Author Pramod Rajput: Exclusive Interview with TBI

Meet Author Pramod Rajput:

Pramod Rajput, hailing from a small village in Bihar, is now a citizen of the United States. He is a software engineer by profession and a renowned poet and shaayar of Hindi/Urdu. An exemplary testament to his talent is that a few verses from one of his ghazals were recited by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on February 7th, 2019, in the Indian Parliament. Pramod Rajput’s debut book, “Aa Jee LeiN  Zara,” is a compilation of his hundred ghazals and nazms. Many of his ghazals and nazms have been composed as songs.

“Love is a Verb” is his 2nd novel which is being published in both English and Hindi(“Ishq ek Ibaadat Hai”). His first novel “Seven Colors of Love” is also in both languages. In Hindi, it is available with the name “Saat Rang Pyaar Ke”.  In Pramod Rajput’s literary works, there exists a marvelous blend of human emotions and sentiments that readers not only sense but also deeply connect with. While his expertise lies in the realm of romance, he deftly expresses a range of other emotions such as pain, happiness, disappointment, and inspiration. All his books are available worldwide in both paperback and eBook formats.

Let’s get to know him more deeply.

Q.1 “A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.” Who are some of the individuals who have supported you in your writing journey that you would like to thank?

In my opinion, writing a book starts from home. Your home environment should be conducive and inspiring to write. I consider myself very fortunate in this matter. So first of all I want to thank my life partner Sujata Rajput who not only supported me but also provided me valuable feedback during my writing days of this book. I am also thankful to both of my daughters Rashmi and Manasi for always motivating me to do something different as I am a Software Architect by profession. 

Besides my family, I am thankful and grateful to my editor of the Hindi version of this book “Ishq ek Ibaadat Hai”, Asha Sahdev Ji. Asha ji is a good friend of mine.

The Hindi version cover was designed by Manik Khedkar, wife of my colleague Anit Khedkar. I convey my thanks from the bottom of my heart to her for this beautiful cover design. 

Last but not least, I would also like to mention with great gratitude a few of my friends who kept motivating me during my writing. They are Dr Raj Kapoor Singh (Principal, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Shibganj, Bihar), Chucksung Lepcha (Additional Director of Education, Gangtok, Sikkim) and Kailash Sharma (Software Engineer, Dallas, Texas).

Q.2 When and how did you become interested in writing? Tell us a bit about your latest book titled “Love is a Verb (Ishq Ek Ibaadat Hai).”

I am a poet by heart and an author by chance. I used to write Hindi poems since my high school days but never thought one day I would be an author too. I used to get many compliments from my friends that I am a good storyteller. After publishing my first book “Aa Jee LeiN Zara” which is a collection of my 50 ghazals and 50 nazms, I was not getting in the mood to publish another poetry book although I still had many unpublished ghazals and nazms. I had a very cute and dramatic love story with my wife Sujata. So, one day I started writing about it and enjoyed it. That gave the beginning of my first novel “Seven Colors of Love”. The first two chapters of that novel are very closely inspired by my own love story. I enjoyed writing my first novel. 

In 2018, my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s stage 2. I used to take care of him. Gradually his memory was fading and that was very painful for me to see him in that state as he was an Ex-Army man and quite healthy. During taking care of him, I got the idea of writing this novel, “Love is a Verb (Ishq ek Ibaadat Hai)”. He finally died on 25^th Jan 2023. This book is in a way my homage to him.

Q.3 What has the experience of writing and publishing multiple books been for you? How has your Author journey been so far?

The publishing of my first book was a learning experience for me as I did not know anything about it. But learning a new thing, especially for your passion, is fun. Writing is my passion and therefore the learning journey of publishing a book was very good. I published my first book with Notion Press and probably they took good care of me therefore for my other books I could not see beyond them. I had learned what was to be done. So, it was fun. Yes, I got anxious close to the publishing date about what the reactions of the readers would be. I read every review of my readers and try to learn from there. I am not a professional writer. There is my heart and soul in my writing. And I am happy to make mistakes and learn from them. Doing anything for your passion is always fun.

Q.4 Your literary works showcase a blend of human emotions, with a focus on romance. How do you manage to express such a wide range of emotions, including pain, happiness, disappointment, and inspiration, in your writing?

Although I studied mathematics and computers which are far from romance but by nature, I was always a hopeless romantic and emotional person. I value all relationships. I also observe all relationships around me very closely. It is fascinating to see the beauty of relations. I do not like science fiction movies or books because according to me they are far from human relations and emotions. I am not saying they are bad, but they are not to my taste. I have been made by God like this. I also believe that most human beings are emotional by nature. Romance, pain, happiness, disappointments, inspiration, motivation, etc are all different human emotions. Since I write with my heart and soul, I can express these emotions better. 

Q.5 What are the challenges you faced while writing books and how did you overcome them? From where do you get the ideas and inspiration for writing?

I am not a full-time author. My bills are still paid by my salary which comes from my job. Apart from my job, I am a very social person. I always have many social commitments every week which I personally enjoy a lot. So, the biggest challenge in my writing is finding time for it. There is no easy way to overcome these challenges. You just need to manage it. I do the same. I write in intervals. For weeks I may not write a single line but then some day when I get time, I may write a whole day. That is why I said the support of family is very important in this which luckily, I have in abundance. As far as the idea is concerned as I said earlier, I am a very observant person and a very good listener. Every human being has some story to tell. I listen to stories from my friends or even strangers. I am very good at making friends. I have been blessed with many friends. I love to listen to their life struggles, their happy moments, and their own romantic tale. All these stay in my subconscious memory and while writing it just flows through my heart.

Q.6 Which are the top 3 books you would highly recommend to your readers, and what’s your most favorite genre?

My favourite genre is always romance, but I also like suspense thrillers and adventures. I love to read autobiographies of successful people. For books, it depends upon my mood. If I am down, I always go to TOUGH TIME NEVER LAST, TOUGH PEOPLE DO and SUCCESS IS NEVER ENDING FAILURE IS NEVER FINAL. Both books are by Robert Schuller. I also love to read THE STORY OF MY EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUTH by Mahatma Gandhi. Although I love Romance, but I have not read many romantic novels. In my childhood I used to read and like Rajan-Iqbal series of novels which used to be murder mysteries. In my high school days, I used to like Romantic novels by Gulshan Nanda. Many Bollywood movies like Kaajal, Kati Patang, Khilona, Sharmeelee, Daag, Mehbooba, Patthar ke Sanam, Main Awara Hoon, etc. were made based on these novels by Gulshan Nanda.

Q.7 Your ghazals were recited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Indian Parliament. How did it feel to have your work acknowledged at such a prestigious platform, and what impact did it have on your writing journey?

This was one of the most significant incidents that happened in my short literary career and this happened very early in my journey. On my 50th birthday on 9th Sept 2017, suddenly I decided to bring my poetries out from my computer files. I started a YouTube channel with the name KUCHH MERI KALAM SE and started posting my poems there. I also posted a few of my ghazals on Sahitya Manjari and they listed me as a poet in their poet’s section after a few of my ghazals. And on 7th Feb 2019, 3 shers of one of my ghazals were quoted in Indian Parliaments. One by the leader of the opposition Shri Mallikarujn Kharge Sahab and in the reply to him 2 sher by none other than our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji. I did not know anything about it and these 3 shers were being discussed in Indian news channels. I came to know after a couple of days through a news editor who did some research to find whose shers were those and got my name and contact details from Sahitya Manjari. I believe this incident was a gift by Goddess MA SHARDE to me which gave me some recognition in the Poetry world and confidence in me that I write well. But it also gave me more responsibilities to write better because now I started getting invites from the poetry circle (Mushayaras) to recite my poetries on stage. This incident indeed gave me a lot of self-confidence and because of that, I started taking my writing talent seriously.

Q.8 What do you consider your greatest strength as a writer? What do you plan to write next? Would you explore any other genre than romance?

I consider my own life journey as the greatest strength of my writing. I come from a very small village in Bihar. Even electricity came to my village after 2010. I did my initial schooling in my village before moving with my father who was a soldier in Indian Army. His job was transferrable and so we kept moving from one part of the country to other parts every 3 years. In the army, you meet people with different cultures and backgrounds. I was still going to my village during summer vacations. In my first year of college, I fell in love with my wife. Since our cast was different and we were too young there was obvious opposition from both families. But our love for each other was so strong that we married very early against the will of our parents.  We had to face lots of difficulties because we were very young. From that small village now, we are settled in the USA. In my own life, I have seen many lives like poor people, lower middle class, upper middle class and where I am today. I have also seen people from different cultures and backgrounds. So, my canvas of writing is huge, and everything is from my own experience. Even I have gone through every emotion of romance. These experiences help me a lot in my writing. People may need to study to understand these things, but I have experienced it. That is why I said I put my heart and soul into my writing. 

 I don’t think I can write anything else than romance and human emotions. So, I will stick to my own strengths.

Although I already have enough unpublished poetries which can be converted into my next poetry book, but I am not getting a call from my inner self for it right now. After seeing the great response to “Love is a Verb (Ishq ek Ibaadat Hai)”, something has already started in me for the next romantic plot. So most probably I will come up with another dose of romance for my readers.

Q.9 In your opinion, what role does literature, particularly poetry and novels, play in connecting people across diverse backgrounds and cultures? How do you envision your work contributing to this connection?

In my opinion, literature, not only poetry and novels but other literary creations are very important in our lives. Science has its own importance, and it will keep ruling the world with its new inventions but after all, we are human beings. We have different kinds of emotions. To connect with people, we need these emotions.  Science can create a medium to connect people but whether I want to connect with someone or not depends upon our emotional quotient with each other. These literatures help people to understand each other better. Like “Love is a verb” is being read by people from the US too although my protagonists are Indian. They can understand our Indian family values and culture from my book.

In my first novel “Seven Colors of Love” I tried to show seven different shades of love. My protagonist was a good person with some grey shades. But grey shades are also part of human emotions. I want people to connect with my books. They should see themselves while reading my books. 

Q.10 What factors are most important to you when choosing a book marketer? Any 3 practices that according to you are a must while marketing a book.

Not only for book marketers but for anyone I like to deal with must be good in the below three factors.

1. Trust and Honesty: It is the most important factor for me. To evaluate if someone is trustworthy and honest or not it is not necessary to know him because it is not possible to know everyone you deal with. So, while talking if I get a positive vibe then I go with my instinct. Many a time my instinct goes wrong but I take it as a learning experience and move ahead.
2. Professionalism with a touch of oneness: I like to deal with professional people who have a touch of belongingness and can take my work like their own work but still stay professional in deliverables and timeliness. I have no issue if someone does not deliver something in the agreed time but keep me updated, I am OK with it.
3. Innovative: It is very important that the marketer should be innovative. Even while writing a review the person should have some uniqueness. They should not be like everyone else.

Reviews are important for making a book. Nowadays, before buying anything people see the review. Apart from review, in the beginning, if you can take your book to as many readers as possible without considering about the money then it will benefit the author in the long run. Personally, money is not the sole purpose for me to write a book. For that, my job is enough. I want to make people feel the emotions of my protagonists and enjoy them. Since this time, I wanted my book to reach as many people as possible, I kept the Kindle version of this book free for 3 months and I can see the benefit. People are reading it and kindly posting reviews. That is great. According to me if the content of the book is good, it will go to heights one day. I know “Love is a Verb” is a good book and someday people will say it.

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