Buzz

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With the release of the book, things are poised to look up. So far promotion had been a job singlehanded, but now press has started giving some help. I'm now going to mention a few such text or a link to help me memorizing.

The Telegraph, Calcutta carried a news story on its May 24 issue. Its caption was rather funny--"Snail mail boss pens fiction". Visit that following the link.

Click here.

Here is the text of "The Statesman" Orissa Plus news story captioned "Andaman Coming Alive":

Bhubaneswar, May 23: Governor Rameshwar Thakur appreciated the creative endeavour of Mr A. N. Nanda, an Indian Postal Services officer and presently the postmaster general Berhampur, when he was presented with the author's latest book "The Remix of Orchid". Mr Nanda suggested to the Governor that frontline authors like Ruskin Bond be invited to Orissa so that they write about the state. He also stated that the characters in his collection of short stories "The Remix of Orchid" were taken from different parts of the country and all the twenty-one stories have been set in the Andamans.

The book of short stories is a mainlander's view of the Andamans and it draws the contrasts. For a goverment servant, the islands may even mean a punishment posting, attractive only for his leave travel air trip.

There are people on the mainland who still ask question "does my letter to Port Blair need any extra postage--like the ones we affix to letters abroad"? The book also depicts the author's indepth knowledge of the island, the wildlife poaching, the tranquility and the socio-religious tolerance of the place. It has romance, histrionics, suspense, ghost, longings, dreams, underwater flora and fauna.

I'm also expecting some review of my work in print media. They may take time and I should wait with my fingers crossed. Now is the time to concentrate on the distribution side. With my investment blocked in the shape of unsold copies of my book all these kudos will perhaps take time to sink in.
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With Your Blessings, Sir

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Today I visited Shri Rameshwar Thakur, His Excellency Governor of the sate of Orissa and presented my book. It was a kind of formal presentation that gave me a photo opportunity. I don't know how it will shape in the print media, but before that I'll post a photo here to share this with my blog readers. So, let me recapitulate what all he said in praise of the book.

Accepting the book, His Excellency appreciated the creative endeavour of the author, and his sustained effort in bringing out a book despite his busy schedule as a government servant. He also appreciated the overall get-up of the book, its selection of the theme, the quality of printing, and above all, the selection of the picture for the cover page. When the author volunteered that the picture belongs to one Ms Dorothy Gantenbein of US and he would convey her the appreciation of His Excellency, the latter permitted the author to do so.

Further, appreciating the book, His Excellency expressed his satisfaction that Orissa has a developed and competitive printing infrastructure, and good workmanship. At the end, His Excellency wished all the best to the author and encouraged him to come up with more works of literature in the days to come.

Picture quality could have been improved. I'm waiting for a copy of photograph clicked by a professional photographer and I'll post it as soon as received. Until then let me manage with this.

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By
A. N. Nanda
Bhubaneswar
22-08-2007
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Overview

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Yesterday I received a suggestion from a fellow netizn that I should post an overview of my book. My visitors must have at least some idea of my book before they decide to read it in detail. I don't know if brief of each story as blurbs would suffice. Some would advise me not to do that, for nobody would like to be told about the story he or she is going to read soon. So there should be a via media: the brief should be really brief, as implicit as possible. Let me try then.

1-The Remix of Orchid:
My storywriter has nothing to worry, for he has not plagiarised the work of the great Mr H. G. Wells. It has only been a one-in-a-million coincidence in creativity. Nobody sensible needs to fuss about it.

2-Two Visitors:
I pick up a boy, helpless and weeping, at Howrah Station and try to restore him to his parents after fifteen long years. But it is too late by then. So whither goes the teen-ager, the luckless fellow in search of his real parents?

3-The Salvation:
It is a sheer pleasure to watch a patriotic ghost in action. He kills a historical tyrant dramatically but who kills him thereafter?

4-A Clip in Slow Motion:
I happen to get into a typhoon, but was lucky to get out of it. After living through the peril, I feel life is but an accident averted.

5-Out of Her Block:
A battle between a human and a crustacean could be so fierce and its result could be so momentous! I consider myself lucky to witness one. Like innumerable battles of yester year, this particular one has also a woman at its centre—I still consider I have seen something that none would ever have.

6-The Confluence:
Death is not the end of everything; it is the beginning of a long celestial journey for the soul. A son can help the dead father in this perilous course, provided he thinks it important. Will he really think the way our scriptures want him to do?

7-The Golden Trip:
Living in the Andamans teaches her the need for detachment, and when occasion arises, she does not hesitate to sell her ornaments. But for what? Definitely not for her daily expenses!

8-At the Crossroads:
He changes himself from a tradition-bound priest to a non-vegetarian liberal and starts redefining the concepts once he lived for. Love makes him bold. Having discovered the purpose of living, he could not have done any different.

9-Once Lucky:
A letterbox gets animated suddenly. It chooses a soft target to prove its newly acquired status of demigod. It arrogates to itself the right to punish a lonesome fellow, but why? The dream gets over, but the fear lingers on.

10-And Then a Fine Morning:
Is a doctor’s certificate enough to free a person from ailments? No, obviously not! One has to walk his way to health. The way to health passes through a dream, father’s blessings and the cool sea breeze of Corbyn’s Cove.

11-The Gung-ho Team:
Where there is a will there is a gold cup—it is true if the team is Andaman Hockey Team and the tournament is Bombay Gold Cup and the captain is Sukra Oram. Will it happen i real life?

12-Liberated:
Manglu keeps his family in comfort by accepting an employment in a distant island as a labourer. Will one money order a month be sufficient? Will that lead to a bond that is enduring?

13-Over the Seas:
Love makes them happen—an Indian doctor in Kuwait rescues a sex slave. Is that the only thing he does to come to the Andamans?

14-The Apt Disposal:
A lovely pet is not as lucky as its master to cross the Bay of Bengal. Will his master come back? Will he shower his love as unstintingly as he used to do before?

15-The Bovine Justice:
A wonderful person recounts the innovative steps that he adopted to settle score with his adversary—a tit for tat. But who is the ultimate beneficiary?

16-The Flight:
Their love-hate relationship helps them remain as friends. But then there is a new person, a lady between them? She is wife of one but the friend of the other. Who really benefits from the relationship? In any case the friendship continues.

17-The Green Baggage:
Everyone that goes to the Andamans does not return with the memory of that scenic place alone; some even fetch deadly souvenirs from there. So what could be the souvenir?

18-Flying Colours:
A Nicobari girl, finding her husband’s wavering loyalty, solves her problem with plenty of love and spontaneous tears. An age-old approach for an Indian woman, isn't it?

19-Homecoming:
Dannaya does his best to achieve his life’s dream, a small house at his native village in Srikakulam, but he is destined to return to Port Blair. Why?

20-Still in India:
It is a poignant feeling to cherish a death for oneself in the village of one’s birth or, in the least, in one’s own country. Godavari chooses that way. But what does she lose in the process?

21-The Millennium Blog:
At a depth of eighty feet in a diving site off Havelock coast when one chooses to spend his midnight hour with crustaceans and corals, he is said to be doing a prodigious profile in diving. If he does that just to wait for the clock to strike twelve midnight on the eve of the Millennium New Year, then it promises to be a well-imagined novelty in outdoor divertissement. So, could he achieve that distinction in the final analysis?

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THANK U MR BOND

At this moment I just remember Mr Ruskin Bond who uttered the first word of encore for the book. I'm so happy to have 'ur blessings, sir. "The Remix of Orchid" couldn't have asked for more.
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Your Book But Where?

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If you want a signed copy, you may mail me in my e-mail id nanda_lit@hotmail.com (nanda underscore lit at hotmail dot com). Please let me know the name for which the book is being ordered. I shall send the book by VPP if the addressee is in India. If he or she is from US, then let him/her visit http://authorsbookshop.com/ and order the book online.

If you are a type that wants to visit a shop and browse before buying, I've this arrangement for you: I've so far despatched my books to a few shops in the selected cities. More are in the process of being added.

Shops? Where are the shops? Oh yes, here you are.

1. Book Centre, Dwarka Nagar, Visakhapaptnam-16

2. Jyoti Book Depot, Dabagardens, Visakhapatnam - 530 020

3. Books World, Opposite Mahavir Mandir, Main Road, Ranchi-1

4. M/s Andaman Book Centre, Janata Building, Gol Ghar, Junglighat, Port Blair-3

5. Book World, University of Rajasthan Campus, Jaypur-4

6. Minerva Book House, Mall Road, Shimla

7. Capital Book Depot, S.C.O—3, Sector 17 E, Chandigarh-7

8. Gangaram’s Book Bureau, 72 M. G. Road, Bangalore-1

9. Corner Book Store, Shop No 12, Jeevan Apartment, Shankar Nagar, Raipur

10. Rathi Media Centre, Rathi Bhawan, Overbridge, Mohapur Pulia, Sojati Gate, Jodhpur

11. Pravin Prakashan Pvt. Ltd., Opp. Municipal Corporation, Labh Chamber,
Thevar Road, Rajkot-360 001

12. Himalaya Bookshop, M-6, Ground Floor, Manoranjan Complex, Opp. Ajanta Gate, Mukkaram Jahi Road, Hyderabad-1

13. Walden, 6-3-871, Greenland Road, Begumpet, Hyderabad-16

14- Jyoti Book Depot, 3-5-121/A-8, Shalimar Theatre Road, Opp. Christ Church School, Ramkote, Hyderabad - 1

15. Modern Book House, Gandhari Ammancoil Road, Pulimoodu Junction Trivandrum

16. Nalanda Bookshop, Tajmahal Hotel, Mumbai 400 001

17- V. S. Mani Bookstall, Center One: Ground Floor, Shop No. - GK - 2, Sector - 30, Vashi, Navi Mumbai - 400 703.

18. Midland, G-8 Basement, South Extension Part I, New Delhi

19. Crossword, B/H Circuit House, Alkapuri, Vadodara - 390 005

20. Rupayana Booksellers, Rampurwall Building, 27 M. G. Road, Indore - 452 007

21. Modern Book Depot, Master Canteen, Bhubaneswar,

22. Granthalay, Market Building, Ashok Nagar, Bhubneswar-9

23. A. K. Mishra Agencies, 209 Bapujee Nagar, Bhubaneswar - 9

24. Santosh Book House, Big Bazar, Satya Nagar, Bhubaneswar - 751 007

Watch out. More will be added to this list very soon.......

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By
A. N. Nanda
Berhampur
16-05-2007
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Price Perfect

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Interested in a signed copy of "The Remix of Orchid"? Mail to nanda_lit@hotmail.com (nanda underscore lit at hotmail dot com)
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'Today I had been to buy a pair of Rebok shoes. The shoe-seller charged me some 1499 rupees. (Thank god, he didn't price it 1499 rupees 95 paise as Bata shoe fellows would have done it!)'

'Beg a pardon-how much did you actually pay?'

' Well, it was less than 1500 rupees, say 1400 and something'.

Pricing just short of the round figure is an old gimmick from the shoe sellers. No wonder Rebok did that way.

Yesterday I went to a reputed bookseller in my town Bhubaneswar to approach him for showcasing my book "The Remix of Orchid". It was 9 o' clock in the evening and he was about to leave his shop closing its shutters. Still he saw the book, rather with interest, and got instantly impressed. I need not have to do any canvassing.

'What's the price of your book,' the shop fellow asked me as he couldn't readily locate his specs and see the price for himself.

'It's 250 rupees,' I replied coolly.

'Oh, I thought it should have been at least 300 or 350 rupees,' he quipped.

A shopkeeper's opinion about price of an article is always meaningful. And it was an honest opinion from his side. I know the bookseller for last thirty years. He has been there in the town at the same spot selling fictions all these days. His next door cabin sells liquors. The good old bookseller has not changed over to selling textbooks where the money lies these days. His other competitors in the town have left and gone to sell textbooks, even CDs and other stationeries. But he has been continuing in his old niche.

I reflected. I'm sure profit is not my aim; circulation of the book is. If anything comes, it maybe incidental, or it will make self-publication of my next book easier. I kept the book affordable. Despite all the quality ingredients in it! It has 80-gsm papers of natural shade, jacket laminated, hardbound, ISBN barcoded, bookmarked-each piece is a pleasure to look at. Book lovers will understand what I say. At least that was what the shopkeeper said. It's a different thing that he couldn't sale even a copy of my first book of poems, "In Harness".

So, I shouldn't feel bad why I didn't make the price 295 rupees. Increasing the price and then slashing it in the name of giving rebates may be a good selling proposition, but it is an unmixed cheating of readers. I'm happy I have not followed that.

After all, a self-published author should always be different from a shoe-seller!
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By
A.N. Nanda
Bhubaneswar
13-05-2007
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Cheers!!!

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H U R R A H ! A T L A S T M Y B O O K G O T R E L E A S E D
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By
A. N. Nanda
Berhampur
10-05-2007
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Poetic Promotions

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Interested buying my book? Mail me at nanda_lit@hotmail.com nanda underscore at hotmail dot com.
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These days I really try hard to build up a friendship base in the on-line community myspace.com. Purpose: I've my books to sell. One day when I've gained enough credibility as a decent netizen, and when I've really impressed others by my literary credentials, I'll ask all my friends to buy my books.

Sounds like dream? An incredible plan?

Myspace, or for that matter any on-line community, is a crowded marketplace now. "Buy this cell phone", "Buy that i-pod"-the whole community is congested to the capacity. Our bandwidth is exhausted. So, where is the patience? And how to get that credibility?

I've chosen an equally weird plan. Give them poems, they'll get attracted.

Is that workable? Is that easy? Let me suspend the questions for the time being. Let me post poems that I've scribbled during the last couple of weeks going right up to the profile space of my friends.

So is Our Telly
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Once we used to creep
Loudly, begging for choice
And that's the test of freedom
So do people say.

Now choice kills ruthlessly
Not the time alone, it's channel zapping,
There's a competition in every home
For the wonder instrument called REMOTE!

So is our telly
Has brought quarrel to our homes
Let the scene pass in a minute
I've other things to do.
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Soliciting
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I'm in a lovely mood now
Let my friends know that
I'd stop bothering them
with that trash called my poems!
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Lost Birds
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The birds that bothered me in my childhood
Crapping on my books or chirping close
They are now nowhere to be seen
And they're lost from my view.

They are gone with the green to recur in my dreams
And longings take me there when everybody is asleep!

Cool breeze is still there
to swish those sibilant whispers
I don't loose hopes, no, never
And the birds will be back there and right there.
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Growing Out
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Somehow I feel like
not growing more than a child
It's risky, it's lousy
to grow up and grow out.

Growing up has only one advantage:
difficult maths of primary days
appear easy and workoutable
And one feels like revolting against
all the words of the unkind teachers.

Growing up has nothing more to give
for all it takes thrashing out.

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By
A. N. Nanda

Bhubaneswar

05-05-2007
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On-line Sale

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For a signed copy of "Remix of Orchid" one may mail to me at nanda_lit@hotmail.com
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Now for the readers of US, "The Remix of Orchid" will be available on-line for purchase. I've made an arrangement with the portal http://authorsbookshop.com to display and sale this. It proved a little expensive for me to set up my account there, and as I estimate, with a sale of 10 books I'll recoup my initial set-up cost. This is not a big risk in my reckoning.

The point of emphasis is that the book is going to travel to a place where the author has not. For an author this means a lot!

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By

A. N. Nanda

03-05-2007

Berhampur

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