Boom of budding authors in Present times

I am already in love with this space.It's a great platform to get exposure to one's writing skills and venting out one's feelings. As a person who enjoys writing since childhood, I feel there has been a drastic change in the opinion of public towards writers. Many people plunged into this field like today but only a few got to the apex. But today with the changing scenario we have seen a boom in the count of youth Indian writers. Thanks to Chetan Bhagat and of course recession wherein after losing their jobs many people turned to writing for livelihood.
Just like the two faces of coin, writing has brought in a lot of competition   in the market as well. There is a horde of authors, good and bad. Exploitation is as always present here. Often the publishers do not give due respect to the authors, the standard royalty rate of 8-10% has come down to 5%. I have even heard about publishers not responding properly to the authors about the sales figures.The established publishing houses are not ready to give chance to the budding authors while the ones that give chance do not even posses editors, leave alone good editors. the rough manuscript is published as it as. Even the editors are unable to correct the grammatical errors. In a recent book that I read, the single change that the publishing house brought in the manuscript was changing 'hair' to 'hairs'. Amazingly we always studied it as 'hair' in lower classes but then we can't do anything as the author is already indebted to the publisher for getting his book in the print with no capital investment.
If you are a debut author and your work isn't of romantic genre, you might as well become a rolling stone because the expectation from a young Indian author is a love story or another campus life. They have a good reason for you that romance sells anyway but for a debut author  something different may create losses for the house also. They can't take a chance. While a recent interaction with another youth author, I was told that a publisher had once said to her that love,sex,fun and a fresh story line is that sells the most.

These are just a few instances. And of course we can't forget that we all have to be grateful to them as they are the ones providing us bread and butter, the fame we needed and unique identity. All we need is a little more value to our work and little effort from everybody's side to bring out the best for the nation.

Acknowledgement

There are a few things that have been piling up but the lazy me never feels like doing anything. So the past fortnight has been a little hectic. The first eight days went in PUT(Pre University Test) so it basically means I must be studying but the lazy person I am, I never give my cent percent to anything so the conclusion is that the first eight days went in wasting my days, the left out days went in taking rest after all I had just completed with my exams. Sometimes I feel i am such a hopeless and worthless creature in this world, I have nothing to do,all I can do is waste my time. I wish one day I could get over my laziness. So a quick update of the past fortnight.
You guys must be remembering about the International poetry competition in which I had taken part last month. I became a one star finalist in the same. It is an honor to be a part of the finalists where so many people from all over the globe participated. All I feel is that either my stars were good when the judges were going through my poem or the judge was in a good mood. Thank you everybody and every person who has been encouraging me in my stupid endeavors. I didn't tell about this to Mum and Dad as I felt it wasn't that great an achievement even though I updated it as my status and Dad being a rare visitor at FB didn't go through it. And then the other day some family friends called up at home to congratulate Mum and she didn't even know what they all were talking about. She immediately asked my sis to log in facebook so that she could have a look at her daughter's achievements which her daughter thought to be irrelevant. She called me up congratulating me for the same and making her brainless daughter realize that it is something to be rejoiced about. I think my parents already think that their daughter has lost her gray matter after she left home for Greater Noida to pursue engineering. And now that so many people have congratulated me I think I should inform you all too about this. You may check out the poem here and the Contest Result Page where my name stands along with the other contestants :)
Another accomplishment is getting the Versatile Blogger Award for Dreams v/s Reality by Dhruv Solanki. Dhruv is an engineering student at NIT, Raipur who writes lovely poetry in Hindi and English. He describes thoughts beautifully. There is lot to learn from him.Thank you Dhruv for the honour and the lazy me doesn't want to write again so you may check out this space for more info as I have already received the same title for my other blog:)
Every reader has played a great part in making this blog and Relationship Vows a readable space. Thank you dears for your support and keep tolerating me in future too. A person who has been supporting me blindly and every step I take is Mr. Prasoon Verma(Vaanbhatt). Thank you Uncle for reading my write ups and motivating me in every way. You have been a fatherly guidance to me here.
And yes today is my birthday. I turn 21 today :) see how shamelessly I laugh here. I don't even realize that I haven't achieve anything till date, all I did is wasted 21 years of my life. I guess I'll be doing the same in the coming future too. So for now it's time to celebrate my day, Happy Birthday To Me:) We can adjust with the failures later, isn't it?

A friend from far away land

Image Courtesy: Google Images

There is this friend of mine,

Who lives far away from my place,

Strange are his ways,

And funny are his talks,

He speaks in that typical South Indian accent,                                             

And it’s difficult to get his words,

He will keep saying teach me Hindi,

And it’s a bit tough for me,

Because when I speak in Hindi with Him,

He will make so many mistakes,

That it will make me forget my mother tongue,

Sometimes it’s tedious to make him speak up,

I would say he is stubborn,

If he has decided not to say anything,

Then no one can make him even utter a word

Sometimes he will irritate you like hell,

And sometimes he will make this world so beautiful for you,

That you will never be able to hate it again.

He will always imitate the way I speak,

And when I will get annoyed with him,

He will drive me mad with his actions,

But that’s what sets him apart from rest,

And that’s what makes him sweet buddy,

Friend you are in a far flung place,

But still you are close to my heart,

So please don’t you ever change,

Remain as you are, it’s a request,

Cheers to you and what you are.

Fighting Cancer

So there is a website voicesnet.org....I have participated in a poetry competition which is held monthly..This is the third time I am trying my luck...I need your support fellow bloggers.
The poem talks about the agonies of a cancer patient.He sees his family working hard for him, trying to react normally but he knows everyone is going through pain, the pain of loss. They know that he doesn't have much time. they are trying to provide him a proper environment at home.
The deadly disease has shattered his dreams. His desires and ambitions have come to an end. He knows that he is going to die soon and he finds himself extremely helpless.All he wishes to do is to fight cancer.
Well the poem isn't written that great. I didn't give much time to it. I just typed in some random sentences which I couldn't rhyme.It's a fourteen line poem, literally known as sonnet. Go through the poem and if you find it good enough drop in your comments here

Friends...Never lose them...

Image Courtesy:Nidhi Chanani              

I walk past the empty road..There is no one present. All I can hear is my own footsteps. The wind is blowing hard. I wish I had carried a stole along. I am sad today. I have just found out that the people whom I considered my friends have betrayed me. I am depressed and dejected today. I feel that I have lost the match of life. I have been a failure on my part. I couldn't recognize thee true colors of the people around. Does being too helpful and too friendly become harmful for you? Why do people try to take undue advantage of your friendly and helping nature? I have lost my friends today, I have nobody to call my own in this city.
I am lost in thoughts and I think of all the moments I had spent together with the two friends who had once been my best buddies.
"Shreya," I am woken up from my thoughts by a male voice.
I look up and I am surprised to find Sid standing in front of me.
"Where do you think you are going?" he asks me worriedly.
"No where. Why?"
"Well this path leads to the graveyard and I don't think so you would like the company of ghosts at night," he smiles while talking to me.
I am horrified to hear this. Anyone would be. I am damn scared of ghosts, well most of us are and I am so much afraid of the road that leads to the graveyard tat even though it is a shortcut to the main market I never try to go through the same.
"Thank God Sid you came or else I would have had the horror of my life,"I speak to him a little relieved by his presence.
"You are welcome. Do you mind accompanying me to McDonalds?"
"Yeah...fine," I reply hesitantly.
After an hour I am back at my flat waving to Sid.
I guess people aren't probably that bad. If there is a long list of dishonest and selfish people then there are a few friends who will always be by your side. I am lucky to have a friend like Sid. In the past few months I had totally ignored Sid for the new friends I had found but he was always by my side, supporting me and irritating me as always. Friends are the best part of one's life and I am happy that I have a friend like Sid. A lesson that I learnt today:Never ignore your old friends for new friends as if you lose them no one else will be able to fill their space and I sure do not want to lose any of my friends.

P.S:Even though this is fiction, this post is dedicated to all my friends. I love you guys. Thanks for being there for me :)
Bless ya... 

Wanna be a kid again

My eyes are drooping and I have loads of work to do. I have a bundle of assignments to complete and a whole of books to study but my love for writing brings me here again. It arouses me like always. I wish I could control myself but unfortunately I can’t because my passion for writing is as great as my laziness.

I felt like writing something. Something that helps me vent out my frustration, something that helps me express my feelings. I am tired but I can’t sleep. Growing up is so depressing at times, you can’t do what you want, you can’t just keep lying on bed, you can’t play, you can’t finish your home work in an hour and be free. When we were kids, we always wanted to be just like grownups, take decisions the way they took, run home the way they did, do things the way they wanted but now it feels how hard it is to be an adult.

It’s tough to take decisions, it’s tough to run home, it requires courage to let go off few people from our lives. And this is because one has to consider the family issues, the financial issues, the social issues and a lot more.

Being an adult has its own advantages as well. You have your own life, you can put in your own view point but it is only you who can make it or break it.

Unfortunately I find myself wanting to be a kid again. I wish I could just go to school, come back in the afternoon, have Mum made yummy food, take rest, play out with friends in the evening, finish my homework in an hour, watch TV with family, have the great family session, dinner and go to sleep.

I miss those days when I was a carefree bird...

A New Venture..RELATIONSHIP VOWS(WOES)

Image Courtesy:Nidhi Chanani

Human beings can never be satisfied. I am just another one. As if I wasn't having enough of blogging, I started another one. I don't know what crossed into my mind that I felt a need for another blog. I see so many friends and acquaintances being in and out of relationships, the misery they go through after break up is really painful and that is why I thought something needs to be done.
What is happening to the eternal love? Where does it vanish all of a sudden?
So many promises are broken and the vows eventually turn into woes. This space will be filled with how people look towards relationships in today's times and what are the things that weaken or strengthen a relation. I am neither a psychology student nor a relationship expert. An outlook of a young girl is what this blog is all about. Hope you guys will support me (well in most cases tolerate me) the same way as you've been doing in the past.
Here is the link
http://relationshipvows.blogspot.in/
Happy reading!!!!!
:)