Jai Ho JAIPUR!
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| Mahi and I at JECRC |
Delhi ... Mumbai ... Chandigarh
... Amritsar ... Bangalore ... London ... Dallas ... Paris ... Las Vegas ...
These are some of the cities which I have visited in the past few years, and
there are many more beautiful cities, around the globe, which I would love to
visit in the future.
One such city, which I always
wanted to visit, was Jaipur - the PINK
CITY of India. The opportunity fell
into my lap on 21st March 2013, when I received a call from Prerna
Jain, student coordinator at the Renaissance fest at Jaipur Engineering College and Research Centre (JECRC). She requested me to come over as a guest
speaker for an event on March 24th, to motivate the students and
also invited me to talk about my debut novel ‘Te Amo... I LOVE YOU’. She informed me that they have also invited my friend and fellow author, Mahi Singla, for the same purpose. Both
Mahi and I gladly accepted their kind invitation, and eagerly waited to
interact with the youth audience of one of the best colleges in Rajasthan.
We had a small duration of two
days to do the entire preparation for the event – the speeches, the
presentations, the videos etc. Thankfully, Sunill Kaushik from Ink Studios,
shared our burden, and prepared one such video for our upcoming short story
anthology '12 HOURS'. He did a commendable job, in such a short time-frame.
Meanwhile, Mahi and I worked on our motivational speeches, and prepared a video
presentation as well.
Finally, with all the preparation done, we reached Jaipur on 24th March. The college authorities were
kind and supportive enough to provide us with the travel and stay
facilities. After a bit of rest and tasty food, in college’s guest room, we
reached JECRC at 12:30 p.m. Our event was scheduled at 1 p.m.
I was highly impressed by the
care and concern which the college authorities showed toward us. We received a
very warm welcome, both from the students and the teachers, right at the
entrance gate of the college. We roam
around the college a bit, and saw various other events that were going on. The
fest, Renaissance, was in its full throttle. It was a festive atmosphere, and
it reminded me of my own college days. Yes, I still miss the days when I used
to dance on the stage.
Our event started right on time. All
the preparations were immaculate. When Mahi and I entered the auditorium, it
was already bustling with audience. They welcomed us with a loud cheer and
applause. It was good to see that there was an audience, who was ready to
attend an event related to authors and books, when events like dance/singing
were going on in parallel. It certainly gave me the much needed confidence
boost. I must admit, no matter how many colleges I have visited in the past,
there is always a sense of anxiety just before an event.
Finally, the event started with
my speech. I gave a 12-15 minute long speech, and stressed upon the elements
like success, failure, dreams, and of course, I spoke about ‘Te Amo... I LOVE
YOU’, and a bit about '12 HOURS',
too. I narrated my journey of becoming a
writer, from an engineer, and tried to motivate the upcoming engineers of
JECRC. I am not sure how motivated the students felt after my speech. The video
presentation that depicted the journey of my debut book was received with
overwhelming response. The trailer of ‘Te
Amo... I LOVE YOU’, titled Celebration of Love, was then played, and the
audience was transfixed to the screen. The trailer was welcomed with much
bigger response. Somehow, the video presentations always work better than the
boring speeches.
But, Mahi proved it wrong. She
received audience applause three times, during her 10 minute speech. It was her
first speech, and she hit the bull’s eye. She spoke about how she became a
writer accidentally ... her meeting with the bestselling author Subhasis Das, who
offered her to co-author him in his book – ‘I.T.
Hurts’. She also spoke about her love for reading and writing, especially writing short stories. She narrated
her journey of scripting '12 HOURS',
and how she and I ended up co-authoring it. Her one-liners in Hindi were hugely applauded by the audience. The trailer of '12 HOURS', which Sunill Kaushik had prepared for us, was then played after Mahi’s speech. The trailer was received
with the big thumbs up by the audience.
The next was the audience
interaction round. I must appreciate JECRC audience for being so interactive. I
loved their questions, and replied to them with all the honesty. Mahi and I had
deliberately thought of making the event more interactive. Hence, we invited
students to showcase their talents, like
- singing, poetry, dance etc.
JECRC audience crossed our
expectations. They participated in a big number, and we gifted them the signed
copies of ‘Te Amo... I LOVE YOU’. It was followed by the formal book signing
event, and the photography session. JECRC
also presented us with the beautiful trophies, and the event came to a
successful closure.
On the whole, the event was
perfectly managed by Prerna, Nishtha, Rishi, and their entire team. Thumbs up
to them! I am very thankful to them, and the entire team of JECRC, for inviting
us to their college, and giving us an opportunity to share our thoughts and
work. I am also thankful to them for the warmth, love and care they showered on
us.
Sadly, I could not see the real
Jaipur city. It was a Sunday, and everything was closed. Maybe next time! But
Prerna, along with Parul, took Mahi and me to a mall, where we enjoyed shopping
and food. Let me correct ... the girls did the shopping ... I enjoyed the food!
The day ended on a great note, when I saw my book at ‘Maheshwari Book Stall’ at Sindi Camp Bus stand.
Overall, it was a memorable day in Jaipur!
JAI HO JAIPUR!
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