I am deeply indebted to my father who injected an irresistible charm in me to hone my English speaking and writing skills at the age of 6 or 7. Though English was not taught properly in my school days, it was my dad who filled the vacuum and helped in refining my language abilities. Till I entered the first year of my graduation, I was neither good in writing nor speaking in English.
My father being a qualified stenographer but chose a different profession, used to cherish the profession of stenographer which prompted me to learn stenography. It was in 1988, I started my arduous journey of learning stenography. I used to underline the difficult words in the editorial page of newspapers and refer dictionary frequently for their meanings to improve my word power on daily basis.
My father suggested me to write passages on any topic of my interest to improve my power of expression. After following his advice for some years, the desire to excel in English reached to an unfathomable level and a strong urge to opt a career of journalist prompted me to do the ground work. A maiden attempt was made to write a Letter to the Editor to one of the prominent English dailies regarding my opinion on a certain contentious issue of that time. When I sent that letter, surprisingly my piece of comments were published in that newspaper. After seeing my name for the first time in the newspaper, my joy found no barriers.
Then the journey of my life took a new turn. One day I was asked by my mother to bring sugar from a nearby provision store. When I went there, my attention was drawn to nearby second-hand book-seller who stacked a bundle of old English books in a corner. When I approached and saw the kind of books, I was awe-stricken to see the priceless collection of Vedic literature, all published by Ramakrishna Mission. I instantly made up my mind to purchase the old books from the money meant for sugar.
Now when I look back, I feel that was the best decision ever taken in my life. Perhaps, I could not take sugar to my home, but the sweetness of those books is still lingering in my mind. When I brought the books to home and started reading , a sway of mystical power driven me to a point where I found a special delight on Indian philosophy. It further drove me to find some other scholarly books in the local Triveni Publishers where I bought Vivekananda's famous Chicago lecture book. That electrifying lecture swept my mind and helped me to improve my courage levels. Me, otherwise a shy guy who always feared to speak in English, improved my power of expression and writing abilities. Those books which I purchased occupied a special place as a first collection in my personal library started way back in 1989.
I was kind enough that my parents did not yell at me for diverting the money for books. Instead, they encouraged me to nurture my reading habit. Afterwards, my father used to give some money on the first of every month and I used to purchase a book or two with that money, thereby I slowly built my treasure trove. Though I almost neglected my studies in preference to books on philosophy, vedanta literature I had not felt hard to cope-up with exam pressure.
In fact, writing is not my cup of tea. But a desire to share my ideas prompted me to find an outlet and this blog gives the much needed outlet.
Born and brought up in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India.
A couple of articles were published in leading newspapers i.e New Indian Express and The Hindu and more than 30 articles were published in an online portal based in Tamil Nadu, India.
Below is the link to my article published in New Indian Express dated May, 11, 2012.
Below is the link to my article published in The Hindu - Metro Plus, Delhi dated October 30, 2013
Laurels :
While appreciating my articles, Andhra Pradesh's eminent writer, personality development guru Yandamoori Veerendranath said:
"A writer's great emotional need is to feel appreciated. It boosts the gusto of the writer to create better works. Regarding your letter, I have gone through few articles and found them interesting and knowledge oriented, from the daily routine. please keep it up.''
