A talk with Mr. Ravi

Hello friends, your old pal Souvick is back with a new interview. Today, the author we are going to meet with, is somebody who is in his early sixties. Of late I have read the first few lines of his non-fiction, and they have influenced me a lot. It indeed gives me pleasure to interview such a person. So come, let us look into the world of Mr. N. S. Ravi, the author of 'Those were the days', and see what he has to share with us.

Hello sir, thanks for becoming a part of this blog. To begin with, please tell us how you came up with the idea of this book.

As I have mentioned in the book itself, the idea for the book took shape on the basis of various discussions I had with my colleagues many of whom were younger than my own son. Here was a group of youngsters who had got engineering and or management degrees but not sufficiently conversant with the tremendous changes our country has undergone over the last fifty years after independence. I knew it was not their fault and thought I should do something from my side to mitigate it- which resulted in this book. I do know that it is small step but then it is step in the right direction.

We have gone through the synopsis of this book. It really is impressive. But we would love it if you yourself say something about the book.

When you meet an American or Japanese you fill him very proud of his country and they all want to do something for their country.

We in India have this issue of wanting everything in platter and not willing to do anything for the country. Many Indians on whom the country has invested lots of money have just left the shores. I have no interest or right to criticize them since whatever has happened has happened and let us leave it behind us.

 I am interested that we Indians should know how much we as a country have progressed and once we know about it we all will be so proud that we would like to do something for this great country. No other country in this world with so much diversity and population growth has managed to reach where we have safeguarding the democratic fibre of the country. We do have a long way to go but if we understand and appreciate how much we have achieved,the way forward would be a cakewalk for all of us.

I have in this book attempted to show how much we have traveled so that we lose whatever fear we may have about future.

Do you believe the much needed change will come about in our Nation?

This is a dynamic world and changes will happen whether we like it or not. It is the responsibility of every Indian to do their part for the country and ensure that the changes are for betterment of the country since there can be good or bad changes. We all love to expect others to do their bit for the country but forget to examine within ourselves what we are doing for the country.

I had recently read over social media some letter written by people who said they would not forego the gas subsidy since our MPs are getting more benefits than they deserve or something to that effect. I do agree that everyone has the right to his opinion .This is the beauty of democracy. As far as I am concerned what you can do and what others do not do should never be linked and is childish. I do not wish to quote President Kennedy but would only recall the village story where people were asked to contribute Milk and pour their share in the urn. Everyone thought his contributing only water will go unnoticed. Unfortunately the urn at the end of the day had only water. This is what will happen if we leave things to be done by everyone else except us.

To expect much needed positive changes without our own contribution is not going to happen. Whatever the country requires be it cleanliness, women safety, social justice will only happen for good when we all understand our role and make an effort to fulfill it. We all are intelligent enough to know what we have to do and honestly do not require someone else to tell us what we have to do.

Wow sir! I hope and play your message reaches every Indian.

Please tell us something about yourself.

I am now in the early sixties. These years have been one of learning( the process is continuing) in various parts of our own country and abroad. I had my entire education in a cosmopolitan setup like Delhi. I worked in different parts of the country like south, north and west with east being the exception. I was lucky to have lived abroad in Europe and Africa which gave me international exposure. I did many short trips to countries in the east and West Asia besides US which enhanced my international experience. All in all I was blessed to have had firsthand experience in different -, social, political, linguistic, economic and climatic conditions.

I worked in both private and Government companies to have a good insight into how things moved in each sector.

I have friends cutting across linguistic and religious lines.

To put it in simple words I am a typical cosmopolitan Indian very proud of his country and its heritage.

Behind every successful person are a number of souls. Please tell us something about the people who have helped you in this entire project.

I would give the entire credit for allowing this project to germinate in my head to each and every colleague of mine who were with me in a country called Gabon, where we were doing an infrastructure project. The list of names is too long since they number more than eighty and my young friends will understand if I do not mention them by name.

Allowing me to take care of the germination process was my wife who accepted that I wished to write the book at all cost and unhesitatingly gave me the freedom required to fulfill my dream. Freedom from worrying about what I will do once the project was over, and not be worried about whether the project will be taken to its logical conclusion and so on. She was and is truly a pillar  of strength for me.

Today, we see, the publishing industry is flooded with chic-lits and other such works. Amidst all this, what is the place of such a non-fiction written for a noble cause?

It all depends of how you measure acceptability and place. If revenue, which is a function of number of copies, sold, one such measure then may be nonfiction books are in the lower rung. Again, not all so called Chic lits sell well or widely read!

Books are for everyone and tastes and habits vary. As long there is interest in reading there will be a place for all reading materials. I used to read comics, graduated to fiction and non-fiction. Even now a good comic always tempts me and I unashamedly read it.

That's indeed a great thing to know! Well, Please tell us something about your future dreams and aims in this field.

I have plots for few more books in my mind .Over the next three years I am confident of  developing three plots into readable books.

Please tell us something about your publisher.

Leadstart, the publishing house, has been promoting lot of Indian authors and I am reasonably satisfied with their treatment.

You are among the first persons to have been interviewed in this blog. Please give your feedback.

I am happy with the tenor of questions and wish you all the best in this endeavour.

Thanks a lot sir! We also wish you the very best for your book and for your life ahead!