Jayant Shilanjan Mundhra's Blog

Who must read this book? Every Indian!

It is a brief intro to the history and legends of Assam, about the role of Lachit Borphukan in keeping the British out of Assam, and about Gopinath Bordoloi ensuring that Assam was never lost to East Pakistan.It is a brief intro to the culture and demographics of Assam, and also about the way its demographics have been demolished and altered in irreversible sense by the unabated onslaught from illegal Bangladeshi migrants.It is a brief account of how Congress leaderships over several decades kept bringing in more and more of Bangladeshi migrants just to change the voter dynamics of districts where Congress would have no or low chances of winning the elections.It is a brief account of the largest and longest lasting but least heard student-led movement in the history of Independent India, Assam Movement, which gave birth to not just the regional political heavyweight, AGP, but also to the terror outfit ULFA prior to which there was no terrorist faction of any kind in the Assamese lands.

And blending all of those aforementioned things and plenty more stuff, this book is an account of how BJP went from no footprints in North-east to registering an unseen and unheard-of victory in the state of Assam. This book is not just a brilliant account of what went behind the scenes in the entire electioneering, but also about what a tremendous lot goes into winning an election, and also into losing one.

I might like a politician and his party, or I might not. But, after reading this book I surely am in deep awe of the astounding deal of hard work, strategizing, planning and executing which one has to do to even fight an election anywhere in this uber complicated country. Winning an election is an altogether another level above that, no doubt. Thus, no matter how much I might detest any politician, I would always respect one for one’s ambition to fight an election.

That includes the blue eyed Gandhi prince

Yogi Adityanath.

This book is a justification of him.

Justification of why a commoner Rajput boy hailing from a small village in Uttarakhand deserves to be the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

A commoner who graduated from Science background, and later went on to pursue vedic texts out of passion and interest, later joining one of the most revered temples in India and eventually be risen to the post of its Mahant.A commoner who not only became the youngest individual to ever be elected to the parliament in Independent India, but also someone who never lost an election in his life after that.A commoner whose actual family continues to live a common life in that same old remote village in Uttarakhand, despite him becoming one of the most popular and powerful politicians in all of India.A commoner who has on his own merit, without any support from any second man whosoever, has himself risen to the pedestal he stands on today, unlike Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi, Tejaswi Yadav, or umpteen other such figures who would have never been even known to the common men if not for their fathers.

This book is all about proving a point.

The point that you have been fed just too much of lies and propaganda about this commoner man by the mainstream media. The point that the likes of Barkha Dutt, Ravish Kumar, Sagarika Ghosh and others have not just branded him a undeserving saffron wearing hardliner, but also proliferated just too much of misinformation about him, his views and opinions.

It would not have been the best book for most people to invest their money, time and energy on.

However, given the astounding deal of misinformation and falsified propaganda that has been carried out relentlessly by the mainstream media and the unending band of ‘liberal’ figures about Yogi Adityanath, reading this book becomes all the way more important in today’s times.

Let’s not kid ourselves. One can hate him, or admire him, but simply not ignore him in today’s times. And, the worse is to hate him or admire him without even knowing the real him.

At the then age of 26 with a vote margin of 26,000 votes, he won his first ever parliamentary election in 1998.

In the next election in 1999, that margin came down to 7,000 votes but he managed to win. The next time though, in 2004, he won by a massive margin of 1,40,000 votes! Then next time in 2009, he further widened his victory margin to 2,20,000 votes. And, as if that wasn’t already a big enough win for him, in the 2014 elections this supposed ‘orange-cladded uncouth priest and Hindu militant politician’ won by a victory margin of a mind-numbing 3,00,000 votes.

Mind that, its not that his total votes were 3,00,000 votes, but the margin was 3,00,000. Had that even have been the total number of votes in his favour, that would have been a big number in itself.

The book made me question the notion that he doesn’t deserve the position he is in today. The book brought out to my knowledge a hell lot of information about this man which the traditional media not just never reported, but also distorted umpteen number of times.

Barkha Dutt openly called him an orange CM long back in a summit. Well, how does his dressing choice make him imperfect for the job given he has a solid record as a parliamentarian, which is way higher than most Indian MPs. Yes, that’s true. The book offers solid facts, numbers and much other such data about his attendance, debates and performance in Lok Sabha. Add to that his remarkable political career.

How is he any lesser worthy than much older, lessor proven, and much tainted Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav?

This book is a justification of all of that.

And, does it accomplish its purpose? Absolutely.

Overall rating: 3/5

Note: My book ‘Redemption of a Son’ is available exclusively on Amazon.

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Signing off,

Shilanjan

Yogi Adityanath.

This book is a justification of him.

Justification of why a commoner Rajput boy hailing from a small village in Uttarakhand deserves to be the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

A commoner who graduated from Science background, and later went on to pursue vedic texts out of passion and interest, later joining one of the most revered temples in India and eventually be risen to the post of its Mahant.A commoner who not only became the youngest individual to ever be elected to the parliament in Independent India, but also someone who never lost an election in his life after that.A commoner whose actual family continues to live a common life in that same old remote village in Uttarakhand, despite him becoming one of the most popular and powerful politicians in all of India.A commoner who has on his own merit, without any support from any second man whosoever, has himself risen to the pedestal he stands on today, unlike Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi, Tejaswi Yadav, or umpteen other such figures who would have never been even known to the common men if not for their fathers.

This book is all about proving a point.

The point that you have been fed just too much of lies and propaganda about this commoner man by the mainstream media. The point that the likes of Barkha Dutt, Ravish Kumar, Sagarika Ghosh and others have not just branded him a undeserving saffron wearing hardliner, but also proliferated just too much of misinformation about him, his views and opinions.

It would not have been the best book for most people to invest their money, time and energy on.

However, given the astounding deal of misinformation and falsified propaganda that has been carried out relentlessly by the mainstream media and the unending band of ‘liberal’ figures about Yogi Adityanath, reading this book becomes all the way more important in today’s times.

Let’s not kid ourselves. One can hate him, or admire him, but simply not ignore him in today’s times. And, the worse is to hate him or admire him without even knowing the real him.

At the then age of 26 with a vote margin of 26,000 votes, he won his first ever parliamentary election in 1998.

In the next election in 1999, that margin came down to 7,000 votes but he managed to win. The next time though, in 2004, he won by a massive margin of 1,40,000 votes! Then next time in 2009, he further widened his victory margin to 2,20,000 votes. And, as if that wasn’t already a big enough win for him, in the 2014 elections this supposed ‘orange-cladded uncouth priest and Hindu militant politician’ won by a victory margin of a mind-numbing 3,00,000 votes.

Mind that, its not that his total votes were 3,00,000 votes, but the margin was 3,00,000. Had that even have been the total number of votes in his favour, that would have been a big number in itself.

The book made me question the notion that he doesn’t deserve the position he is in today. The book brought out to my knowledge a hell lot of information about this man which the traditional media not just never reported, but also distorted umpteen number of times.

Barkha Dutt openly called him an orange CM long back in a summit. Well, how does his dressing choice make him imperfect for the job given he has a solid record as a parliamentarian, which is way higher than most Indian MPs. Yes, that’s true. The book offers solid facts, numbers and much other such data about his attendance, debates and performance in Lok Sabha. Add to that his remarkable political career.

How is he any lesser worthy than much older, lessor proven, and much tainted Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav?

This book is a justification of all of that.

And, does it accomplish its purpose? Absolutely.

Overall rating: 3/5

Note: My book ‘Redemption of a Son’ is available exclusively on Amazon.

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Signing off,

Shilanjan

3rd December 2016.

That’s the date when my parent’s anniversary falls. Also, it’s the day when I decided to do something more than just contemplating about becoming an author someday. It was a day when I determined to become a doer.

To be frank, starting to write my debut book wasn’t tough at all. It was set to be a memoir and recollection of my father’s struggles, his relationship with me and my life with my mother after his untimely departure. But, as I stated above, starting to write the book was easy. That’s because I had already spent several hours thinking what my first book would be about. Thus, I had absolute clarity in my head about where I wanted to start the tale, and where I wanted to end it. However, after mere 5-6 days of typing down all the thoughts brimming at the top of my head, I had hit a cul-de-sac. I ran out of ideas to type out because even if the start and end points were clearly defined in my head, I had never thought much about the narration I needed to take the reader to that intended end of my tale.

So, that was it- A Full Stop.

Just within a week of having started writing my debut book, I gave up. I had succumbed to the idea that I was not ready to write an entire book on a single topic yet. A 2,000-word article was more my thing. A book, not so much. So, I took a hiatus. A yearlong break. But, I was still certain that whenever I was to write my first book, the theme would be the same. It had to be a eulogy written in my father’s remembrance which would take his tale full of struggles, love and dreams to a large set of people.

However, as they say, just a spark can be enough to light up a fire. Something similar happened with yours truly as well. At times, people or things that don’t mean anything to us end up giving a lot of meaning and direction to our lives. A fellow Quoran, Divyansh Mundra had had a similar impact over me when he self-published his debut book, “The Secrets of Himalayan Treasure” in Nov 2017. Even though he was a nobody to me, him publishing his book moved some part inside of me- The part that had been stopping me from writing my much-delayed book. His achievement reminded me what dream of mine I had rendered forgotten. And, with that realization settled in my head, I didn’t even waste another minute.

I pressed the reboot button!

It was 27th November 2017, the day when I reopened that forgotten word document on my laptop and read all that I had written almost a year ago. After parsing through it all, I made some realizations.

Firstly, over the year-long course I had read and written a lot, and that had improved my writing skill in a huge manner. I was not a good writer before, neither was I now. However, I had gotten way better at the craft. Thus, I had to rework everything I had written earlier, else that would not have matched up with rest of the book that I was to write.

Secondly, I had now learnt that just sitting in front of the laptop screen, hoping that thoughts would come out on their own as I would type, it just wasn’t going to work that way. If I had to write a book that would make me feel proud of myself, I had to do a lot more thinking and planning before taking to typing down things. Thus, I opened a separate word document on my laptop and started typing in it everything that I wanted this book of mine to be about. I wrote down in brief what story about my father and myself I wanted to tell. This exercise surely took about a week to reach a solid form. But in the end, I had a clear-cut outline to follow. I now had a much better idea about what I had to write, and when and where.

There were wide-ranging topics that I decided to craft the tale around. My relationship with my father. His struggles. The differences we held. The way I mistreated him towards his last years. How his untimely departure from the world broke me and then built me afresh. And how my bonding with Maa evolved as a result. My book was going to weave through it all.

I also thought a lot about the purpose of me writing this book. Who I was writing this for, and what I wanted the reader to take away from it. And I concluded that I didn’t want it to end up becoming just another book on the shelf of someone, gathering dust after a single read. I wanted it to become a book which would someday bring a set of parents and their children closer. I wanted it to become a book which would transform relationships that parents and children share with each other.

With all that clarity settled in my head, I started typing one more time. And, this time, I went on a non-stop streak for almost 2 months. I added 200-500 words to the draft each day. The point I had in my head was simple- No matter how less time I might be able to make out of college curriculum each day, I had to write some bit of my book every day. However small those bits be, it didn’t matter. But writing some bit every day did. And, my strategy worked. In those two months, I wrote a really good amount. I had formed a solid base to further build my story upon. But, when you are engaged in the same activity for long, you often tend to lose your zeal for it day by day. The excitement and energy often wither away. More and more of you begins to ask for a change, for a break. The same happened to me. And, with the hectic schedule at college coupled with sundry other activities that I was pursuing, writing with a fresh mind each day was getting tougher too. Thus, I succumbed and went on to take another break.

Thankfully, this one lasted just two months. Also, by that time I had written about half of the book. Or maybe about 40 percent. But, this time when I took up with writing my book again, I had a big factor playing in my favour. My college was off for summers, and my internship demanded just about 8 hours of rigorous work each day. Thus, I had begun to find plenty of time at my hands to dedicate to my book.

Ergo, now, I would write more and more every single day. Five hours at the least. And, as I was getting closer to my intended end of the book, I never even realized when those 4-5 hours of writing grew to 8-9 hours of a daily ritual.

I would get to writing immediately after returning from work. I would keep typing chapter after another till late in the night. And despite sleeping late, I would wake up early each day and write again for an hour or two before I would have to get ready and leave for work. Even when at work, I would be busy appending more words and paragraphs to the book every time I would get a break. Basically, my book had become the very definition of my days. I was on a mission mode.

Trust me, hitherto then I had never shown this scale of passion and religiosity towards any activity I had ever pursued in my living of over 23 years. Writing this book had become a drug which I had gotten addicted to. It had evolved into an effortless, smooth and soulful activity without which my days hardly had any meaning. I would always be thinking about things I could add to the book. Or things I could remove. Or aspects I could re-write or better.

Even when talking to best friends Shreya, Yukti and Shivani, I would talk only about two major things. Number one, how much I missed them. Number two, how much I had progressed with my book. Every aspect and every hour of my days had begun to witness some bits of me being engaged into completing my book. And eventually, it happened.

Co-incidentally, it was Father’s Day (17 June 2018) when I had finally completed writing the first draft of the book that I had been writing in remembrance of my father.

It was exact 11:37 pm when I had hit the “Save” button on MS Word on my laptop. I stood up from the chair I was seated on since evening 7 pm. I walked around a bit smiling with the image of my beloved father reflecting in my head. And, with those positive vibes gushing through my veins and elevating me to a state of utopic peace and joy, I at last slept down on the cold floor of our living room, experiencing a kind of an accomplished feeling that I had never been exposed to before.

That day, I felt like I had achieved something significant as a son. A son, whose proud father could cry happy tears which would rain on me from the heavens above. I know it sounds metaphorical. But trust me, that was the feeling. The feeling which said, I had made something good of myself.

It was surreal.

I then apprised Maa about it the next morning. Over the days that followed, I then recited every word of the book to her. Every word that I had written over a span of over a year and a half investing an unparalleled scale of time, energy, tears and emotions. During that course, we both cried at times and laughed at others. There were instances when we fought a little too. She wanted some portions gone while I was not ready to make any changes at all. But, in the end, she was really happy and proud of her son. There was so much about me that she didn’t know before and got to learn only during those recitations. Thus, reading my book to her was an amazing journey of its own which I am going to remember and cherish forever.

Maa never says it to my face that she is proud of me because she knows her son is a nincompoop who would immediately bloat up in joy and begin to think too much of himself. And, she is very right to think that way. She knows me well. But, when I had been reading my book to her, she didn’t have to say that she was proud. The expression and joys on her glistening face said it all. Thus, I bloated up

A day before releasing my book ‘Redemption of a Son‘, I was on a call with a fellow author who had self-published his book almost a year ago. He said a few things to me that were quite tough to accept and digest.

Those things were the following:

#1 About Relatives

Your relatives won’t read your book. If 100 of them would say that they will read the book, hardly 5 of them will actually do that. So, don’t rely on them.

Many of them would not really be happy about you achieving something. And, most others would be happy for you, but won’t really care to spend the money and invest the time into reading your book.

My experience?

Absolutely true. Vindicated and corroborated.

#2 About Friends

Only your closest friends will read your book. And, a few others will. But most others won’t. They will tell you that they have exams coming up. Or that there is too much workload at office. Or maybe something else.

Meanwhile, every next day you will keep coming across newer Instagram stories, in which they would be partying somewhere, going out, or maybe even reading someone else’s book. They will have time for everything else but won’t have time for you and your book. Why? Because we always make up time for things that matter to us. Period.

My experience?

Absolutely true. Another harsh truth vindicated and corroborated.

But, having said all of that, this author friend of mine also told me one other thing. And, this one was not about who won’t read my book. Instead, it was about who would definitely read my book.

He said,

Only the ones who have read a lot of your works before and know how good and religiously dedicated you are with your writing, only they will read your book. Ones who know that you are freaking good at writing, only and only and only those individuals will give you and your book a shot.

Majority of your readers will, therefore, come from the faction, to which you have proved your mettle.

So, he advised, focus on your Quora followers which you have developed and amassed over almost 3 years. That is your greatest asset. Its them who will make your book a real success, if it will have the potential.

My experience?

Absofuckinglutely true! Nothing could be more sacrosanct.

My book rose to No. 7 Pan-India in its categories of ‘Family’ and ‘Death and Grief’ the very day it was released. It retained that coveted ranking for back to back 3 days.

After that, it was among Top 10 e-books Pan-India for another whole week in its categories. It basically slayed it.

Since then, it has kept moving up and down between Top 20 to Top 50 books in its different categories in all of India. India is pretty darn ginormous, you know. Thus, being relevant among Top 50 books is such a great deal!

My book has been so strong in its rankings despite the fact that I didn’t release any paperbacks at all. So, it has practically been competing with books from a whole lot of authors who have paperbacks out there too. Many of them are acclaimed and established authors. Add to that the point that a very-very minute faction of Indian readers read e-books.

Yet my book and I managed to find so many readers.

How did that happen?

Because so many folks from Quora gave me the shot I direly yearned for. I had worked hard for it. No doubt. And, my folks from Quora knew that they could spend 99 Rupees over my work. They knew it would be worth it. And, so they did.

That’s how it happened for me. All because of the folks from Quora community who have become my greatest asset, my principle reader base, and my ultimate guardian angels. They had been seeing my work for a long time, and they knew I could deliver, and they gave me the only shot I desired. What more could I ask for?

So, let’s get to the point now.

This man, who is typing these words at this moment, he is true to his soul when it comes to his work. I maybe a shrewd and blunt individual. I may have what others call, an attitude problem. I may be a house to 100 other odds. Not maybe, I know I am home to at least 157 other odds. But, but and but!

I am a man of my words.

That’s what even my detractors commend me for. They know that I stand by my words.

So, here is a word I pledge to stand by.

I promise I will always remain grateful to you lovely souls who gave my debut book a shot and believed in me. This is for all those readers of my book, I promise that I will work my ass off with every successive book I write, to ensure that I would always be giving you an experience that will leave you in love with me, and more so in love with yourself for believing in me.

That is the promise I am here to make.

I don’t know all those angels who read my book. But, there are some of them who read the book and later reached out to me. And, to all of those people, I have this to say,

You have practically changed my life. Let me know if someday I can be the guy who can lend a hand in changing yours. I will never say never.

Source:Instagram

Signing off,

An emotional potato,

Shilanjan

When I released my book on 21st Oct 2018, I had decided on a few things.

Decision 1:

There will be no monetary investment made towards boosting my reach, whether on Amazon, on Instagram or on Facebook.

Reason:

I wanted to see how creative and smart I could get with my marketing skills and ideas. My growth was therefore bound to be organic.

I had to let it grow on its own.

Decision 2:

There will be no free copies to give away for reviews or for promotion, as is a common practice among first timer self-published authors.

Reason:

I respect my work a lot. I know about all the hard work that has gone into making this book a real entity. I have nurtured and crafted it meticulously over a long passage of time, and that’s how this book came into existence. Thus, I know it better than anyone, its worth a lot more than zero value.

I feel that giving away my book for free would mean that I have lost hopes on it, or that I don’t have the patience to see how good it truly is.

My book is baby and I can never give up on it that way.

Decision 3:

There will be no fake or paid reviews, which again is a common practice among authors.

Reason:

I am a nothing else but a man of ethics. People who know me often charge me with a lot of negatives. Many complain that I have a bit of an ego and attitude problem. But, what almost all of those people also say is that I am a man of morals. That I am impeccable with my principles. And, that is practically the only asset I hold, my integrity.

Ergo, I had to be accountable to my soul.

PS: I agree I do carry with a bit of an attitude. But, I actually admire myself for that.

Thus, as a self-published, first-time author, when I had released my book, I had already set the bar a little too high for myself. I had set myself up against certain first month targets regarding sales and reviews which I wasn’t sure my book would be able to meet.

Turns out, today is Day-29 since release.

Outcome?

I had already achieved and breached all the targets I had set up for myself by Day-27 itself. The book is going strong, and has formed a solid review base on both Amazon and Goodreads for future readers.

Lessons learnt?

Always give your work time and support to grow organically. It surely will.

Think of better and more creative ideas to market your work. Put pressure on your head. Think of a new idea every morning and, execute it by every evening.

The Point is,

Giving away your work for free is not the solution. People don’t value work that comes with a ‘zero’ price or ‘free’ tag. Throwing money around your work to grab eyeballs is not a solution either.

The real solution lies in…

What work you are prepared to put in from your inside, from that head you carry on your shoulders?

Furthermore, have learnt so much in this course.

Trust me when I say this, this experience has taught me more about marketing than my MBA has. Also, this experience has taught me a ginormous lot about people, their psychology, the ease with which they lie, and how easily they say, “Always there for you bro!”

These experience have taught me a tremendous lot. And, these are the real assets that I have earned out of publishing and marketing my book. Not to mention, I surely have more ideas to market my future books or other works than anyone else who simply decided to giveaway his/her book to garner readers. So, that is another big asset. I have myself tried and learnt what works successfully in selling one’s work, and what doesn’t. And, I am continuing to garner new observations and insights every other day. Thus, there is so much I have learnt.

I can go on to list at least 20 other points and lessons that life hadn’t taught me in 23 years but working hard on marketing my book did in less than a month.

Thus, I regurgitate.

Give your work the time to grow. It’s your baby.

Whether it will grow well or not, it totally depends on you. If you’ll give it the support it needs, you won’t have a single reason to rue. That’s a promise. That’s a beautiful reality I have learnt, felt, lived and experienced.

Always learning,

Shilanjan

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Sep 1 2014.

I was up in front of my 125 odd engineering batchmates, asked by our Language and Communications faculty, Dr Alam to deliver a speech on any random topic of my choice for 2 mins at the least.

Outcome?

I sucked up. Sure, I spoke for entire 2 minutes duration. But nevertheless, I was not good. I was really bad. I wasn’t confident at all and in the end, I was shivering and sweating like a marathon runner does at the end of an hour long run. My shirt was literally that wet, especially around my lower back and underarms. Why did that happen? I had no idea. But, I knew one thing for sure. I wasn’t comfortable with public speaking.

So, what did I do to turn the situation around?

I did just what I was afraid of. I began to participate and practice.

I began participating in a host of group discussions (GD), debates, extempores, panel discussions and speech competitions. Any activity which would make me go in front of a number of people and talk, I would do it. No second thoughts.

My principle was straight forward and simple.

It didn’t matter if I made a fool of my self in front of people. All that mattered was that I did it with confidence. I had the clarity in my head which decreed that the day I would have accumulated that deal of aplomb in my guts, I would have won over my vulnerability as far as public speaking is concerned. The goal was not to become a great speaker. It was just to go out there and not feel anxious or afraid about doing something that my mind and body would have otherwise preferred not to do. Doing things that would be way out of my comfort zone.

Outcome?

In the 4+ years of my college life to this day, I have won over 6 Panel Discussions, 5 GDs and Debates, 2 Case Study presentations, 1 B-Plan contest, 3 Extempores and 1 Business Presentation Contest.

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I don’t know what the reader would make out of those numbers, but I believe that those are quite decent figures. And, if I have won those many, rest assured that I must have participated in at least 3 times those number of events and competitions to become worthy of winning them. And, you know what? I won most of those competitions in the last two years and not in the initial two years of college. In fact, my performances in the successive events have been immense improvements over their very preceding ones. Why? Because of compounding. Just as money compounds exponentially if invested deftly, so does confidence one holds. I didn’t know that until I myself experienced it.

Outcome?

I was no more afraid or apprehensive about whether people would approve of my thoughts and be congenial with my acts and ideas or not. What people would think or say about what I say, that was no more my concern.

I would no longer feel antagonized when I would have to compete against a host of good speakers because I had grown confident that I myself am not a bad speaker either. Also because I would be aware of the reality that if I would stay focused at the event and what others spoke, that would be enough for me to do better than I did the previous time. All because I have been used to that pattern now. The more I participate, the better I perform in every successive event. My confidence and performance level keep compounding.

Outcome?

Today, I know that even if someone dictates my name out of the blue and gives me a random topic to talk about in front of hundred-odd strangers on the stage, well, I will surely work something out on the spot. That’s what practice does to you. It breeds an unprecedented deal of confidence in you.

Unprecedented. Mark that word.

Every time I was going out and competing in some competition that involved public speaking, I was basically doing something that I was not comfortable doing. And, by doing that same thing which I was uncomfortable doing, and doing it again and again and again relentlessly, it was a natural turnout for me to begin to feel comfortable going up on stage and speaking.

Outcome?

Now, I am experimenting. Exploring what else I can do. I am trying to discover what all new possibilities this accumulated confidence opens up for me. Let me explain.

When my juniors asked me if I would like to host TEDx ABVIIITMG that they were organizing in August this year, I said yes. I knew that I didn’t have the experience to host that event. But, I was confident enough to go up the stage and make a fool out of myself for a 3-hour long event. I was not afraid what people would think of me in case I didn’t do well.

Outcome?

I did it. And, I did it quite well.

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Read more about it here: Jayant Shilanjan Mundhra’s answer to How was your experience of anchoring a TEDx event?

When I got to know that an open mic was about to happen in my college in association with Nojoto, I didn’t take a minute to make my mind that I was going to participate.

I had three options. I could do poetry, storytelling or stand-up comedy. I knew that given my past experience, it would be in my best interest to do a poetry act or storytelling. Had I been sane, I would have done that. But, I didn’t. I said, fuck those things. And then I went on to do stand-up comedy act which turned out to be quite a success. People laughed, clapped, hooted and hollered in my support. They cheered for me. Bingo!

Read more about it here: Jayant Shilanjan Mundhra’s answer to When was the last time you did something for the first time?

Before that day I never knew that I could make people laugh every few seconds. Now, I know. Also, I could never have even thought that I could don a stand-up comedy act in the first place. Now, I know that I can. Okay no. That’s an exaggeration. I am not good enough to say that. But you see? I am confident about it as well, even if I am not good enough. I know that even if I am not good, I can surely work something out if I were to be pushed under the spotlight.

That’s the thing I am talking about.

When you get out of your comfort zone, its only then that you learn that comfort zone is nothing but a scam that your mind is playing on you. If you heed to your mind, it’s going to keep you where you are. But if you choose to defy it, the possibilities are seamless.

Think about it. From being a person who once sweated like a sloth in a heat chamber after just 2 minutes of speaking, to hosting a 3 and a half hour long TEDx event and doing a successful stand-up comedy act and also winning sleuth of debates, GDs and other events as aforementioned, my growth has been phenomenal! For some that might be mundane. But given where I stood four years back, I know for certain that I have grown a lot, and have the potential for a lot more.

Back then on 1st Sep 2014, sweating and shivering after my first such public speaking experience, could I have even thought that someday I would have such things to write about in a post like this one? Hell no! But today, I know. All because I defied my mind.

And, that is the point I wanted to highlight in this post.

Practice and Participate. Step out of the scam that your mind is playing on you. And, possibilities will be seamless. If they have been for me, they can surely be for you as well.

PS: Liked what I wrote above? If yes, then you will surely like what’s in my upcoming book, Redemption of a Son which releases this 22nd October 2018 on Amazon’s Kindle Store.

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Source: Shilanjan on Instagram

Yours chatty,

Shilanjan

I want you to go back to when you were small 13-year-old. I want you to imagine walking to your father. And, I want you to contemplate what would have been his response had you confronted him that you want to become a racer. I want you to imagine what would have been the reaction? Would they have been supportive?

Leaving you with your answers, I would assume that in most cases the answer would have been a negative one. The case of Dr. Bani Yadav was no different. She was just 13 when she ambitiously told her father that she wanted to become a rally racer. And, owing to host of possible reasons, she didn’t get the support she yearned for.

Firstly of course, India of those days didn’t have the infrastructure to cultivate racers. Then, racing has always been associated with the males of the society. Thirdly, well it often sounds a risky activity to pursue. Thus, because all sorts of reasons, Dr. Yadav couldn’t pursue her will then.

Thereafter that 13-year-old grew up and got married. She moved on with life. Or maybe I should say, life kept pushing her on a course she never wanted to head towards. But, whatever odds came her way, whatever way her life changed, despite whatever responsibilities she had on her head now, she never let her dream die. She kept it breathing right inside of herself. And, long after she had gotten married, this woman accomplished her desire.

No doubt, it took a really long time for her to realize that desire of her. But, she kept that fire burning in her heart for all that long. She kept it alive. She didn’t succumb to life. She didn’t ever say, “That’s life.”

Instead, when she felt that yeah now is the time that she could stand up and pursue her dream, she freaking gave it all in to it. And, she succeeded because unlike most people like you and I, she turned her only passion into her only purpose, stuck to it, and nailed it.

In fact, she aced it.

Dr. Bani Yadav has not just broken a lot of stereotypes but also a lot many male egos. When on tracks, most of her competitors have always been male. And, many of them never miss a chance to quip stereotypical remarks as normal people often do about women drivers on roads. And, Dr. Yadav defeating them by crossing the finish line before them every time, that’s the way she chooses to shut such mouths.

I adore such women to an astounding extent. Women who challenge the status quo and make people rethink their established notions on gender roles and identities. That’s the kind of gutsy and ambitious women we need in our society. At least, I feel that’s the kind of women I would want to see coming up in my family. Women who stand up for themselves, and don’t look for a man’s assistance.

I often wonder, why young girls in our country or even outside are only exposed to barbies and fairy tales. Why they are always shown movies which end up with a ripped and muscular Prince Charming with shiny-silky hair coming to rescue her from sundry odds, and then rides her away on a sparkling white horse. Why don’t we recite to our girls the stories of Rani Lakshmi Bai who fought the British, riding a horse, with a sword in a hand, a shield in another, all while her baby was tied to her back. She stood as her own guard. She stood for her own interests and fought whatever odds life threw her way.

Rani Lakshmi Bai didn’t wait for a Prince Charming at that difficult hour. Instead she became a Princess Badass!

I think, there are many such examples of women who stand up for themselves every day. And, I see Dr. Bani Yadav in that same light. The way she realized her cherished dream which is mostly identified popular among males and the way she never gave up on her dreams even after decades having passed by, it is great tale of how our females should be.

Thus, here goes my proverbial hat in her respect. And, not just her respect, but for all such amazing women who we often encounter in our lives.

I had the honour to meet and briefly interact with Dr. Bani Yadav on 25th August 2018 when I was hosting TEDx ABVIIITMG where she gave an amazing talk.

Signing off,

Shilanjan

Every Hijra is a Transgender. But, Every Transgender is Not a Hijra.

How many people know that being a Hijra is a profession like being an engineer or a lawyer, while being a transgender is just one’s gender identity?

A Hijra is a transgender who earns her livelihood by going out asking for money from people in trains, at traffic snarls, at wedding ceremonies et cetera. Thus, as aforementioned, every Hijra is a transgender. But, every transgender is not a Hijra.

Hijras live together in what they call “Dera” whereby one of them (the eldest of all) is called the Guru and everyone else works under her. The members of these Deras go out to collect money from different areas, brings back the collection and submit it to the Guru. Using this money, the Guru then runs the Dera, provides for everyone’s subsistence and supports everyone in times of difficulties like when one of the members might need some medical assistance et cetera.

Unlike the Hijras, other transgenders don’t live together in Deras. Instead they are scattered amongst us all, living a life silently without garnering much public attention. But be it the Hijras or the other Transgenders, they don’t usually get an easy life.

Doctors deny them treatment in their hospitals and clinics. Restaurants deny them entry in their premises. No one rents them their houses. And, schools and colleges don’t take them in. All of this feels hypocritical to me as everyone feels comfortable in taking their good wishes, but not in treating them just like any other human being.

There is a lot that we common folks don’t know about the tough life that this neglected and uncared for section of our society deals with every day. And, that’s because we hardly ever interact with them. As soon as we see them, we think, “Ah! Now she won’t budge unless I give her some money.”

I mean, that’s how generations after generations of us men and women have been brought up. We don’t see them as just other gender of humanity but as Hijras. That’s their existence in our eyes. Hardly a few of us ever offer them water in the summers. Hardly any of us offer them food when we organize Langars and Bhandaras. And, I can go on this way.

I have been breathing on this world for 23 years now. Yet I knew nothing about them until 25th of August 2018. That day I had the honour to meet with Joyita Mondol , who is India’s first ever Transgender Judge. She was here to give a TEDx talk at my college, which I was hosting. And, in the night, when many of us from the Organizing Team had gathered with the speakers for some light banter and chatter, it was then that Joyita Ji shared with us all those insights that I have shared above.

There were so many moments when I felt like, “Damn it! I never knew this!!”

That’s me with Joyita Ji.

 

It was only in 2014 that the Honourable Supreme Court of India identified Transgenders as a Third Gender. Now, they too are ideally entitled to every facility that a man or woman receives in India. But, they still aren’t getting the equal platform in almost all facets of life. Thus, their struggle is far from over.

But, to see souls like Joyita Ji, clinching what place in the society was always rightfully her’s, I feel sanguine that sooner than later, we are going to witness a great revolution in India.

I am using the word revolution here because we have millions of Transgenders on our soil, who once given access to equal opportunities, education, healthcare and an equal representation in the Government & administration, it would mark the unlocking of a great force which would add to our nation’s growth just the way our women have since the Independence.

Thus, I see an India in making where,

“Do nahi, Teen lingg milkar Bharatvarsh ka sunehra bhavishya rachenge.”

I see an India in making where “Not two, but three genders will be scripting the golden future that awaits present day India.”

Signing off,

Shilanjan

 

That’s me hosting TEDx ABVIIITMG on 25th August 2018.

About three months back, one of my juniors at college, Deepankar messaged me that he and a few others had gotten the license from TED to host a TEDx event in our college. He told me that he and his team wanted me to be the Master of Ceremony (Anchor).

I was not so sure about it as the last time I was anchoring a show over a year and a half ago, it had not ended up that well. But then I thought, why not! It’s my final year in college and who knows when in the future I would again get an opportunity to go on stage in front of a good lot of people. Thus, I agreed. Then, once the date of the event was finalized, Deepankar messaged me again, sending me the necessary details like list of speakers, their brief backgrounds and other trivial stuff that I would have needed to prepare my script.

At last, as just a week was to go for the event to happen, I begun my work on the scripting. I was told to set up a formal script for the show. No punches or jokes. Minimal interaction with the audiences. I was also told to keep most of the show in English and to avoid using Hindi as the medium of conversation unless the speaker her/himself were to deliver their talk in Hindi. So bounded by those contours, that is how I prepped up the script and what I prepped up was what I rehearsed over the last two days.

And then finally the D-day was here.

Suited in the blazer of a friend’s brother, and donning the aplomb of my mother, at 11:15 am on 25th August 2018, I walked to the centerstage as the three spotlights threw the beaming photons on me. And, there I was, shining in front of the 100+ audience to kickstart the show.

And, that is just what I did.

But, what I didn’t realize was that the entire team had gotten into panic as soon as I started. I had forgotten to turn on the mic and everything was being recorded. What’s worse? I didn’t even realize that my mic was turned off. Standing tall and strong on stage, I just didn’t feel that anything was wrong. Anyways, I corrected my folly soon enough.

That’s how I started the first half of the show, abiding by all of the rules and directives. And I sucked to a good extent. There were instances when I fumbled. There were times when I forgot what I had written in the script. It didn’t go as bad as I am making it sound right now with my way of narration. But, it just didn’t go that good either.

As the clock turned to 1:00 pm, I announced a 20 minutes break time, so everyone could go to the loo, freshen up, have some refreshments and relax before we could start off with the second half. And, these 20 minutes offered me a good lot of time to gather some courage to break all the rules that I had been told to abide by. After all, those rules were all that had been ruining my show.

Think about it this way.

Writing in English is my forte, speaking isn’t. When it comes to speech skills, Hindi is the language in which I exude confidence, not English. Similarly, being formal and stoic while on-stage, that’s not my natural behaviour. I am more about fooling around, trying some punches, some of which turn out to be good, while all others fall back hard on my face making the audience laugh on me. What the rules decreed was that I had to put up a formal show while I am just not that material. I am better made for hosting an informal setting instead.

And, what helped me muster the much-needed courage to break those rules was the fact that it is my Final Year in college, so why give a fuck about what could happen. Hence, I told myself, once on stage, it’s going to be me deciding which way the show were to go and as everyone returned to the auditorium after 20 minutes of break, I went back to the stage with a whole different kind of energy and mindset.

In this half, I did almost the show in Hindi. I cracked quite a few puns over the Organizing team and threw more of punches over myself. This way, I made fun of myself, gave the audiences some opportunities to laugh and relax, and enjoyed the aura as the it went from being a formal setting to an energetic event. Also, I ditched the script on several occasions and went with the flow, all impromptu, and the outcome was that I got to hear more claps than I had ever heard before in any show, event or competition where I was on stage.

I laughed on stage which I was told not to, I fooled the audience and later confessed that I was fooling them, I recited a four-verse shayari to baffle up the crowd and everything worked. People laughed and clapped just as I wanted. As the Master of Ceremony, this was just what I wanted to take away as a memory, and thus, it all felt just so right.

When the event came to its conclusive end, the first comment I got was from the cameraman, Abhishek, “Bhai konsa jaanwar andar ghus gaya tha tumhare iss half mein!”

Bro, which animal spirit got into you in this second half!

Almost everyone said, that the second half was a whole another game, a whole another me. The energy was on a different level and as the end kept getting closer, the fun and vivacity in the aura only kept going up and up and up. Even some of the speakers who had delivered their TEDx talks, they appreciated my efforts. One of them who had seen me during the rehearsals, he even said that it was a prudent decision of mine to ditch the script and directives and go all impromptu. Later on, some of the college mates also took out time to message me to applaud my performance and stage management in the second half. Similar sentiments were shared by the Organizers as well. Thus, everyone ended up happy.

Furthermore, many from the audience, who I had never even met before, they appreciated my stage skills and confidence as well. One said that I should do more of such anchoring gigs. Another one said that in the second half, I simply set the show on fire. I don’t agree to that person, but damn it felt so good when she said that!

Do you see the joy and contentment on my face after successfully wrapping up the event!

All in all, it proved to be a fantastic experience for me. As I mentioned above briefly, the last time I was anchoring, it was about a year and a half ago. I had an experienced co-anchor who did her best to make me look good, and still I had sucked really bad. So bad that in the next year and a half I declined over six different opportunities to host events in my college, just because I was afraid that I would suck. And, compared to that experience, the way hosting TEDx ABVIIITMG turned out for me, it was an exhilarating experience from which I am taking away a whole lot of memories and confidence, ready to say yes to any and every opportunity to go on-stage which might come my way in the times to come. Bliss!

Signing off,

Shilanjan

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