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