“Who reads Hindi nowadays?”
“Who will read the Hindi poems?”
These weren’t just two sentences, but questions posed to me before I began my journey as an author.
Since childhood, I was fond of writing. I am from a small town of “Muzaffarpur” in Bihar and never thought that my book will be available all over the world and will get so much love. Although I give full credit to my wife and a few friends, who have encouraged me to get my Hindi poetry published, it will be unfair if I won’t talk about the kind of support I received on twitter.
Being quite active on twitter for almost 5 years (Thanks to my smartphone), I have seen it going through many changes. I still remember how it was a fashion to trend any topic with an innovative hashtag. Where it was funny to replace a movie name, troll movie celebrities with their movie dialogues and making them overnight social media sensations. Plus making jokes on ongoing cricket/football matches and of course navigating abusive trolls here and there.
In a race to gain maximum followers on twitter, I started sharing my views on every trending topic and tried to contribute effectively. To contribute to the trending topics, one needs to be quick with their one liners. I soon started reading various books, online journals and also interacted with many subject experts on twitter. Twitter most importantly helped me to develop a sense to quickly say something in a concise and poetic way. I learned how to share my thoughts in 2 liners or in 140 characters.
Another good thing about twitter was that it exposed me to new topics every day. Having a knack for poetry, I also got a chance to share my 2 liners on political frustration, nationalism, festive happiness, romance, movies. These 2 lines were quite effective to reach people and also improved my style of writing.
We need to be focused and disciplined to write a book. It is a common perception that these days people of all age groups, waste lots of time on social media and normally lose their concentration and discipline. Both the factors which are instrumental in helping one become an author.
I personally disagree with an assertion that social media is a waste of one’s time. On social media, one needs to distribute their energy more effectively and efficiently to get the right results. It helps one stay updated about ongoing activities, breaking news, achievements etc.
While using Twitter I got a chance to interact with various Sports, Bollywood, TV, Politics and Media legends and discussed diverse topics of their respective fields. Twitter also helped me connect with many influential and right-minded people. I made many new friends there who were supportive during this journey.
When I completed my book, I approached many publication houses through phone calls and emails. Being a first-time author, it was difficult to get an appointment or response from them. I waited for almost 6 months and then finally I got a chance to get a publisher via twitter.
Eventually, it also became easier to contact a person from any political party or Bollywood.
Twitter gave me a platform where I could share my thoughts, views, contents as well as my witty or poetic liners and get an immediate feedback. Of-course, I have received both positive and negative feedback and it gave me an opportunity to interact both with like minded people and also gave me a chance to understand the views of people who differed in their opinion.
If all this wasn’t enough, my 16,000 twitter followers and friends supported me by either purchasing by book’s copy or by spreading the word on social media. For that I would like to thank each and every one of them, it was not possible without their support.
About my book:
Titled Kuch Woh Pal, it is a collection of 50 poems which capture the essence of life’s unforgettable moments like time spent in college hostels, the night out with friends, the remembrance of love.
You can buy my book at Amazon and Flipkart and relive those moments.
