Interview With Author C.V. Rajan
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a retired Mechanical Engineer and ex-design consultant. I’m now living with my wife at the Ashram at Amritapuri, Kerala, spending my retired life in the quest of spirituality under the holy feet of Amma, Sadguru Mata Amritanandamayi.
My interest in writing as a hobby began at the age of twenty, and I became a regular short story writer in popular Tamil magazines during the seventies to nineties. I wrote under the pen name Sandeepika.
As my interest turned to spirituality in my late thirties, I became an avid reader of the lives and teachings of Kanchi Maha Swamigal, Swami Chinmayananda, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, Swami Sivananda Saraswati, Papa Ramdas, and my Sadguru, Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma).
In my early fifties, my Tamil articles began appearing in Sri Ramakrishna Vijayam magazine. I also started writing in English on the web at various blog sites, covering a variety of topics such as Hinduism, spirituality, life and living, personal anecdotes, Indian culture, small business management, and more. I contributed to translation work at Ramakrishna Math (English–Tamil) and currently do similar work at Mata Amritanandamayi Math (Tamil–Malayalam–English).
I enjoy writing stories for children. Several of my Tamil short stories for children have been released as audiobooks on well-known platforms such as Kadhai Osai, Storytel, Apple Podcast, and Audible. One of my recent works in Tamil children’s literature is Valmiki Ramayanam for children aged 9 to 15. First serialized as a conversational narrative in the Kadhai Osai channel in a 100-part series, it has also been published as a two-volume eBook in Amazon Kindle.
On my website hinduismwayoflife.com, I’ve consolidated and shared all my writings on Hinduism under one umbrella.
In the last couple of years, I’ve also been actively writing in both English and Tamil on the popular website Quora.com.
‘Half Pant Memories’ is my seventh book published through Amazon. My previous publications include three English books and three Tamil books. You can see them in my Amazon author profile link.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Half Pant Memories.
If you ask me what I value most, my reply is “I value my memories”.
God has somehow given me deeply etched memories of my boyhood. I lived in a village close to a small town in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu during the nineteen sixties and early seventies. I had so many funny and serious incidents that I had stored in my memory, with vivid details including the people associated with them. I had narrated these stories to my wife, and in later years to my children several times. Though I was no way a hero, the simple happenings along with the associated comedies and tragedies somehow captivated my listeners always.
That’s how my latest book, “Half Pant Memories” was born. It is an illustrated book, with some 40 pictures drawn in cartoon style, covering some incidents in each chapter.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I am a translator too, across Tamil, English and Malayalam. So, it happens that I write a story, and also do its translation parallely! Actually, I wrote many episodes of Half Pant Memories originally in English. Then I translated them to Tamil, wrote them specifically for children and they came out as Audio books in Tamil through ‘Kadhai Osai’ ‘Storytel’ etc.
That habit stuck. I am now writing a series based on Mahabharata and I am doing it parallely in Tamil and English. Perhpas this is my unusual writing habit.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
So many of them. Particularly many Tamil authors. It will be a big list!
What are you working on now?
“Mahabharata — the Untold Chronicles”. This is a big project. I am taking Vyasa Mahabharata and writing it in a unique fashion. Here, all the characters reveal their emotions and their predicaments by which they acted in a particular way in a particular situation. You won’t find such an explanation or point of view in the original! I am also adding a few fictional characters to enhance the story and make it more natural and well narrated as a historical novel.
A very important point in my writing is that I am following the same story line of Vyasa’s Mahabharata and not attempting to distort or discredit any character. I am not at all attempting to make a hero a villain, or a villain a hero, as most of the present day writers of Mahabharata based fiction do. It is my sincere effort to fill up what is unsaid in Manhabharata with my own fictional material and remain sincere to the original.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am yet to find one. I find promoting my book is the most painful thing. To be frank, I dislike to do promotion! But what to do? If the book has to sell, this dirty work has to be done. If somebody does it for me, I will be too happy to dump it.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Love your art and craft and keep honing them better. But selling happens only by divine grace.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If your book sells, thank God for it!
What are you reading now?
Vyasa Mahabharatam.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I wish I retire from writing! I have come out of many things that I had a deep liking once, in the past. It is the attitude of letting go. It unburdens you. It gets you peace. I am yet to get rid of my ‘writing itch’. If I could, then it is an indication that I can progress spiritually!
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would rather carry three or four gallons of water!
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