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What has influenced you the most as a writer?

Thank you for this interesting question. When I was a little girl, I thought I could change the world with my writing. Now that I am a woman, I know that I can. Each one of us has the power to change the world by our words and thoughts. The one thing that has influenced me the most as a writer is that I want to leave something that adds value to the world through my writing. I want to make a difference by my writing. I want to bring about a change in the world by making it a better and healthy place to live in. I want to make a valuable contribution in the development of our country, society, and nation.

Besides this, I am an ardent reader and I often write poems and short stories, so that also influenced me the most as a writer. My life and it’s experiences and my observations have also influenced me as a writer. Writing helps me to understand myself better, so that is also quite a big influence as a writer. Devoted to better ideas for a better world, I have authored my debut work SHE: A Message for those who Belittle Girls!

I want to talk and write about such things that is going to get my readers' blood pumping and move them to emotion like the plight of girls and women around the world, global warming, corruption, racism, honour killing, sex trafficking, gender discrimination, rape and sexual abuse, child labour, depression, youth addiction, etc. I want to persuade people to open their minds with my writing. I want to give people a chance to change. I want to inspire them to do something themselves, as I hold the belief that writing is the easiest way to change the world.  

  2. What are some of the references that you used while researching this book?

  Some of the references that I used while researching this book are:

a. Thomas, P. (1964). Indian Women through the Ages Bombay: Asia Publishing House.

b. Jain, M. (1992, July 15). The Changing Woman India To-day, 36-43.

c. “Is India really the most dangerous country for women?”. BBC News. BBC. 28 June 2018.

d. “India loses 3 million girls in infanticide”. The Hindu. Chennai, India.

e. “Women in India: How Free? How Equal?”. United Nations. 11 September 2006.

f. “India paves way for women in military combat roles”. Digital Journal. AFP. 24 October 2015.

g. “Sarla Thakral : Women’s Day: Top 100 coolest women of all time”. IBN Live.

h. Singh, Shweta (2007). “Schooling girls and the gender and development paradigm: quest for an appropriate framework for women’s education”. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences. 2 (3): 1-12.

i. Bahree, Megha (16 November 2009). “India’s most powerful businesswomen”.

j. Kumar, Madhuri (8 March 2013). “Atrocities against women on the rise”. The Times of India.

k. Reuters (15 June 2011). “The world’s 5 most dangerous countries for women: Thomson Reuters Foundation Survey”.

l. Dhar, Aarti (18 January 2009). “40 p.c. child marriages in India: UNICEF”. The Hindu.

m. “Kitchen fires kill Indian brides with inadequate dowry”. United Press International. New Delhi.

n. Chandramouli, C. (2011). “Child sex ration in India”, (PDF). India: Registrar General & Census Commissioner.

3. How did you become involved with the subject or theme of your book?

Women and girls have achieved monumental feats in different fields, and have touched the lives of thousands and influenced millions. But still I get to read every day in the newspaper that in India and across the world; countless girl children are aborted, killed, and abandoned. Only some are discovered and recorded, countless others are dismissed. Many dowry deaths occur in different parts of the world. Several girl children are forcefully married against their wishes. Numerous honour killings occur because the girl dares to love and choose her own life partner. The cases of domestic violence against women keep pending in the courts and many girl children, adolescent girls, and women are raped and molested daily in the offices, on the streets, at homes, at schools, colleges, shelter homes, public transports like cars, buses, taxis, trains, airplanes, and even in safe holy sanctuaries like temples and mosques.

After observing the sufferings of the girls and women in my country and beyond; how they are being discriminated, broken, ill-treated, hurt, belittled, and abused in their daily lives; I wondered what could I do to bring about a change in the perception of people towards females, and what could I do to inspire and empower females to stand up and fight for their rights. Then I decided to write this book – SHE. And, I chose the subject for my debut book as – SHE; where SHE is described as ‘Stop Hurting Me Every Day’ on the book cover and the theme of my book is – “A Message for those who Belittle Girls!”. This is how; I became involved with the subject or theme of my book.

SHE is the voice of each and every girl and woman in India and across the world who are belittled for being SHE. SHE would prove to the world with actual facts how women have proved to be stronger and equal or better than men over decades in various fields. The readers can have a glimpse of the real issues on ground that females confront every day that need amendments, amendments on priority basis. No other theme was going well with the subject of my book – “Stop Hurting Me Every Day!”... So I chose it, but this book is for one and all – boys, men, girls, women, someone who belittles girl, and someone who respects, empowers, and encourages girls to make their life worth living. It is a well-researched work full of examples from the seamy as well as the brighter side of the spectrum that is suitable for all ages and genders.    

4. What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?

My goal and intention in writing this book is to communicate my ideas to the readers. The main goal of my writing is to convey what’s in my mind and to express the thoughts hidden in the depths of the mind. I want to touch the heart and soul of the readers through my story. Through this book, I want to talk about certain serious issues that people often hesitate to talk or discuss in public. Before I started writing the book, I knew that my first book would be based on women’s and girls’ empowerment and feminism, because every day I used to see, read, and experience that girls and women are always belittled, hurt, abused, and broken by their loved ones and by the very people they trusted the most. So, I thought that writing about the topic is the only way to improve and change people’s thinking towards girls and women and create a difference in the society. I had already decided that the title of my first book would be SHE, and I thought that I should describe SHE. So, I came up with the full form of SHE as – “Stop Hurting Me Every Day.”

I chose to describe SHE as such; because I wanted to become the voice of all those girls and women who are suffering in silence every day. The main goal, objective, and intention associated with this book is that I just want to discuss the problems that the females confront worldwide; taking a glance on the possible solutions of exemplary inspirations with some inspirational examples and stories; by appreciating males and society that openly support the ambitions, dreams, and aspirations of girls and women, because a Woman Business Leader, a Woman Athlete, a Woman Prime Minister, or a Woman Soldier cannot be produced in a country or society that doesn’t support women empowerment.

There are numerous problems that girls and women need to face in their daily life. Girls and women suffer internally in silence, so as a responsible member of my society and being a woman myself, I have discussed and wrote freely about those problems in my book – SHE. The book is based on facts that tell how women and girls are being unfairly treated and subjected to discrimination and many other problems they face. Usually, the books on such issues only deal with problems without taking a glance on the possible solutions of exemplary inspirations, but SHE consists of ample examples of women and girls who have achieved their goals in various fields and professions like Meenakshi Vijayakumar, Tanu Shree Pareek, Leila Seth, Chhavi Rajawat, etc., and inspirational stories of many ordinary girls and women who faced biggest challenges and still stood strong, that will certainly inspire women, girls, and people. SHE is also a storytelling for young girls; to imbibe the idea that just like the brave girls and women spoken about in the book; princesses don’t need a prince to save them. This is the uniqueness and USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of SHE. This is my strategy and I think it would definitely work with my readers.    

SHE is not about blaming a gender or a race for the condition of women but to introspect and analyse as a society – where have we failed. I do believe and feel that to some extent I have achieved my goals, as I am able to present the readers a well-researched content and message based on reality, facts, data, numerics, and ideas. I have discussed and analysed the problems and have also tried to present different inspirational examples of a woman bus driver, a woman mountaineer, women warriors, women sailors, and many more exemplary examples of bravery and courage that would help girls and women to understand themselves better, and would certainly inspire, empower, and motivate them to fight for their rights and never succumb to fate, and true stories of inspiration within the society in the context of those problems like a story of a woman who single-handedly created a forest, story of a girl who defended and fought for her right to choose her own life partner, story of a girl who refused to get married when her in-laws demanded dowry, story of an acid attack survivor who became a role model for many women across the world, stories of girls who fought for education and against child marriage, and so on and so forth... there are numerous stories and there are many icons that I have offered to the readers; along with my ideas and opinions that can serve as possible remedies of the diagnosed problems , which we need our societies to think and implement – well, at least in this 21st-century when we dream of becoming a new India with opportunities and space for one and all!

I have succeeded in providing many different characters, ample stories, and poems at the end of every chapter to my readers that would surely enlighten their mind and fill it with immense happiness, joy, and pride. The book contains 18 chapters. All the chapters tell many stories of brave and powerful women and girls, who are not just “survivors,” but “winners,” “champions,” and “achievers,” they are an inspiration to all girls and women, who restore our faith in woman and girl power; that would surely change readers’ outlook towards SHE; because I believe feminism is not about hating men and bashing society for the plight of women, but it is all about – EQUALITY, RESPECT, and breaking the PATRIARCHY! Thanks for giving me an opportunity to answer such a wonderful question.