Lt Cdr (Retd) Vibhuti Gupta Agarwal
Born was the hunter and the food gatherer, thereafter, evolved the cultivator. Culture was born. The human race evolved. Some sang, others danced, few painted and sculpted. Still others wrote and everyone read. Reading and writing distinguished the wise from the wild. That is the power of the word, the written word that we carried forward as poetry, prose, drama, scriptures and more. It is one powerful and equally a proud moment for Jammu and Kashmir as Mrs Payal Jain brings in honour for the state by having authored her first book ‘Mind, Life and Reflections’ which got lots of attention at the Author’s Corner at the World Book Fair 2019 in New Delhi with Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Manish Sisodia; Sh Anup Jalota – popularly known as Bhajan Samrat and Dr Usha Bande – an eminent writer from Himachal Pradesh amongst other guests gracing the book launch event.
Pull back, through the time of your birth, the childhood and adolescence, the influence of the genes you inherit, the centuries of culture which affect how you categorise the world, and out to our primate relatives, where we witness the evolutionary pressures shaping our ways of thinking and feeling.
And in the process, majority of people have stopped living with a sense of authenticity to who they truly are. From your birth, layer upon layer of these social and cultural sways surrounded your core self. And eventually your individual consciousness assumed the identity, the persona, of who you became…creating the dichotomy and dilemma within putting you at unease and unrest.
Penned with maturity and experience of a lady, ‘Mind, Life and Reflections’ is set to light the darkness with words of wisdom helping the reader to deal with the dilemma within and the unawares in the dark vicious circles of life. Poetic expression and an elaborate narrative of carefully woven words provide escapades to individuals in particular and society at large. It is a book asking you to introspect aspects of your life… calling you to discover buried pieces of yourself, so you can then reincorporate these pieces back into your life.
Mind Life & Reflections’ will apparently take you to the journey inward like the imperceptible edges of times of your life often discovering yourself underneath through life lessons. It is a book on self-discovery kindling the thought and lighting fire within.
Payal was working on resilience as a subject for my book and was on it for quite some time with an outline plan while God had other plans. As it turned out, a sonorous experience in August’18 served as a booming voice of God urging her to pen down the journey of life and life lessons. She was jogging in the park and all of a sudden, bolt of lightning lit up the park.
Thunder and more lightning followed with a heavy rain shower drenched her, soaking her from head to toe, not only with raindrops but also with an image so clear and vivid that of a book cover with a title ‘Mind, Life and Reflections’ and also what would go inside this book.
There are many events, supernatural or otherwise, that can be termed as signs from God. Some appear in dreams; others may happen during waking hours.
What they all have in common is that they were unexpected or extraordinary events that made someone stop and take notice and work in that direction in the world. Payal took notice and the result of the same is, ‘Mind, Life and Reflections’.
The book beautifully touches upon various topics like child birth as the first victorious journey, labels and titles that divide the society and imprison the individual to that label, beauty of childhood, the continuation of the childlike feeling and the impact of childhood traumas with the necessity to heal them, and encapsulate the journey of life touching upon the topics including confusion, procrastination, failure and victory, friendships, the connect within, forgiveness, gratitude, and so much more taking death as an onward journey as the last chapter.
Payal diligently wrote the book working stretching from August 2018 to be completed by October the same year. This was quite an impressive feat for all those who had been watching her fervour and zeal.
She shared the content with some editors, friends and colleagues. Encouraged by the reviews on the same, she submitted her work to various publishers.
Like it is said that ‘If It’s Meant to Be, It Will Be’ and ‘Mind, Life and Reflections’ was meant to be for sure. ‘Invincible’ publishers (An Open Road fame) came forward and offered to publish the same and the book has not only been carefully crafted to perfection within just 5 months but also has successfully garnered appreciation by Swara Bhaskar (Actress), Manish Sisodia (Deputy Chief Minister, Delhi), Nandita Das (Director), Anup Jalota (Singer), The Bookaholics (Country’s Leading Book Club) among many others. Her speech and those of the dignitaries at the World Book Fair were very well received by the audience and the Media. It was a joy and delight to witness her oratory skills at the event.
The book would surely make a mark in the mind of readers, young and old, with its subtle yet impactful psychological, emotional and spiritual messages feeding the heart and intellect alike. The healing touch provided by the book, is a thirst of the modern man and woman seeking a philosophical solution to the mundane from the universe.
(The reviewer is Associate Director Zikr)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
