother would often remark, “What people must be thinking, an old lady has caught such a young fellow.” To which I would reply, “So what Mama, if they’re getting jealous let them.” 

My sister has been my book reviewer, cover designer, pillar of strength and the one who constantly encouraged me to write this book. She has played a vital part in this book and continues till today. I can’t thank her enough. Unfortunately my father couldn’t be with us as he is still recuperating but I’m sure he is in our midst.

Ram sir, and what can I say about him. When I was very young, I used to pray to God. “God, can you come down in person and be my guide?” I feel that Ram sir is the answer to my prayer. And how perfect can be it that he has two gods in his name. I met Ram sir in April 2010, the day I joined Capgemini. As if it was destined, even though he was the Associate Director, he was my manager – the one I directly reported to – something that made everyone else envious of me. Through my close association with him that lasted for exactly 13 months, he not only inspired me to give my best but also got the best out of me. 

When Ram sir left Capgemini to head the Internal Systems at Syntel, a lot changed and we were fairly out of touch. But things got back on track when I shared my dream of writing a book with him. On a Friday evening we met at Café Coffee Day and boy, a lot did happen over coffee. We discussed the book, how to take it forward, and all other factors associated with it to make the book a success. That day, as I went back home I somehow felt confident. I knew I was no longer alone on this journey. Add to it, this book resurrected my chances of getting that one appreciation mail that eluded me, that appreciation mail, before which PMD ratings, appraisals and promotions, etc. all failed.  If that wasn’t all, whenever things got too tough to handle, Ram sir constantly reminded me of my motive behind writing this book – not for any commercial benefits but simply to have my name on a book, which in turn allayed all my fears.

He has been one of the first with whom I shared this dream, the first to know of my fears, the first to like my Facebook page, the first to purchase my book, the first to review it and the first to whom I sent the invite to this book launch. If it weren’t for him, this book may not have been possible. 

He is one person, I not only look up to but also wish to emulate in every single way; be it the way he walks, talks, smiles or dresses up. He is someone who is not only genuinely interested in the well-being of others but one who has the innate ability to stay as calm as a cucumber in high pressure situations. And also, the one who after 16 years of married life still calls his wife the love of his life. In fact, I often say this. I would have a problem in being a second Chetan Bhagat but I would go to any extent possible in being a second Ram sir. I hope and pray our relationship never ends.

   

Riaz, thanks for gracing this occasion. I did read Justice and I must say, that was one of the best pieces of short story I have come across; very heartfelt, touching and wonderfully written. I hope to write that well someday.

Being part of the same organization I came to know of Anish when he wrote his book Benaami. Our interaction grew over constant exchange of emails and it was very nice of him to personally invite me to his book launch at Crossword. I’m sorry to be mentioning about Crossword in Bookzone :). That day, I left early from office and travelled to Lower Parel from Airoli and on reaching there took one of the vacant seats in the last row. I still remember the scene on the dais, Anish and the chief guests stood as they unveiled the book. On seeing that I said to myself, one day I shall be there doing the same. It’s such a privilege to have Anish, the one who showed me it was possible to write a book while you have a full day job, to be here gracing this occasion.   

There's this group of people whom I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart – my group of friends, the same people whom you could see running around this place making sure everything is perfect. I can’t thank my group, The Lunch Box as we’re called, and we had that name long before the movie with the same name released, enough for the sleepless nights, ideas, suggestions, photography, anchoring and the field work done.  Shreevidya, Mugdha, Imran, Aditya, thanks a lot.

I also would like to thank Bookzone, if it weren’t for them we wouldn’t be having this event here. Jimmy and his staff have been supportive and helpful and that’s all a newbie author could ask for. 

And finally, thanks to everyone present here. Thanks for taking out some time, travelling all the way to one end of our city just to make this event even more special for me. I have no words to thank you. This book State of the Heart is just the first on this journey of Author Nelton D’Souza. Until next time, happy reading.

Nelton D'Souza is the author of State of the Heart - a collection of short stories on relationships, love and life and can be reached on Facebook and Twitter. His book enjoys a 4 star rating on Goodreads and has sold out multiple times. It shall soon be out in its second edition. To purchase/know more, visit www.neltondsouza.com. Personally autographed copies can be procured at no extra charge by dropping an email to writeto@neltondsouza.com. Part of the proceeds of every book would go to charity.

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• Presenting my first book - State of the Heart

IndiBlogger HP meet: Connecting People through Connected Music

I was staring at my screen making sense of the production issue that had cropped up when my phone buzzed. Ignoring the distraction to recover an application that had suffered a major heart attack I proceeded to playing detective in search for the culprit. Yes, my day couldn’t have started off well.

After slogging endlessly I finally rested in my chair in peace bringing reprieve not only to myself, my team but also to some thousands of users affected by the outage.  Feeling a pinch in my tummy I picked up my phone to check the time. I then realized that other than other tasks to attend to a text message from an unknown number awaited me that read “IndiBlogger meet this Saturday. Register fast, just 35 seats remaining”. Without bothering to identity whose number it was I opened up the browser on my PC and punched in www.Indiblogger.in on my keyboard. After a few rotations of the loading circle the browser returned a not so courteous message “Denied Access Policy”.

Not knowing how to get through (there are proxies but the chance of them working are one in a million) I picked up my phone and opened Safari. But since Airtel doesn’t seem to allow anyone to express him/herself when you want to the most, nothing opened up. It doesn’t even matter if it’s the million dollar Apple that you’re own. Life is fair when you need it the least.

Leaving chance to destiny I waited to get home. To my good luck, there were some seats still remaining. Thanking my lucky stars I registered.

You know, this is how destiny plays a part. A few fellow blogger friends of mine after having met each other at the Vodafone SpeedFest IndiBlogger meet got together and formed a group on Facebook “Blogger 007” (Talk about creativity on the part of the creator). Since the last time we met at the meet in September we have been trying endlessly to catch up. But thanks to work, personal commitments and the disparities in the lives of the working and the college going things never worked out. Finally, all thanks to IndiBlogger, the reason we met in the first place we were destined to meet again. 

For the day of the meet and a fellow blogger group mate decided to travel together. In that way the catching up would begin. You may think we stay miles apart but not so. We just stay 10 minutes away and yet haven’t met in all this time. Countless searches on Google and M-Indicator indicated just one thing – the journey ain't going to be simple. Trains would still drop you off far away while the bus, don’t talk about it. We just had 1 that made it all the way to BKC and we would have to be in serious luck to catch hold of it. After doing our math, permutations and combinations included and evaluating any calculated risks we were taking we decided to go for the bus. We met at the stop and hoped for the best. Thankfully luck was on our side.

Through the nearly 2 hour journey we managed to catch up on many things, interests and other mundane stuff. We got off at our stop and thought it wasn’t bad at all. We reached the event and were all set. Let the evening roll. We made an entry and were welcomed with smiles; Hey-Hi’s and raised eyebrows. I and my female friend, always the main topic of discussion for our group for leg pulling didn’t let this one go. “Tum dono saath mein aaye na?” “Aaj kal Nelton ne pick up and drop service bhi chalu kiya hai…hume kab pick up karega?” What not can people come up with…I couldn’t stop blushing.

The event started off with an apology for beginning late. I didn’t know of the rest but for me it had already started on time. If you have to be connected to music then its paramount you get your vocals right, right? From hitting the highs to touching the lows (so low that I could feel my voice box) we did it all. If that wasn’t enough we even went crazy with various noises...all part of the game. 

After that doze of freshness and rushing blood to voice glands, we moved to continue tradition with the 30 seconds of fame ‘but’ with a difference. Instead of the introducing yourself on stage when you’re called to, we had to run around the place to the beat of “I like to move it” and get to know as many people as possible and write their names on the charts provided. Since I have been to many meets before I knew the catch. As no one said you couldn’t cheat I conveniently wrote down the names of all the people I already knew. The regulars were as usual were there - Blogwati G, Corinne, Ameena, Magic Eye, Aditya Iyer, Suomoni, etc After doing the smart work I proceeded to the hard work. Amongst my interactions I came across Ashwin Pathak, a shy 9th standard boy, brother of the cute Aditi Pathak. Ashwin comes across as a simple fellow but that’s only till he starts talking about his blog or better say Technical blog. This fellow makes sense of web development languages which are more like Greek and Latin for me.

Neha 1 and Neha 2 were the other 2 people I met. The 1 & 2 is because I can’t remember their surnames. Rafa, a blogger who has met Chetan Bhagat; Soutik, the avid guitarist; Prutha, the quiet girl next door, Jenil, Moulik and Stephen were the ones I also had the fortune of meeting.

Viswanathan Anand says it’s easy to miss the obvious. Indeed it is. For the first time I met Vaishakhi Mishra and Amreen Bhujwala. Though we have always investigated crime scenes together in Criminal Case we have never met and this was a pleasant encounter.

The interaction section ended with our not so 30 seconds to fame ending. Prizes, as in Rs.700/- worth headphones being given away to those who met 40 or more bloggers. Thanks to my smartness I won one. That made it one for the day. 

Ranjivjit Singh, CMO at Hewlett-Packard India, then took center stage to explain to us the coolest new development at the HP stable – Connected Music. Powered by the big daddy of the music world - Universal Music group, this service sets HP Windows 8 based consumer PC’s, laptops, tablets and ultrabooks a class apart by offering  free streaming access to Universal's full catalogue for 90 days. If you've invested in a Windows 8 HP Spectre or HP Envy PC, you'll also get 10 free MP3 downloads per month for three months.

Ranjivjit Singh, CMO at Hewlett-Packard India

 As well as streaming the shows live, HP and Universal will be giving users the opportunity to win trips to the private gigs as well as other exclusive music content from artists on Universal's roster, which includes Robbie Williams, Pixie Lott, Maroon 5, Drake and Frank Ocean.

To add to the experience HP has teamed up with Dr Dre's Beats brand to improve audio playback on its devices, and has also sealed deals with music streaming services.

While Ranjivjit was giving his presentation, some mouthwatering dishes were being served. The sad part was since it is Lent the non-veg dishes on my table were only a feast to my eyes. Unable to control the rumblings in my stomach I called for the waiter and told him to get some veg dishes ASAP. Thankfully my prayers were answered in a short time. I savored the pizza crust and quelled the uprising in my stomach. To top it up I had some lovely mocktails on offer. Please don’t ask me which ones and how many glasses I had. That’s top secret. I can only divulge that the mint flavor was my favourite.

IndiBlogger meets have always been known for the prizes on offer. This time round there were Touch enabled HP laptops. Putting all my might I tried to come up with the artist whose name was in a secret envelope. From Elvis Presley to Engelbert Humperdinck to Rahat Fateh Ali Khan tp Remo Fernandes, I tried it all. Unfortunately I only thought of the Kings of Music. I wish I had thought of the Queen. The laptop I’m writing this post on would have been a HP and not a DELL. The other contest was about tweeting something nice about a fellow blogger. Forget about what I tweeted, Siddharth Gupta tweeted that I stole his chair. Obviously he didn’t win. You were supposed to write nice things about people.

A small break gave us time to catch up once again and click some pics. It was during this time I realized that my always quiet, tight lipped ever smiling friend had teeth. Eureka. This discovery would even put Columbus to shame. Siddharth on the other hand surprised me by saying he too stays 10 minutes away from my place. If you needed evidence regarding the world being small here it was.

Blogger 007

Before the evening ended there was one thing in store. Connecting the people through connected music. All present had to decide which music they relate to – Smack Thy Booty (Hip Hop), 133 (Bollywood), Dish Chum (Beats), Heavy Metal or Rap. Since we Indians love our Maa and Cinema the Bollywood Brigade formed the biggest group. From singing hit item songs like Fevicol se to Sheila to Munni we did it all, that too with music in perfect choir posture. What’s more I played conductor to keep everyone in sync.  The superb singer Priya Adivarekar took the lead and made sure we sounded tolerable. Without a doubt we were crowned the champions after not only eliminating the competition but annihilating it.

13 13 13 Group

All this brought us to the end with some group pics clicked and smiles and pleasantries exchanged. Our group too set in different directions with the hope that we would meet again soon.

The Bloggers 

Book Review: 31 by Upendra Namburi

I don’t know of many books that use the days of the month in a theme. And to have exactly that many chapters as the days in the month is indeed different.

31 by Upendra Namburi is a spacy thriller based in a bank. The month of March probably may not be of great importance to a common man but ask a banker and he’ll describe as a month which can make or break his career. After all March is the last month of the financial year in India and the numbers in this month are all that matters to everyone, be it the company, markets, common man or even the country.

31 is another thriller that’s based in one of the up market banks in India. It’ the last month for the financial year to end and just like in cricket where you can’t say anything till the last ball has been bowled so it is in banking. As you progress through this book, with its setting you’ll wonder whether you are reading a debut novel or another Ravi Subramanian. There is no lack of twists and turns and politics and affairs. You may get frustrated with the same things going on but guess in a work place these things are the order of the day.

Not revealing much, the book is a story about a very simple, regular performing guy called Ravi Shastry. In fact Ravi’s story is so common that it’s very relatable. He has an irritating boss, team mates who jump at every position and opportunity on offer, top management who’s decisions don’t make any sense and more rivals and competition than friends one can bank upon. Plus with time slipping away by the minute you have absolutely no time even for a small break to make sense of the situation. 

The fast pace of the story leaves you for me. To your good luck there is an affair Ravi is involved in, his wife which feels sidelined and forget the promotion that Ravi is working hard for, it’s his job that on the line. 

Through this intense maze of things, relationships and numbers Ravi becomes a person you feel for. The rush of things makes sure you keep the pages turning. How he jostles with things between his personal and professional life and fights it on his own is applaudable. 

The best thing about this book is the ending. Upendra has very smartly dealt a question. Not a close-ended one but an open-ended. It’s neither fairy tale like nor depressing types, it’s just right, just perfect. Thankfully, it doesn’t go down Chetan Bhagat’s Revolution 2020 which shattered my heart and let me see things crystal clearly.

The Verdict: If you are time constrained and looking for a book that would not make you late by even a minute then this one is for you. If you’re wondering how then the countdowns in the book will help you keep check. 

The Good: This book has all the qualities for a thriller and will definitely leave you wanting for more.

The Bad: It gets over very fast.

My Rating: 4/5

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