Workplace plays a vital role in any organisation or institution and keeping a healthy environment is of utmost importance.
Hence, several strategies need to be maintained by the employers to give the employees some benefits and a suitable place to work so that they can get the best out of them.
In his book ‘Workplace Strategy’, Amit Raual has provided the readers with minute details about everything they need to know about workplace to get successful results.
Divided into nine chapters the book explains the meaning of workplace strategy, its background, the effective management, tools and the future of workplace.
The author has answered every probable question that may arise in the minds of employers and the head of any organisation.
With the changing environment, needs and demands, the workplace must also change so that the outcome is most favourable, and the organisation can stand out from the rest of the workplaces.
Employees spend most of their time at the workplace, hence they definitely deserve certain allowances and a healthy environment with a good pay scale.
When an individual thinks of owning an organisation, he or she must plan it very strategically and carefully to make a good position in the job market.
They can either hire people meant for this job or they can plan themselves and come out with something extraordinary that will attract employees from various parts.
The author has given many real-life instances to make his point clear to the readers so that the latter has a crystal-clear picture of all the valid points in his mind.
Amit Raual has chosen simple yet powerful words to write this book so that it is easy for everyone to understand and create an impact as well.
The chapter divisions will help the readers to find what topic they are exactly looking for and can read them accordingly.
Every aspect discussed in this book has been supported with an example which makes it a lot easier to understand and apply it in reality.
In every workplace, the relationship between employers and employees holds a lot of importance and it can either make or break an organisation.
This angle of workplace strategy has been explained and discussed minutely and elaborately in ‘Workplace Strategy’.
The title of the book has been kept quite simple, yet it says everything about the content.
This is a must-read for those who are planning to open and own an organisation and also for those who already have it and work there.
What is the feedback from your friends and readers?
The people who read ‘Durga’ (the first volume) said that the Durga increased their mental strength. They feel she is the daughter of their house. Durga is the living documentary of life, mind, desire and suffering of women. Basically, on my wish and request from my readers, I first thought of publishing it in book form.
What kind of books inspire you as a writer? Who are your favorite writers?
Psychological novels. My favorite authors: Manik Bandyopadhyay, Santosh Kumar Ghosh, Atin Bandyopadhyay, Premankur Atheri, Joy Goswami and Bani Basu.
Why did you want to become a writer? Who inspires you to become a writer? What’s the problem?
I did not want actively to be a writer. But writing spontaneously turned me into a writer. This is the feeling of a pure suffering, which has taken shape in the form of words.
No special person has inspired me to write. Rather, this thought has inspired me that the life-sustaining experiences that I have enriched me should be left somewhere for the next generation of women, so that someone can find answers to their own life-questions in this novel.
What are you doing to let readers know about your book?
Nothing special. I believe, if it is honest literature, then the reader will find it … today or tomorrow. I just posted the pictures of cover design on my Facebook wall and on my own page, where I first wrote Durga and received huge response.
Tell me something about your book. Some highlights.
‘Durga’ is not a story of a goddess; it is the story of the transition of a baby girl. Her psychology, material life, the art of her life, which has shadowed many women’s happiness and sorrow, success-failure, love and love-breaking pain. How to make changes in circumstances outside the control of the people, how to overcome it, a girl learns to make her pain in her compositions from adolescence, how the world snatches away from her hands, and after completing all her work after reaching the end of her life she takes up the pen as a tool. By doing so, one is struggling with a singular struggle. The novel is a continuous articulation that will be completed in four episodes. Durga is a symbol of women power here.
Tell me something about yourself and your background.
I was born in a simple but educated and close-knit middle-class family in Calcutta. I identified myself as a well-taught, self-reliant, well-liked humanist personality. Being a teacher, I had a long-standing communication with teen girls. This is my real identity. Promotion of my life by promoting the spirit of self-respect and education among teen girls through teaching.
Do you plan to take a full time profession if response is good?
Writing is my passion, my own resource. And teaching is my career, my place of love. Both are necessary in my life. I want to maintain these two sides in parallel. So at least I have no plans for an early retirement from my career.
Congratulations on the release of ‘Hinduism’. What is the feedback from your friends and readers who have already read your book.
The feedback from my first book ‘Two World Religions’ was good. Many people congratulated me for publishing this book.
What kind of books inspire you as a writer? Who are your favorite authors?
It varies, in which mood I am/was at a particular time. I have various interests and my theme of interest has changed many times, depending on my life’s circumstances. At the moment I am interested to know more about my own religion, Hinduism’s history. As a child and as young man I had just followed my family in religious ceremonies, without thinking much about what I was practicing. This has changed now. Now books relating to Hinduism’s controversial history have priority. Many books, published by European and Indian Indologists are of interest to me and I read them to expand my knowledge.
Why did you want to become a writer? Who inspired you to become a writer? What triggered you to come into writing?
I neither planned or nor ever wanted to become a writer. After retirement, I was looking for some intellectual engagement as hobby. The books I have published until now, resulted from this engagement. I published two professional books, one on ‘Chemical Engineering’ and another on ‘Engineering Mathematics’ in Germany in year 2001. Then I turned to themes, which interested me most – history of ancient civilizations. As religion influenced ancient civilizations, as an instrument power, I turned to religion and came to study the origin of religions in ancient times.
This interested me and I picked up the theme, also for the simple reason that religious conflicts resulted from misuse of religion for individual gains of people in power. So illumination about the original idea of a particular religion may help dissuade religious conflicts. I have no big plans for this, only a humble attempt to contribute something.
What are you doing to let readers know about your book?
I have not been able to do much about letting others know my book. My financial means are limited. I only hope, something, or some happening at some time, may help me to make my book better known.
Tell me something about your book. Some highlights.
This is given in my present book under discussion at the end. If you read the book, you will find it at the end.
Tell me something about yourself and your background.
I am now a ninety-year old man and my physical ability to be active is limited. Moreover most of my dear friends, my own brother, own sister, are all dead. I am left alone. As a lonely survivor, I am trying to make the best out of my present situation. I am glad that I can still read, write, talk and contribute something useful.
My own biography is given in the book under discussion at the end. I am an Indian by birth and India is my home country and I have German citizenship now.
Throughout my life I have read voraciously – as a student Bengali and English literature, as a professional engineer Engineering books. Now after retirement, mostly books on ancient religion.
I love vocal music, I sing Bengali songs even now, though my ability to sing in public now is not at its best. As an young man I had great pleasure in singing in friendly gatherings (birthday party, death anniversary, marriage, puja festivals,etc.). I listen to Bengali music regularly at home even now. My daughter is a professional musician and she keeps me in touch with European music.
What is the feedback from your friends and readers who have already read your book.
The name of my book is ‘School Education At A Crossroads: A Collection Of Essays’. My friends feel that the initiative undertaken is in the right direction as it reveals genuine concerns to improve school education; for them, the book does not appear to be written by one endeavoring to write for the first time; the essays, they opine are quite introspective, reflecting a matured mind with sound experience in the field of school education.
What kind of books inspired you as a writer? Who are your favourite authors?
Non-fictions that stimulate one with social concerns and generate a different type of awareness about the nature and cause of social existence, provide pragmatic wisdom excite meal ways to go for them.
Specifically, in my schooldays, it was Khushwant Singh who inspired me to observe the real world around and describe it with exactness of details while in later days, it was Bertrand Russell who influenced me to develop my thinking and interpreting skills and my style of expression.
Moreover, there are several international and national writers whose ways of looking and interpreting social situations have impressed my style of writing the current non-fiction on school education.
Why did you want to become a writer? Who inspired you to become a writer? What triggered you to come into writing?
There is always an inner urge in me to express myself on issues that genuinely bother the society, in particular, the common man. I have been writing and expressing my ideas since my schooldays.
With years of growth of wisdom and matured consciousness while working in the field of school education for more than three decades, I have genuinely felt that there are certain serious issues pertaining to school life of the child and the school system which have been either ignored or not adequately addressed and these difficulties as hurdles are growing with time and weakening the base of the pyramid.
I am committed to pen them, with an aim to improve and bring change in the system while drawing the serious attention of the school authority and the state or central administration for crucial change in the form of remedial measures.
Prior to this, I have drawn serious attention of school authorities and various school boards with my critical narratives on child education.
These have impressed my readers both in India and abroad. The general appreciation of my readers and my concern for the current plight of school students influenced me to go ahead with a more intense mission to produce a collection of essays on school education.
I believe the effort is going to create a substantial impact in all segments of society worried and deeply concerned about school education.
4. What are you doing to let readers know about your book?
I know the potential of Power Publishers, confident about their marketing ability and have firm belief that the team management would ensure the book gets fair publicity to attract concerned readers.
Being in the field of school education for last thirty years, I believe, I will be able to draw the right attention of worthy readers keenly interested about improving school education across the country.
This would obviously require the spread of crucial concerns related to the book through various means of communication and smooth transfer of issues worrying people about the system, while highlighting the said contents as excerpts from the book.
Moreover, the essays portray real issues bothering parents, teachers, young and old; these are extremely sensitive and have become genuine social concerns, the issues that cannot remain ignored by readers for long.
Tell me something about your book. Some highlights.
The book mirrors the present school-life reality; provides a comparative analysis of the declination of standards of traditional education with the emerging modern trends influencing post-globalised world.
It details about the colonial culture of British education eclipsing the Indian community life and distancing the rural world, right from pre-independent days. It shares critical concerns about how the present social trends are making the current education almost irrelevant while tabling painful education-scenario affecting the rural pupils and also reveals an internal desire of Indianizing school education.
In various ways, the essays bring forth the present plight of Indian school education; that, could neither become a comprehensive system no rad here to remain life worthy learning process. Mostly the system almost functions still as apart of British legacy and has failed to influence positively the growing social change adversely affecting student life.
The book emphasises that school education has to manifest all at tributes of coexistence and equality; accept and appreciate religious and cultural diversities while honestly focusing upon rural empowerment of the young. Some of the essays point out about the students need of new confidence to grow with an independent thinking mind for’parrot-learning’-no longer can create able citizens. Even the impact of technology-aided learning can bring in stimulus excitement in the school environment but it cannot surpass the permanent influence of real life on pupil’s mind.
A developing nation with a lion’s share of poor and unemployed population need altogether a different form at of school education. I have revisited almost all essential tenets of school education and delved deep revealing different angles of change immediately desired in them to improve the system.
There are other essays that concentrate upon students fundamental need and right to education and these link with citizenship, welfare concept, the necessity of secular culture and the need for education of the girl child.
Finally, the last essay has altogether a different scenario of concern about the requirement of proper school education in Kashmir, under present conditions. This is quietly insightful in approach.
Tell me something about yourself and your background.
I am in the field of school education for the last three decades; I have always had a deep bond with my students, understood their difficulties and their nature of hesitation while I headed several well known institutions in the country and abroad. I have experienced how student-life has become extremely complex; the issues that bother the young learners hinder their advancement in academic world.
I took up the task of writing these essays with a firm belief that someone in tensely experienced in the said field should endeavor to project the real picture of the present plight of school education that require immediate remedial plan sand procedural measures for real improvement.
Do you plan to take it up as a full time profession if response is good?
I do plan to take up writing as a full time profession irrespective of the response I receive from my readers about the book. I have already one more project almost ready for publication.
Congratulations on the release of ‘Listen to Heart : Rhombus’. What is the feedback from your friends and readers who have already read your book.
It is a different type of book. It is very creative.
It is unique as the preaching of Bhagawad Gita is linked to day to day happenings. This book has a strong message for the society where the suicide rate is increasing.
What kind of books inspire you as a writer? Who are your favorite authors?
Earlier, as a kid. I enjoyed Hardy Boys and fiction.
Authors I used to follow was Sidney Sheldon, M. Goldratt, Shiv Khera, Franklin W Dixon, A Parthasarathy, Srila Prabhpada and others.
Now a days I like books which are very practical in life.
Bhagavad Gita is a book is a complete package.
Why did you want to become a writer? Who inspired you to become a writer? What triggered you to come into writing?
After going through Bhagavad Gita I understood that the preaching are directly linked to day to day happenings. So it is – A way of Life… To make it understand better I decided to write and prove myself. By this I could return something to the society.
What are you doing to let readers know about your book?
Through social media. Through my own website http://www.anuragamvatsa.in/
Tell me something about your book. Some highlights.
A love story.
It has four characters in the story as four sides. They lived their life on their own perception. They also had to adjust by accepting some bitter truth and sacrificing to some extent their egos to lead happy life.
Rhombus is a four sided but angle not fixed as rectangle and square. So one should be ready to stay within the boundaries and if required should adjust in life as a rhombus adjusts the angle to form the boundaries. Life is a cycle of Birth and Death, Old age and pain. One has to adjust to these four stages. Happiness, unhappiness, success and failure are the sides of boundaries of life after birth before death.
So stay unattached to the results of our karma or duty.
Tell me something about yourself and your background.
The author of this book was born as a soul of Vatsa (Vatsa Sage) in a Brahmin family in a village in Bihar Sharif in the district of Nalanda. This soul is tagged as Anuragam Vatsa in this changing world and was well known as ‘Bihari’ at school and college.
His father (Shri Digvijay Kumar Singh) is an Agriculturist and mother (Smt. Lakshmi Singh) is a home maker. He was brought up with his three sisters (Anjana, Arpana and Amita). He tied the knot with Pooja as his better half and was later blessed by the Lord with his best part ‘Astitva’.
He started his basic education at his village. In the early age he started living with his Buaji. So they were taught to stay in a joint family and have respect and love for each other. He studied in St. Joseph Primary School, Patna. His parents wanted him to go through good education with high values, so he moved to ‘Scindia School’, Gwalior. After completing his schooling, he pursued for B.E. (Mechanical) from Bharati Vidyapeeth’s College of Engineering, Pune University. He completed his Diploma in Export Management) and moved to complete his MDBA (Finance) from SIMS, Pune. He is a Gold Medalist in trekking (Dukes of Edinburgh’ Expedition) and touched two glaciers Mandakani and Pindari.
He started his professional life with Gas Corporation of India Ltd., Patna. He is presently performing his karma to lead his life with RSB Group. He is a life member for ‘Indian Institute of Materials Management’ and ‘Indian Institute of Welding’.
His parents ensured that during vacations he was at his village to understand the life from roots. His great, great, grandfather (Shri. Titan Pd. Singh) had got a temple (Radhe Krsn) built in the village by donating the best and major portion of his land property to temple. He believed that all was of Krsn who had made him just the care taker. The seed of Krsn’s love was sowed right from childhood. This helped him in ‘The Transformation’ to understand ‘The Other Side of Life’, which is actually the real side of life but we have termed in other way round terming the real side of life as the other side of life and the other side of life as the real side of life. He became a life member of ISKCON, Patna.
After reading the Bhagavad Gita, he decided to write what he understood for better understanding. He got an instruction from his inner conscious to start his journey of learning, understanding and practicing for ‘The Other Side of Life’ by ‘Listening to his Heart’ and work towards ‘The Transformation’ and be happy as Your Happiness is your State. This way the journey of ‘Listen to Heart: The Transformation’ continues after taking a rest at the milestone where he learnt that Change Yourself Rather Changing Others while understanding ‘Listen to Heart: The Other Side of Life’.
Do you plan to take it up as a full time profession if response is good?
May plan as writing is my passion and it motivates me
Bhagavad Gita is considered to be a religious and spiritual book but it can also help us to lead our daily lives as shown by the authors of ‘Listen to Heart: Rhombus’.
Lord Krsn’s teachings and his conversation with Arjuna is the content of Gita and reading it can enhance our enduring abilities, peace of mind and we can lead a happy life.
The teachings of Bhagavad Gita have been portrayed in front of the readers through a story about Rohan, Sneha, Ryan and Monty and the other characters.
The book opens with a shocking news — a suicide attempt by Sneha, Rohan’s sister and how things go topsy-turvy after hearing the news from Chennai.
Often God blesses us with plenty of things and we are not satisfied, and we want more from it.
A love triangle between Sneha, Ryan and Monty are also highlighted in the story but to know about the reason behind Sneha’s suicide attempt, the readers have to read the story carefully because many things can be learnt from it.
Authors Anuragam Vatsa and Sandeep Agrawal have showcased the reasons behind suicide attempts in India and what the various ways of handling it and eradicating it from the society.
Sometimes, we think that death is the only option left but in reality, we do not have the right to take away our lives since it belongs to our family, friends and most importantly to Lord Krsn.
We must know that success and failure are parts of our lives and we must accept our failures like we embrace success.
All the major elements of Bhagavad Gita have been incorporated in this book and the original essence has been maintained as well.
Divided into several sections, this book talks about the ways to live life and not end it.
This style is lucid and well-structured and it is definitely a must-read for all.
How many of you believe in miracles, magic and in things that are beyond our imagination?
‘The Raging Stone’ by Stan is an amalgamation of miraculous events and realistic problems of life which many people have to endure.
Stan has successfully painted beautiful images with words from the beginning of the story and the readers can visualise them quite easily.
The story revolves around Ted and Archal, who lead a very difficult life after their mother meets with an accident and is left in the nursing hospital by their father, who remarries later.
This problematic scenario runs parallel with the description of a mysterious stone that looks like the head of a snake and everyone worships it since several stories are attached to this Snake Head Rock in the Butoka Island.
Both the situations are finely enmeshed by the author to give the readers a book that they will not forget easily.
The story opens with a picturesque description of the seashore that is a treat for the imaginative readers.
The words are appropriately chosen and aligned in such a manner that is bound to impress everyone.
There is a large section devoted to Ted and Archal and how they overcome every situation with their courage, wit and endurance.
The tortures of their step-mother and step-sister sometimes reaches the zenith and even the readers will feel sympathetic towards the victims of such a heinous crime.
Amidst all these, Ted meets a lady who works in the hospital where his mother is admitted, and she arrives like a gush of fresh wind in Ted’s life.
However, the author is successful in holding the mystery of their step-mother and a room in their house where they are not allowed to enter.
One day the truth is unraveled by Ted in his step-mother’s absence and the readers must find out about this incident from the book to enjoy all the elements of mystery and eeriness.
Several incidents follow and the ending is quite apt.
The world is a single place yet it is divided into so many parts with man-made borders and there is so much diversity all around.
Many restrictions and hindrances are present in this world and we actually do not know the ways to overcome it.
In his Bengali book Muchhe Gelo Seemarekha, Dr Parames Ghosh has pointed out the restrictions of borders between countries and he wants to omit all these things and make the world a one single place.
How are his views portrayed? Is it really possible to create this ideal state? Readers must read the book to find their own answers.
The book talks about the journey of a fictional character called Keeriti.
Keeriti is the author’s spokesperson who intends to make the world stand under one umbrella, with no boundaries, no differences and no religion to fight for.
If we look at it critically, we will find that boundaries are present everywhere and in our day to day lives.
There is a boundary between the home and the world, a barrier in the choices between two people and so on.
So, if we do not take into consideration the border lines at the larger perspective, inner boundaries will still continue to exist.
In one of the chapters, the author has discussed about the importance of passport and visa while travelling across the world.
When our freedom is taken away due to various reasons, some people may ask themselves, if countries and religion did not exist to widen our differences, how would the entire scenario look like?
It would definitely have been a great place to live in because we all crave for freedom.
However, the book ends on a different note, which is more personal, and the readers have to read it in order to get the actual essence.
Each chapter talks about a new thing, a new story but somewhere it is interrelated.
The book deals with a theme that is new in its own way, hence it must appeal to a wide range of readers.
Congratulations on the release of ‘The Raging Stone’. What is the feedback from your friends and readers who have already read your book?
Thank you. My friends and family have been extremely supportive of my initiative. Disseminated the acquired knowledge to others. To effectively do this, they advised me to write novels in which hidden moral lessons would be easily grasped by the readers. I hope my readers have been able to relate and enjoy my work.
What kind of books inspire you as a writer? Who are your favourite authors?
I love writing stories that deal with social issues with moral ethics destined to help improve a person in this modern era.
My favourite author was Kushwaha Kant, whose books I bought and read at home during my younger days back in the Fiji Islands.
Why did you want to become a writer? Who inspired you to become a writer? What triggered you to come into writing?
I have been a keen reader of novels whether they are in English or Hindi. In fact, novels dealing with mysteries and suspense have been my favorite. I never expected that one day I would start writing novels myself. My mother would always encourage me to write novels in which hidden moral lessons would be easily grasped by the readers. But one thing was certain that I wanted to start writing the novel in Hindi. However, because of writing constraints and not receiving effective support from Microsoft Word, I had no choice but to resort to writing the novel in English.
What are you doing to let readers know about your book?
I intend to use three separate social media sites to further publicise my novels. Radio and Television are other options I am currently weighing.
Although publishing novels appear to be a costly exercise according to me, I still want to push my writing as far as practicable.
Tell me something about your book. Some highlights.
This novel is a fictional story based entirely on an Island in the South Pacific where some centuries back snakes and birds were in abundance and often fought. A woman disguised as a witch manages to whip the emotions of the birds to create devastation on the Island. The said Island is full of untapped minerals and has the potential of emanating millions of dollars of natural resources. The witch backed by some foreign sources creates terror to get rid of the Islanders who are great followers of the Snake God. The birds are so large and deadly that they can easily lift an elephant in their claws. The vultures pluck peoples head and devour them. Hundreds of people become prey to these buzzards who have extraordinary powers and who often secreted venom before killing. The Islanders run for their lives and seek refuge with the Snake God who sits in the form of a large stone overlooking the Island. Do the snakes come to their salvation? Is the island overpowered by foreigners? What happens to the Islanders? Are they all massacred? For these questions one has to read this powerful and exciting novel “The Raging Stone”
Tell me something about yourself and your background.
I hail from the Fiji Islands, a group of 300 Islands in the South Pacific. I have acquired my academic qualifications from Fiji, Singapore and Great Britain. Stan is my poetic name given to me by my close Western colleagues
I have been writing mainly for magazines, newspapers and social media and this is my second novel, the first being “Tears of a Father” which was released in North America earlier.
Do you plan to take it up as a full time profession if response is good?
