The Discovery

It is the story of self.

I was living in Kozhencherry, Kerala with my parents and brother, in 1996, in my higher secondary schooling stage. Since it was a rural area, there used be scheduled power cuts for hours together, hence no television, and there was no neighborhood children to play around, I have to put up with my brother, and vice-versa, so during quarrel I end up in reading story books, always better than studying.

Because of the circumstances, I started reading books, which slowly became a hobby and now it is a passion.

We used to collect our pocket money just to buy Enid Blyton, Franklin W. Dixon, Carolyn Keene collections. We used to lend books from library. Per week two books were allowed.  So we both together will get home 4 books, and finish reading it in a week. We used to read under candle light, under the blanket with torch lights on, under the school text book cover, to cheat our parents. In holiday when I ran out off books, I used sit and copy them (I have two note books of hardy boys with me). After finishing it we used to discuss about its write up, flaws and the part which we liked the most, if it is a series then in the next book what might be the story line, so on... The most discussed and argued was Harry Potter.

There is a very good incident to mention about my book-reading, in my M.sc, Harry Potter series’ fifth-book came out - The Order of Phoenix. There was a bet among Harry Potter fans in our class. The bet was about, who will complete the book first. It was the second day, so I took leave from college and started reading the book day and night, I was so much involved in reading, and suddenly I heard my mom shouting madly (which she never does). Then I looked up her face to note that she was very angry and upset. I couldn't make out the reason for her rage, because it usual for me to read books late in the night. So what this all about?

Then I slowly heard noises coming from my neighborhood too!

Then I got up from my easy chair (c-bend chair)…. my legs were soaked in water! :(

It had rained heavily and flooded my ground-floor house and I didn't realize it!

But after helping for an hour or so I went back to my book by dawn 3 a.m. and finished it by 10 a.m.

Flood or no flood Harry Potter had to be completed, after effects I will handle it, once I have done my reading, this was my attitude.

Time ran and new responsibilities came-in, I was mom, and no time for reading books. Life was busy and happy. And Harry Potter series was completed and I too completed the book with great difficulty. My husband saw my interest in books and got me Chetan Bhagat's entire collection, it took me 3-moths to complete it, and over the phone I was discussing the book with my brother, he over-heard our conversation and was surprised by the way we discuss about books. That was the time my husband gave the idea of blogging.

Even though I stopped reading books, my connections with stories never ended, it took a turn for fairytales, now I am narrating stories for my daughter. Stories hold her attention, so making her to have her food and making her to sleep became made easy. Even my relatives used to wonder at how I used to cook up stories for my daughter from nothing and made it up so beautifully to hold her attention.

I got a Job, and in my lunch time I slowly started to read story books again. There I came across the 'Twilight-series' by Stephanie Meyer.  It took me 40-days to complete the entire four book series. But those 40-days changed a lot in me. I don’t know it may be because, I started reading like before. Every single minute I was happy, whatever and however the circumstances were, it didn't affect me. It may sound crazy, but just reading made me happy and joyful - This surprised me.  Then I realized what I wanted in my life. I wanted to write a story book!

Yes, that is what I am good at.

From my child-hood I used to feel that I didn't have any special talent to exhibit to others. I used feel jealous of my cousin who could sing, dance and paint well. I knew drawing and painting; I inherited knowledge of classical-songs from cousins, spiritual knowledge from my parents and Guru, learned science through degrees (fear of math, developed an attraction to science initially) and developed an interest in sports because of my brother's influence. In a simple way- I was jack of all trades, but master of none.

But now I discovered what I am good at – Story Telling!

I am going to write a STORY-BOOK! I wanted to be a writer – story writer.

I don't know how famous my book……Uhmm... books would be, but I will enjoy doing it.

I will publish a novel before my last breath!