(CAKE)WALKS IN THE WORLD OF BOOKS AND PUBLISHING

Chirdeep Malhotra . Updated: 7/7/2020 11:20:34 AM Books and Authors

Author Interview: Ruchi Prabhu

Ruchi Prabhu has been born and brought up in Mumbai. She has completed MBA (Finance), and B.com (Banking & Insurance). She has completed her schooling from Holy Cross Convent High School, Thane and is currently working with an MNC based out in Powai, Mumbai. She has also done SPSS course from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and has contributed extensively to the world of Banking & Finance with publications in various research journals. She has recently come out with the book “The Gift” (2019), which contains her way of expressing through haiku or Epigrams. Her other two published books are – “SPSS is just a cakewalk for researchers” (2018), and Financial Regulations (2020). In a candid chat with Chirdeep Malhotra, she talks about her books, her writing journey, and her favourite books and authors. Read On!



Please tell us more about Ruchi Prabhu as a person.

Personally, more than speaking, writing has been my way of expressing what I feel and the credit goes to my habit of writing diary since early adolescence. The exhilaration that I get after writing something can be compared to a walk in nature’s lap; a form of meditation that rejuvenates me.



Has writing always been a part of your life? Or did you chance upon it later on and then instantly fell in love with it?

Writing was always a part of my life and it is same for everyone. For me it started when I wrote the first essay about myself in school, everyone does this, right? I even had a habit to write down about my day and how did it went. If I have to tell about professional writing, then it started in the year 2013 with writing Research Papers for National and International journals. Once, while I was presenting my research paper on a National platform, the Judge said that this paper can be strongly valid if it had Hypothesis and SPSS. Being from a commerce background, I was totally clueless what was those words were. I love to learn new things and I have a habit to search each new word I come across in daily life. I instantly searched those words after my presentation, and then I went to an e-commerce website to search books on SPSS as I believe books give deeper knowledge. But the cost of those books was between Rs. 1000 to 5000, and investing that much amount to learn something which was totally new did not feel right to me. Then I went through some YouTube videos and learnt the whole concept of SPSS, hypothesis, Likert scale and more such stuff used in research. After learning that, I went a step ahead and cleared certification from Tata Institute of Social Science and IBM. Then the idea stuck in my mind to write a book on this concept and sell it at a Minimum Selling Price. I wrote my first book “SPSS is just a cakewalk for researches” with all the basic tests that a research scholar/ PhD Student can perform with my book which is just for INR 199. This was the start of my writing career and then I fell in love with the writing world.



Please tell us more about your book “The Gift”.

“The Gift” is just about my share of experiencing romance, hatred, longing and drops the most. An individual observes a bunch to pick up nuisance of personalities and relationship dynamics of those around him/her. Unlike other books that depict love as an affair, this book expresses love not just as an affair but love as a feeling that is over and above being defined, be it a parent-child relation or the relation between two friends. The book is a complete package that speaks not just about love but also about time and the relevance of self-improvement. This book contains my way of expressing through haiku or Epigrams, which evoke my personal feelings dealing with a good ending and sometimes with the ray of no hope in scalding weather.



How has the response of readers been to your book?

I have received a very positive response for the book. Writing on this theme has made the book successful. I wanted my readers to know about love but in a very different form, love which is beyond expectation, love which is beyond demands, love which has no greed and a relationship which is just ‘I take care of you’ and ‘you take care of me’, that’s the end of the story.



What type of research went into writing this book?

There was no research as such to write this book. I wrote what my heart felt and there was no book available in market with this theme and this idea came from a famous quote from Beverly Cleary -“If you don't see the book you want on the shelves, write it.”



What challenges did you face while writing this book?

The challenging part of writing was the blinking cursor, taunting the words that form on the tip of your tongue, but refusing to show themselves. There were many epigrams which I discarded after reading it for 3 to 4 times as it really didn’t make any sense to me like it made the first time I read them. I wanted to give my readers something very different which they had never read before. Something which would touch their heart directly. Something where every reader will get a personal connection, where they will feel this is written about them. And lastly, something which will make my reader pause for a second and make them introspect the line they read just a moment back.



Can you recommend five books from any genre, for our readers to add to their reading lists, that you particularly cherish?

These are “The Stranger Triology” – Novoneel Chakraborty, “Until We Meet Again” – Ajitabha Bose, “Only You Understood My Dream” – Shashi Bhushan, “It Started with a Friend Request” – Sudeep Nagarkar, and “The Lies We Tell” – Himanjali Sankar.



There are many new writers and poets who are aspiring to get their work published. What would you say to them?

My advice to them is just write from heart and if you want to publish your work, start with a small publishing house or self-publishing platform and then create your brand name.
If possible, first create a brand name by giving talks, writing quotes, small stories, or something which random people can connect to. Once you gain many followers and a reader base, then come up with a book and it will surely get sold as you had already created a brand name.



What are your other interests apart from writing?

Apart from writing, I love reading books and cooking. I love to read the genres of Crime, Thriller & Mystery and I love to cook different dishes and trying different cuisines.



What are you working on next?

I am working on a fictional book with an author Neel Preet titled – “Things my father said”. The aim of writing this book is to show the gap between today’s generation and our parent’s generation. The gap between two generations is increasing day by day. There might be some reasons for this, like advancement of technology, Social media influencing, many things available easily at a click, everything getting spoon-feed. There are many people in life with whom you come across and get influenced easily but we forget they are just temporary people. This book will take you to another level of relationship between a father and a son, where there is much of a generation gap between them, but the aim and the techniques still remain the same.



Can you share with our readers a motivational quote that keeps you going?

“When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, ‘I am going to produce a work of art.’ I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing.” — George Orwell.


Comment on this Story