Hello everyone,
Today's interview steps into the world of non-fiction. Author duo Palak and Pooja are here to speak to us about their debut book, Is Life As We Know It? So, let's meet them!
PB: Hi both! Welcome to pjbermanbooks.com. Tell us a bit about your backgrounds.
P&P: Hi. Thank you for your interest. Although we are Indians by birth, we live in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Dubai has been our home for more than 40 years now. We sisters have been discussing our thoughts, feelings, experiences, learnings, etc. with each other since childhood. Our mother often used to scold us to sleep as we both used to talk till wee hours of the morning. We still do that and can talk for hours with each other about various schools of thought, life, possibilities, etc. Now we share our discussions with our parents and children too. Not a day goes by when we both do not talk to each other. Ha ha ha ha.
And now we are the authors of Is Life As We Know It?
PB: What made you decide to become authors?
Palak: We believe that this book is a gift to us.
One day Pooja started writing awesome, thought provoking stuff in 2016 and till date she continues to do so. We fell in love with her writings and would discuss it for hours.
Pooja: During a challenging phase of our lives, it gave us solace and a better understanding of life and a belief that there are endless possibilities in life. It made us relook at life and our existence and made us fall in love with life all over again.
PB: As sisters, and also a novel-writing duo, you have one of the less common approaches to writing. How did that come about, and what is your writing process?
P&P: Ours is a non-fiction book. It is inspirational and has multiple topics in it to ponder upon.
Well regarding the process, as mentioned earlier Pooja gets an urge to write and words just flow on to paper. Then we both read it and discuss it further with examples and its application to our lives to understand it better. We try to look at it from different perspectives and share it with our close friends and family. This way the chapters expand and encompass everyone’s truths. It had started in 2016 and the book started in 2017.
PB: When did you first start writing?
Pooja: I started writing in 2016 and the book started in 2017. However, both of us were into writing since childhood, be it via letters whenever we were apart or Palak writing in diaries and journals all her life. She found it therapeutic.
PB: What was the first story that you can remember writing?
P&P: The first chapter of our book Is Life As We Know It? was the first chapter we had penned down however, the first writing that we were fascinated by was when Pooja had written a short piece on ‘what Palak was thinking about’. Yes, we have this strange relationship where either one of us gives the other an answer to the question that either one of us was looking for. So the piece was on – ‘there are two kinds of people: those who are Nice and then there are those that are Truthful’. Interesting isn’t it? Food for thought!
PB: Tell us about Is Life As We Know It?
P&P: This book helps us in understanding our lives and our existence. It nudges us to relook at our lives and think - is life really as we know it?
It steers you back to your own truth and your strength. It makes us aware that we are a creation of The Master Creator, hence a Masterpiece.
It also talks about topics such as:
The importance of Diversity in Evolution - If everything and everyone is the same then what’s the point?
Movement / evolution being the ultimate truth.
The power of Imagination - Look where we have come from the days of the caves to now the era of the internet, The Burj Khalifa, etc
Believing and Trust will create more possibilities because there are endless possibilities
The importance of being true to oneself and that’s enough!
Create your own recipe of life
It also talks topics such as:
How to avoid u-turns in your life (i.e. avoid going back to the same difficult situation)
When in fear, move ahead despite of fear and fear disappears eventually.
When stuck, what questions to focus upon?
We also have some thought-provoking topics:
The importance of happiness and how is sadness serving you?
You do not need to struggle to be a hero!
Pain is never forever!
What is reality?
PB: I'm sure those are subjects that will stir up a variety of feelings and opinions! If you could meet anyone who has featured in you work, or in you research towards creating it, who would you meet, and what would you say to them?
Palak: Oh My God, I would like to meet great souls such as Swami Vivekananda and Paramhansa Yogananda and would made them talk and just sit there and listen to them.
Pooja: I have already met an author whose books got me into reading – Robin Sharma. We loved reading Dr Wayne W Dyers books too. Love the way he used to write – as if he was in conversation with you.
PB: Where did the idea for Is Life As We Know IT? come from?
Palak: From Pooja’s writings primarily. Her writings left us, our friends and family in awe of what was being said, that we decided to share it as a book so others could feel and experience what we did when we used to discuss its content. It helped us sail smoothly during our challenging phase.
PB: Of all your achievements, which are you most proud of?
P&P: Well, bringing this book to reality and being able to find the right publisher, Austin Macauley Publishers UAE, for this book and being able to market it, I guess is one of our proud achievements.
PB: What is your favourite book series to read and why?
P&P: We used to love to read the Chicken Soup of the Soul books. Then we fell in love with Dr Wayne Dyers and Robin Sharma’s writings. Now Palak is in Love with Neale Donald Walsh’s books – the author of Conversations with God series.
PB: What are your long term ambitions career-wise?
Palak: No long term goals, career wise. I have had a career in the corporate world, as a journalist and now I am enjoying being an author. Let’s see what in life excites me next.
Pooja: Same here. I have experienced the corporate world, am a Mosaic artist and am an Access Conscious Practitioner. I feel life has so much in it that I want to experience everything rather than stick to one thing long term. I am excited to try out something new now.
PB: If you weren’t authors, what career would you be in?
Palak: Art
Pooja: Can’t pinpoint. Let’s see what else is possible.
PB: What’s the next target for you both?
P&P: Getting our second book published and third books finished.
PB: Tell us a random fact about each of you.
Pooja: I am an established Mosaic artist and have had my work showcased in various well-known venues in Dubai.
Palak: I have learnt Reiki and am a Reiki Master.
Thank you so much to Palak and Pooja for coming in for today's interview! If you would like to purchase a copy of Is Life As We Know It? and ponder the subjects covered, you can do so via the links below:
Until next time, happy reading!
Peter