I finally received my bulk consignment of my latest book, The Other Side Of Love, Beyond A Shadow Of Doubt on the Eighteenth, and what an auspicious day it was, to receive the books on the eighteenth birthday of my daughter. If that was not enough, the date eighteenth matched the number of years that she has been pestering me! Pardon me for using the word, ‘pestering’ for it is meant as a fond word of endearment!
“The Other Side Of Love, Beyond A Shadow Of Doubt,” is my third book, and my debut novel that Partridge Publications graciously agreed to publish, humouring the many changes that I requested them to make to what I at first thought was a perfect manuscript, and then after I had mailed it to my publishers, I saw the gaping holes in it and struck my forehead with my hands thinking, “Rodrick, what silly mistakes have you made,” and then grabbing hold of my IPad, shot mails to them, (Joe Anderson especially).
It has always been like this, my father was the one who received each one of the Author’s copies, and then he would call me up with the good news. Everyone waited for me before asking my father to open the book, but then for the second book and this one, I told him to go ahead and open the packet. This year too, I was away on a retreat out there in the mountains with my colleagues when the message came that the book had arrived.
One thing became clear, that I would start selling my special copies only after having gotten the books released by my Pastor, Revd. Sunil Solomon Ghazan, who is himself an experienced author and has published his book titled, “When The Earth Shall Melt…” so this time too, it was understood that I would be getting it released by him. A late night dinner party for my daughter’s birthday meant that we went of to sleep at midnight and then it was all about getting up early in the morning to be prepared for Church. Fortunately enough we were all ready for church.
Everything went on as planned and somehow my daughter had the good sense to overcome her shyness and step to the front pew so as to get a better view of the Good Pastor and me. As usual there was a prayer, the curious, smiling faces from amongst the congregation, those who knew me well probably wondering what my next book would be all about. The usual fumbling with the tightly wrapped book and then the release, of course with me hastily taking the proffered wrapping paper, and then the book was held aloft for all to see. When I did get to speak, there was a slight tremble and then of I went, requesting the gathering for their prayers and best wishes for the success of the book. After the service there was the usual round of congratulations, not just to me but also to my mother and my wife. The hasty round of signing the copies, another round of photo-sessions, and then that was it – I was raring to hand over signed copies to all of my friends and acquaintances!
And then yes, how could I forget my parents who were the proudest of parents the day they saw the first book, I guess the tears in their eyes might have been more valuable than their weight in gold! It was after the first one came out and then the second and then the third that they had probably realised that I would be writing for some time as yet. The tears of happiness have now changed to beams unspoken words, guess he’ll be coming out with another one in a few months time, let’s save some of our smiles for then. My wife and kids now take it for granted that another one will come out soon, but then I would like to assure all of them that books are not churned out like mass produced pens or plastic trinkets, a lot of thought goes into each book. A lot of soul searching, hard work, trying to figure out the best expression, trying to find the word that best expresses the emotion, moments of doubt, unsaved edits, late nights and early mornings are some of the things that go into a book; and whether it turns out to be a success or not, more often than not depends on how the readers take to it.
“The Other Side Of Love” is about unconditional love, love that transcends time, ages and generations, such as is depicted in the snap of both my parents holding the book in their hands!
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