Book review- Write India Stories

It is never easy to write a book review. But in this case it's more difficult, coz it's not a single author or genre.
It's not just a book- it's a platform that I intend to review about.
I'm talking of Write India Stories! 

The journey began with 'Write India Initiative' announced by TOI, which became a huge platform for budding authors. Let me try to put my review in words ( words are not just enough)

The Concept : 11 mentors were roped in. These being the famous ones in book circle. Each of them had written a passage of a story, which needed to be used by the author as it is.

The Mentors : Interesting group of mentors and more crazy and imaginative were the passages shared. I just can't stop myself from naming the mentors who were/are an integral part of this TOI initiative.
Amish, Chetan Bhagat, Ashwin Sanghi, Ravi Subramanian, Preeti Shenoy, Tuhin A Sinha, Ravinder Singh, Durjoy Dutta, Madhuri Banerjee, Jaishree Misra and Anita Nair. Most of us know the genre these authors write in, but the challenge thrown was not restricted to that genre, which is admirable!

Vinita Nangia and TOI effect: Before actually getting on the book itself, I'm going ahead with some credits. So Vinita Nangia and TOI are the 2 names which come on top! Be it the patience with which the whole activity was conducted or the pace at which all the queries were answered, it's truly appreciable! As Ms.Nangia herself had said that there were more than 25000 entries, one can imagine the effort put by the entire team to keep things in action, right from scrutinizing to editing and finally selecting the winners.

Author Chat : Each month had an author and the Twitter community had an opportunity to chat with an author and get suggestions/opinions and also to get to know them. Yet again thanks to TOI, Ms. Nangia and of course the authors for their patience.

Now comes the actual book review!

Book Cover : A simple mustard colored cover, with a Peepal tree leaf. Interesting way of connecting writing with our roots. There was an age when Peepal leaves were used in India for painting and writing.
It gives the name of the eminent mentors and has TOI logo. Editor being everyone's favorite- Vinita Dawra Nangia.

Content : It has 36 winning entries. Each section starts with the author's comment, his Paragraph followed by the winning entries. At the end of each story, it gives us a brief about the writer. It would be injustice to write about a single author, all the stories are fascinating and keep you glued.

Genre : Congratulations to each and every writer! It's interesting to see the genre change for the same  passage! For example, for Ravi Subramanian's passage, 3 winners had 3 different genres!
One was para-normal, other was a thriller and the third was with Abbas Mastan kind of twist in the tale.
Age group of the new set of authors varies from 14- youngest one to win to 60s!

The Learning : It's not necessary that every book you read has a message for you, but this book is an eye opener! It shows the creativity and writing prowess. It also tells you that writing is not simply putting down words or thoughts, but it involves a huge amount of research, patience, writing-re-writing. It teaches perseverance!
I was there at the Delhi Lit Fest, where Ravindra Singh, Ashwin Sanghi and Ravi Subramanian were on the hot seat and  Vinita Nangia was discussing with them about their experience. ( Yes indeed it is an ' Experience'!).
Some common observations which the authors shared, that it is indeed a daunting task to pull off imagination in short stories. Unlike novels, the number of words is restricted.
Next was the tough part of choosing winners.

As the book Synopsis rightly says ' From psycho- thrillers to murder mysteries, from mythologies to romances and tragedies- Write India Stories has it all!'.

Kudos to the entire Write India family! Proud to be a part of it.

Suggestion to rest of the world- go and grab a copy! It's a must read and must own.
Lastly, waiting for the next season. TOI... This one was for you:)