My 6th book Mythological Monologues is now available on Amazon!

I am delighted to announce that my 6th book, "Mythological Monologues" is now available on Amazon Kindle. The paperback will be out later this year. The book is getting great reviews from fellow authors, bloggers, and readers. 

What the book is about!

How did Ahalya feel when Sage Gautam cursed her to be a stone?
How did Eklavya feel when Dronacharya asked for his right thumb as his Guru Dakshina?
How did Karna feel when he learned he was the brother of the Pandavas before the Kurukshetra war?
How did Draupadi go through the various trials and tribulations of her life? What was her anchor?
How did Arjuna feel after being enlightened by Lord Krishna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra?

The friendship of Sudama, the love of Radha, the longing of Rukmini, the devotion of Shabari, the compassion of Sita, and the revenge of Shikhandi also find a place in this book of dramatic monologues.

Embark on this fascinating journey inside the minds of iconic characters of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Listen closely to their voices and dive deep into their hearts. Maybe, you will find yourself in some of them.

Sharing two short excerpts from monologues of Janaki and Urmila from Ramayana. 

If you enjoy reading mythological fiction and poetry, you will definitely enjoy reading this book. 

Grab your copy on Amazon!

If you are a book reviewer and you would like to review the book, do let me know in the comment section or send me an email. 

My 5th book, "Letters from the Soul" launched in Blogchatter eBook Carnival

It's a very special day because my 5th book "Letters from the Soul" is launched today in the coveted #BlogchatterEbook Carnival Season 4 along with other wonderful eBooks. 

"Letters from the Soul" is a collection of 55 poems on soul healing, soul searching, and soul companions. I started working on it last year when I participated in the A-Z blogging challenge. I wanted more than 26 poems in this book and therefore I didn't publish it last year after the blogging challenge. I have experimented with more than 24 poetry forms in the book apart from writing in free verse. That was creatively so satiating.

I have divided the book into 4 seasons: Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer to show that life is just like a seasonal cycle. The way autumn gives way to spring, emptiness gives way to abundance. I got this idea after reading Toni Morrison's novel "The Bluest Eye".

If you enjoy reading my poetry, please go to the link mentioned below and download a free promotional copy of the eBook. 

 https://www.theblogchatter.com/download/purba-chakrabortys-letters-from-the-soul/

The eBook will be free for a limited time. So grab your copy and let me know your feedback. I can assure you that the poems in the book will give solace to your heart and soul. 

After the eBook carnival ends in June, I plan to launch the book on Amazon Kindle and then hopefully, release the paperback edition of the book by end of the year. 

The book is dedicated to all the believers, fighters, dreamers, and go-getters. I will need your support and reviews on this journey. Written with a lot of love, "Letters from the Soul" is now all yours. I welcome you on this soulful journey!

Launch of WritersMelon's Jukebox at Kolkata

I am thrilled to be a part of Writersmelon's Jukebox, an anthology of 15 winning short stories of Melonade, a nationwide writing competition. Jukebox was officially launched in Kolkata on August 19, 2017. The launch was successful, despite heavy rainfall. The book launch took place in the Doodle Room, which is a cozy corner for all art, music and literature lovers of the city. 

It was great to meet Pooja, who represented Writersmelon. Deepti (my coauthor of Jukebox) and I quickly clicked a selfie with Pooja before the launch. 

As Deepti and I were discussing the topics that we will discuss in the book launch, Pooja clicked some of our candid pictures. 

Preparing for the Jukebox launch. @purba_chakraborty @dipteeraut #bookstagram #wmjukebox #booklover

A post shared by writersmelon (@writersmelon) on Aug 19, 2017 at 5:54am PDT

The event started with our brilliant host, Rei, who introduced us and the book, Jukebox to the audience. 

She invited me to talk about my story in Jukebox after the introduction. My short story "Her Favorite Pupil" is about the relationship between a teacher and a speech-impaired student. It is a story about faith and love. Sometimes, all we need in life is a person who has faith in our potential more than we have on our own selves.

I said how a visit to my paternal uncle's deaf and dumb school gave birth to the idea of this story. It was a very special story for me as I understand how a good mentor can shape up the life of a person. During my school days, I was a very shy and introvert child. I remember there was a teacher who was ruthlessly harsh with me whenever I expressed the desire of taking part in extra-curricular activities. And in the same school, I also had a teacher who inspired me a lot. 

Next, my coauthors, Deepti and Uttiya talked about their short stories in Jukebox. 

Deepti's story "A deep fried love story" is a quirky love story of a woman on diet and a man on Alur chop whose paths cross in the Metro station. They see each other every day in the Metro Station, without speaking a word, but acknowledging each other's presence. 

Uttiya's story "Marital Chains" is a dark story about marital rape. Usnis and Ankita's marriage seems ideal, but is far from perfect. Uttiya explained why he had chosen this subject for his story. He explained that he had seen his friends stuck in abusive and disturbing relationships. This is the reason why he chose to write this story as he believes that victims must speak up.

After we talked about our stories, we formally posed with the book for shutterbugs. It was a moment of pride for all of us. All the 15 stories of Jukebox deal with an interesting subject that makes this anthology a treat for book lovers. 

After the formal launch of the book, we read a few passages from our stories for the audience. The book reading session was a lot of fun. 

Thank you everyone for coming to the book launch and making it a success💜💜💜 #repost @writersmelon • • • A short snippet from @purba_chakraborty's story in Jukebox. We hope you like the excerpt and buy the book to read the full story. Jukebox is available on Amazon now. #wmjukebox #jukebox #melonade #writersmelon #readomania #shortstory #booklover #booklaunch #shortstories #authorsofinstagram #purbachakraborty #excerpt #bookreading #booklaunch

A post shared by Purba Chakraborty (@purba_chakraborty) on Aug 19, 2017 at 9:22am PDT

Although it was raining heavily that evening, the launch of Jukebox in Kolkata was a success. We wrapped up the event by signing books for our enthusiastic readers who love reading short stories. 

Had such an amazing evening at the launch of Jukebox 💜 This picture was clicked by my lovely coauthor, Diptee just before the launch 😄 #jukebox #writersmelon #booklaunch #books #bookstagramer #bookishfeature #bookishlove #bookadda #adda #books #doodleroom #readomania #wmjukebox #authorsofinstagram #authorlife #poser #saturday #instabookclub #instabook #instapic

A post shared by Purba Chakraborty (@purba_chakraborty) on Aug 19, 2017 at 8:58am PDT

Buy Jukebox here! 

My third novel "Canvas of a Mind" is now available!

Blurb

What lies within?

Akashi lives with her younger sister, Ipsha in Kalimpong, a remote hill station. Their tranquil life turns upside down with the arrival of a stranger in the town, who stalks Ipsha desperately. He tries to lure her by sending love notes and playing a haunting tune on his harmonica, without revealing his identity and showing his face. 

As Ipsha gets bewitched by him, Akashi tries to protect her from the creepy stalker. She tries to solve the mystery of the stranger and gets shocked by certain revelations. Meanwhile, she realizes that her sister has been deceiving her at every turn of the road.

Why is Ipsha deceiving Akashi? And, what does the stranger exactly want from the two sisters? Will Akashi be able to save her sister from the darkness she is walking into? Or will she be shattered, knowing certain things about her sister that she had no idea about?

Taut with suspense, "Canvas of a Mind" will take you on a riveting ride. Are you eager to know what lies within?

I am so happy to announce that my third novel, Canvas of a Mind is now available worldwide at Amazon, both in Paperback and Kindle. 

Click for paperback:

Click for Kindle:

The book is also available at Barnes & Noble

Here is a quote from the book:

Cover Reveal of my 3rd novel "Canvas of a Mind", a psychological mystery

Blurb

What lies within?

Akashi lives with her younger sister, Ipsha in Kalimpong, a remote hill station. Their tranquil life turns upside down with the arrival of a stranger in the town, who stalks Ipsha desperately. He tries to lure her by sending love notes and playing a haunting tune on his harmonica, without revealing his identity and showing his face.

As Ipsha gets bewitched by him, Akashi tries to protect her from the creepy stalker. She tries to solve the mystery of the stranger and gets shocked by certain revelations. Meanwhile, she realizes that her sister has been deceiving her at every turn of the road.

Why is Ipsha deceiving Akashi? And, what does the stranger exactly want from the two sisters? Will Akashi be able to save her sister from the darkness she is walking into? Or will she be shattered, knowing certain things about her sister that she had no idea about?

Taut with suspense, “Canvas of a Mind” will take you on a riveting ride. Are you eager to know what lies within?

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I am exhilarated to announce that my third novel "Canvas of a Mind" is a psychological mystery, set against the backdrop of Kalimpong, a remote hill station in West Bengal. The book will be published in July, 2017 by Become Shakespeare as a part of their Wordit Art Fund Projects.Will be sharing the order links soon and also many things about the book. 

Do let me know what you think about the blurb and the cover. Need your best wishes! 

My short story "Her favorite pupil" is a part of Writersmelon's Jukebox!

How does it feel when one of your favorite authors writes the foreword of the book that you are a part of? How does it feel to be one of the 15 winners of a nationwide writing competition? Fascinating. Exciting. Fabulous. 

That's what I felt when I saw that Preeti Shenoy has written the foreword of Jukebox, a collection of 15 winning short stories of Melonade, a nationwide writing competition organized by WritersMelon. Melonade, 2016 was judged by a panel of eminent writers, one of them was Preeti Shenoy.  

My association with WritersMelon is a long one. I have been reviewing books for them since 2015. I appreciate the wonderful platform that they provide to authors and bibliophiles to showcase their talent and promote their work. 

When WritersMelon announced their nationwide writing competition "Melonade" in 2016, I couldn't stop myself from taking part in it. I wrote a short story titled Her favorite pupil which is about the relationship that a speech-impaired student shares with his mentor. It is about the teacher's unwavering faith in her student and how the student restores that faith after fifteen long years.

Sometimes all we need in life is a person who has faith in our potential and talent much more than we have in ourselves. Faith is truly magical. It can move mountains. 

This short story is very close to me as I have seen such a relationship between a teacher and a student where the teacher's faith gave the student the courage to chase his dreams. My paternal uncle runs a deaf and dumb school. I have seen him working day and night on speech impaired children and change some of their lives. 

I was thrilled when I learned that my short story Her favorite pupil is one of the 15 short stories that will feature in the anthology by WritersMelon. The book is edited deftly by Priyanka Roy Banerjee and it was amazing ti share writing space with some very talented writers. Jukebox is the 10th anthology that I am a part of. 

Jukebox is divided into 3 sections: 
-Spine Chilling Drama and Suspense
-Quirky, funny and awkward moments
-Poetic love of hopeless romantics

As a reader, I am having a great time savoring these winning stories. I am sure you will have a great time reading this book too. As WritersMelon say, it is a book about life choices that will compel you to think about the choices that you have made in your life. 

Check out the trailer and grab your copy! I am sure you will enjoy the reading experience. 

"The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words."~William H. Gass

Guest author in The Love for Colors, releasing on Valentine's

Since 2014, there is a similar pattern in my life during Valentine's day. Are you wondering what? Well, it is a book release, which I enjoy the most being an author. Whether an anthology or my solo book, Valentine's Day is the time of a new release. Last year, my collection of poems, The Heart Listens to No One was released on Valentine's Day and this year, the anthology Shades of Life 2: The Love for Colors is releasing. 

I was a part of Shades of Life that released last year, Holi. My short story Silent Offering is a part of the book. One day, when Sarav, the editor of the book invited me to be the guest author of The Love for colors, I was exhilarated. I asked him on which color I should write and he told me to write a poem blending the theme of colors and love. 

I associated each color of the rainbow with a girl's memories of a true love affair that is beyond physical separation. That is how my poem Epoch of our love was born which is now a part of Shades of Life 2 ~ the love for colors.  

I feel proud to be a part of this book because it is a very unique anthology. The authors have chosen a particular color and penned a story/poem that symbolizes the color. When the contest for this book was going on, the Shades of life Team uploaded a color chart so that the authors can work on their poem/story keeping in mind what the particular color symbolizes. 

I started reading the book yesterday and I am really enjoying the different flavors of the colors. I already read the poems and stories under the section Black and Grey. I am sure you will also enjoy exploring the various colors in the form of intriguing stories and soulful poems. 

Right now with the book and certificate in my hand, I feel extremely happy to be the guest author of this beautiful book which will release around Feb 14 this year. I will await your feedback on the book and review on my poem. Order your copy from the link below or gift it to your Valentine, if he/she loves reading.

Keeping promises to myself : Winning NaNoWriMo 2016

In the last week of October, I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo 2016 and write an entire novel of 50 K words in the month of November. It was a difficult challenge, but from a very young age, I get attracted towards challenges. The thrill of overcoming a challenge excites me.

I sketched the plot in the last week of October and embarked on a new journey of writing the book titled "Is it me you're looking for?" on 1st November. I was full of energy on the 1st week of November and managed to write 18 K words within 7 days. 

However, it was the 2nd week when things became really tough as I faced an emotional crisis and was also overburdened with tight deadlines. The pace decreased as a result. 

In the 3rd week, I had many social commitments such as friend's wedding and family functions that also made it hard to continue writing the novel along with the regular workload. 

However, it was the 4th week when I pulled up my socks and decided that, come what may, I am going to finish the novel I am working on. And on 29th November just before the clock struck midnight, I hit the 50 K mark and completed the 1st draft of my novel.

I validated my work and was awarded this beautiful certificate by NaNoWriMo.

I was overwhelmed with emotions as I received the certificate and realized that I had finally kept a promise to myself. After a long time, I gifted myself something that I will always be grateful for. This one month of discipline, hard work and not giving up had shaped me both as a writer and as a human being.

Generally, I take 4-6 months to pen down the 1st draft of a novel. For the first time, I did it in one month. This itself is a huge motivation for me. Now I can't wait to go back to the novel after taking a week break and read what I have written so that I can edit it accordingly. 

Thanks to all you lovely people who wished me all the best when I shared on my blog that I am going to attempt NaNoWriMo this year. Blogging took a back seat last month due to this, but December will definitely be full of blogging. I have so much to write and share in my most favorite space. 

NaNoWriMo: All set for a new challenge!

(Image Source)

I have been hearing about NaNoWriMo, which is the National Novel Writing Month since the last 4 years of my writing career. However, I couldn't motivate myself to take part in it because writing 50,000 words in a month along with managing regular workload (content writing in my case) doesn't sound easy at all. 

Moreover, there is no denying that I am so lazy, especially in the weekends. I hardly skip a weekend without catching up my friends, partying or going to a movie. So I never dared to attempt NaNoWriMo. 

However, this year, things are different. I want to challenge myself for NaNoWriMo due to plenty of reasons. First of all, I have been really bad to 'the writer in me' this year. During late August, I was so disheartened due to some reasons that I almost decided to quit writing. Even thinking of it makes me shiver now. How could I have even thought of that? Writing is like breathing to me, and even for some vulnerable minutes, I thought of giving it up. 

After that episode, I had a contemplative September when I rediscovered myself and made certain changes in my life to promote my well-being and to fuel my creativity. I made peace with the fact that writing is the number one priority in my life. It is the purpose and meaning of my life. I cannot let anything, no matter how important, take me away from it. 

I am having a wonderful, festive October with plenty of celebrations and travelling. All my close friends are Libras and therefore, October is all about birthday parties and celebrations for me. It was less work, more play. 

So now that I am all recharged with the celebrations, I have decided to commit myself to NaNoWriMo from 1st to 30th November. You can find me (Purba_Chakraborty) on the NaNoWriMo website. Please add me as a writing buddy if you are also participating in it this year. 

The tentative title of my novel is "Is it me you're looking for?" I wanted to write this book since a long time, but I have always postponed it, for some reason or the other. So, I feel that NaNoWriMo is the perfect push that I need to write this book. 

Rumi once said: "What you seek is seeking you."

The story of "Is it me you're looking for?" takes inspiration heavily from this quote. It is an emotionally intense, gripping and moving story about lost love, broken dreams and the power of miracles.

I am spending these days plotting and preparing for NaNoWriMo. I really don't remember the last time when I was so excited to start working on something new. 

Have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo? Do you have any tips for me? Please feel free to share.

My Journey To Become An Author

Two weeks back, one of my favorite bloggers and author of Metro Diaries, Namrata (popularly known as Privy Trifles in the blogosphere) invited me to write a guest post for her blog. She told me that she would love to have my journey to become an author.

The idea seemed great and it was amazing to reflect on my journey and see how far I have come with all the learning, setbacks and appreciation. 

"It always feels so good to recall all the moments that made up my journey of writing. Thank you, Namrata for giving me this lovely opportunity to talk about my journey to become an author. Today, if anyone asks me to describe my journey in one word, it would be “enlightening”. By that I don’t mean that it has been a smooth and easy ride. Well, it is a blend of many beautiful, magical, healing, frustrating, distressing and enriching moments.

At one point of time, we all choose a certain path to connect to our inner self. Some do it through meditation or prayer. Many do it through travelling. I feel that when I write, I can connect to my soul the most....."

You can read about my entire journey here: Guest Post: The Writer in me by Purba Chakraborty

Shades Of Life releasing on Holi!

Shades of Life is an anthology of short stories and poems, each of which depict a shade of life. Life is a supernova of emotions and the stories and the poems in the book highlight those myriad hues of life that makes it a roller-coaster ride.

It is the seventh anthology that I am a part of. The book has my short story Silent Offering which talks about the emptiness that gnaws at you when you abandon your most loved dream. It also talks about unconditional love and friendship. 

Here's a quote from my short story:

 

“Some people are not meant to be a part of our lives forever. Some people visit our lives for a brief period, not to stay in it, but to show us something that we have been unable to see it ourselves. In the form of a gift, a lesson or a piece of wisdom, they change the course of our life and help us to fulfill our destiny.”

― Purba Chakraborty, Shades Of Life

Many of my blogger friends are also a part of this book. It has been compiled and edited by Saravana Kumar Murugan who is also a prolific blogger. The foreword has been written by Vinit.K.Bansal who is a bestselling author. 

The book will be releasing on Holi. It's currently available for pre-order in Amazon: http://amzn.to/1njjwXD

If you are in Goodreads, you can check out all the Quotes of the book
and also enter the Goodreads Giveaway to win a signed copy of the book. 

A lot of heart and soul has gone into the making of the book. It has soulful stories and poems by both new and professional writers.

I have a short message for all of you in this video. 

 

Make your Holi more colorful with Colors: Shades of Life!

 

My 1st poetry book...Releasing on Valentine's

My relationship with poetry began when I was eight years old. I have memories of writing poems on sheets of paper and using my Dad's stapler to make it look like a book. I used to also sketch something on the first page and write "A collection of poems by Purba" on top of it.

So, I guess I had this dream of authoring a poetry book since I was eight. I have authored 2 novels till date Walking in the streets of Love and Destiny (2012) and The Hidden Letters (2014). I have also contributed my poems in various anthologies. However, I was a bit hesitant to release my solo poetry book because of various reasons.

Honestly, my blog played a huge role in making my decision firm to work on a poetry collection. It helped me polish the art of writing poetry and also rekindled my intense feelings for poetry. 

Here, I must also mention the talented poets that I came across Poets United, a community for poets who blog. Their constant encouragement and honest feedback had helped me a lot. Had I not come across Poets United, perhaps I would have been happy being just a contributing poet to anthologies.

So, finally, after 2 months of hard work, I am ready with my 1st poetry book. It's titled ~

The Heart Listens To No One

...it hums its own song...

It is a collection of 35 love poems. The poetry collection is divided into the following 5 sections, representing the 5 aspects of love~

Unconditional Love

Longing

Romance

Fond Reminisces

Separation

The Kindle Edition of the book will be available for download on Valentine's. I am also looking forward to release the book in paperback. If things go right, then may be the print version will be available by April. 

Will soon share the ordering links.

And here is the cover of my 1st poetry book. Hope you all like it.

Poetry in 2015

"Poetry is plucking at the heart strings, and making music with them." ~ Dennis Gabor

For me, poetry is as essential as love, music and Nature. Poetry is one of the best therapies of the world. When I am distressed or sad, I cannot work on a novel or a short story, but I can write poems on any subject. Poetry is as effortless as breathing to me. Although I have been writing poetries since I was eight or ten years old, I couldn't discover the passionate poet within me until this year .

Yes, this year has been like an intense affair with poetry. I have written more than a 100 poems this year, got published in several anthologies and magazines and got to connect with some supremely talented poets around the globe through Poets United. What a blissful year it has been, with poetry as my beloved!

4 of my poems "Monsters in my bed", "The Bittersweet evening", "Your first hello" and "Years pass by" have been published in this wonderful anthology of poems, Rhymes and Rhythm. 
The best thing about this book is that the paperback version of it is now available globally, including Japan, Canada and the countries of Europe.

You can buy the book here

This book, Melange~ a potpourri of thoughts is a rich potpourri of poems by some talented poets from India. I am so glad that my poem "Forsaken" got selected to be published in this prestigious anthology by Poets Corner. 
The best thing about this book is that it has poems by literary stalwarts like Ruskin Bond, Vikram Seth and Shekhar Kapoor. Nothing can be better than sharing poetic space with people whom you deeply admire and idolize.

You can buy the book here

This book, Kaafiyana is a collection of contemporary soul stirring verses in English and Hindi. The winners of the national poetry contest "The Delhi Poetry Challenge" got featured in this book, which was released on the Kaafiya Poetry Festival (October, 2015). My poem "The Thread and the needle" which is a metaphorical take on contemporary relationships got published in this book. 

You can buy the book here

I recently got an opportunity for writing a poem on my sun sign and my poem "Musings of a Gemini Lass" got selected in the upcoming book, Musings of the Stars. 
The best thing about this book is that it contains poems on all the 12 zodiacs by 24 poets. I loved the concept and I am glad to be a part of this book.

So, 2015 has been a very beautiful and enriching year with poetry. Finally, after completing my 3rd manuscript, I started working on my solo poetry book from 1st November, the Kindle Edition of which is scheduled for a Valentine's Day release.

The book is titled Every Love Story Needs a Song and is divided into 5 themes, each of them portraying a different facet of love. I must thank my dear friend, Gaurab for nagging me to work on my solo poetry book since over six months and also for suggesting the title, which I found perfect for the poetry collection. 

I hope my relationship with poetry strengthens with every passing day and I can create good art always.

Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks. ~Plutarch

Celebrating 3 beautiful years of Being an Author

The month of August has always been very special to me. My first book Walking in the streets of love and destiny released in August, 2012 and my second book The Hidden Letters released in August, 2014. 

So, as the August of 2015 arrives, I realize that I am a 3 year old author now. My father pointed it out to me and told me that we must celebrate the August of every year as your author birthday month.

As my father said, I am born twice on this Earth. One on June, 1990 as Purba, the daughter of my parents and another on August, 2012 as Purba, the author. This reminds me of the famous Mark Twain quote about the 2 most important days in your life.

I cannot thank the Universe enough for showing me the purpose of my life. This is the greatest gift that the Divine has given me. Even when I am hardest hit, deceived by a dear person or pain tries to drown me in the ocean of melancholy, my art makes me feel that life is a beautiful gift. I have only this life to live as Purba, the author and so, I want to do it in the best way possible.

Looking back on my journey today, it was a tremendous roller coaster ride where there were thorns and pebbles at every turn of the road. After the turn, there were again flowers and glitters. It feels surreal to look back on my journey and realize how I have grown bit by bit, with every passing day, how the universe kept providing ink to my pen and life inspired me through pain and joy alike.

2 novels, 4 anthologies, 1 almost finished manuscript and 1 work in progress.

So, yes! 3 Beautiful Years of Growth and Learning. I wish to write till my last breath. Writing is a kind of meditation or prayer to me. When I write, I feel that I am with God. 

I wish to share in this post the 3 magical and memorable moments of my life after being an author:

1. I was travelling by bus. A co passenger was standing beside me and kept ogling at me for a long time. I started feeling uneasy, although she was a girl. Suddenly, she told me that my face looks familiar and asked me what I do for a living. I told her I am a trainee and I am also an author. That is when she revealed that she has read my 1st book recently and it's among her favorites. I was surprised to find that this reader of mine identified me through that small author photograph in my book.

2. I was delighted to see my first book in the Kolkata Book Fair, 2013. My friends and I kept posing in front of the shelf where my book was kept. Right then, a girl told me with an irksome look to move from the front and bought my book in front of me. She said to her friend that the blurb looks interesting and she is sure that the novel will be great. The girl had no idea that the author was standing right beside her on whom she was annoyed. I managed to capture the moment when she picked my book.

3. When I narrated the story of "The Hidden Letters" to my Dida (granny), I could see tears in her eyes. This was a truly magical moment for me as she loved Anaya and empathized with her, just by listening to the story. Dida requested me to translate the book in Bengali one day so that she can read it. My Dida cannot read English and I plan to get a good translator for my book soon. 

Today, I want to thank my family, friends, book reviewers, publishers and everyone who has been a part of my journey as an author. But mostly, my readers for all the innumerable mails and messages that they sent to me. They really keep me going! After all, an author doesn't have any identity without the reader.