Books
Gemini
1. That there are two Sonus within Sonu (a one plus one free offer!!) Was it the sane, patient, philosophical, slightly reticent Sonu or the hyperactive, chirpy, restless, lively version that you bumped into? 2. That whenever I meet anyone and introduce myself as Sonu, the next question I’m inevitably asked is “ So what’s your real,official name?” Seeing my arched eyebrows a whisper, “ Sonu must be your pet nickname No?” and this has been a regular feature right from my childhood to this day! People this is the ONLY name I have. I don’t have the luxury of rattling out two names for an introduction. Sonu is the only name,Pet name, nick name, real name, official name I have! And no it has no worthy meaning. Sigh! I had actually worked out an ingenuous way around this name problem. For quite many years I would simply assume a name that I fancied. Whenever I met strangers I would introduce myself thus, ‘ Hi I’m kavita ( for some unfathomable reason I had latched on to this name for a long time) or Tina or Sakshi or any other name I’d come across and liked !” Ah! The thrill of it. The satisfaction. I could be anyone! I even got the name Sneha printed on my wedding card on an impulse and for quite a while my new family thought Sneha was my name ! This love affair with names had to come to a sad end as all my documents got botched up. Once again I was left with just ‘Sonu’. But we’ve both called a truce and made peace now. 3. I carry the guilt of stealing something during my school days. A few of us had stolen dead earthworms from the glass containers in the bio lab. We hurriedly stuffed them into the pockets of our blazers and shirts on the last day of school just before vacations. No we didn’t intend to make wormchillie fries but rather wanted to practice dissection for the upcoming board exams. This is the first time I have owned up to it. May the teachers and the Gods and the departed souls of the earthworms forgive us. Amen.
Losing my eyes which I think stems from childhood myopia. I came face to face with my Goliath when I recently contracted conjunctivitis and the infection travelled to my corneas causing temporary loss of sight! I have read somewhere that “ to escape fear you have to go through it ,not around it”, I discovered the truemeaning of this quote when I actually lived through my fear and survived!
I think being able to bring up two really sane, caring and wonderful kids. And also being able to touch the lives of so many ‘ extraordinary ordinary’women through my initiative thebitches( an Acronym for Beautiful Intelligent Talented Careerpersons & Homemeakers Empowerment Space), and being able to make a difference in their lives in my own little way.
My high point as a writer was having the soft launch of my books in the Kool 5 series by my childhood hero, Mr. Ruskin Bond. To this day I pinch myself to believe he actually did the honours . I’ll also have to add the experience of visiting the Raj bhavan at Goa and meetingShri. Bharat Vir Wanchoo,( the ex Governor of Goa) again for the launch of the books as also Smt. Mridula Sinha( the current Governor of Goa) who released the anthology of short stories ‘Coconut Fronds’ ( which featured my story Casa Gloria’). Memories I cherish very close to my heart.
Can’t single out any instance…either there is none or too many
Ashok banker for reintroducing mythology, Deepa malik for her indomitable spirit Sudha Murthi for her simplicity and achievements
Hercule Pioroit, Wolverine,
He who -must not be -named. (voldermont)
Ashok Banker, Devdatta patnaik, Arun Shourie, Enid Blyton, Jeffery Archer, Anand Neelakantana and Paul Coelho
Ramayana series and Ten kings - Ashok Banker, Shantaram- Gregory David Roberts Amish - Shiva triology Does he know a mother’s heart- Arun Shourie Alchemist- Paul Coelho Celestine prophecy- James Reddfield
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, Catch 22, mainly because it’s difficult to grasp the implicit wisdom in one read.
A Beautiful Mind, Dead Poet’s Society, Inception, Lajja, Three Idiots
I would love to wield the power to make the characters of my fav books/movies come alive. Would be quite interesting to pitch Sabu against the avengers or team up the kool five with Hercule poirot and watch them all in action !
“ Story of a face And of fallen grace Of joy and pain and strife She told the tale of life”
I think the answer would always be the same, India….I think would love to travel to the days of the Freedom Struggle in India and also witness our tryst with destiny first hand on 15th Aug 1947.
The talent to be able to use words to influence people enough to see reason to end senseless hatred and wars.
Chronicles of Tantraban ( In case you go on a wild goose chase looking for it’s author on the internet, it’s a book yet to be written by me, I promise it will be an amazing mythical ,magical adventurous thriller with dark shades and I’m dying to complete it and read it too!”)
When the ideas bubbling in the cauldron of my mind start overflowing and spilling out. The where could be anywhere.
Sometimes silence sometimes music
The man on top of the mountain didn’t just fall there!
A cuppa tea by my side and beginning the first word with the invoking of Godess Saraswati.
Astrex, Tintin ,Tinkle , Chacha Chaudhry
Don’t just keep waiting,the time will never be perfectly right ..ever,. To ‘finish’ you must ‘start’ first. Remember you don’t get there by wishing but by working towards your goals.
The adventurous journey of SONU DABRAL's life has taken her through the diverse fields of human resource management, education, translation, and media, to arrive at her desired destination? creative writing. After Sonu graduated with an M.B.A. degree she went on to do B.Ed. However, she has long been a passionate and compulsive storyteller, doling out entertaining treats to her children, family, and friends. She tried her hand at writing exciting stories for children, ranging from an out-and-out Indian mystery series to modern fairy tales, short stories with subtle morals, to spooky stories suitable for young minds. Nevertheless, this is her maiden foray into writing a book for children. Sonu has travelled extensively through India and currently lives in picturesque Goa. This is the second story in the KOOL-5 Mystery Series. The first being The Phantom Of Raymond Villa.
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