Fridays 5 with Mangalam Shiva

After working as a marketing professional in Mumbai for forty years, author Mangalam Shiva finally took up the pen.

A keen observer of life, the author has been following the myriad incidences of social injustice, inequality, corruption and abuse of power that our country has been beset with, and its impact on the common man.

Unable to initiate direct action to rectify these social evils, he hopes to at least create awareness, through these short stories. By touching a chord with the readers, somewhere, sometime, a life may change for the better.

1) When did you first get serious about writing? 
A) I started getting serious in 2014 at the age of 71 years.

2) What is the hardest part for you about writing?
A) The hardest part about my writing is making the characters think and talk in the same manner as I visualize my story plot.

Click on cover for more info or to order!

Synopsis:

 

"God, why has this happened to me? I have never hurt anybody in my life. I have been sincere to God, to my work, to my husband... Yet, I have to suffer this cruel brutality. Why?”

A software professional who led a charmed life, finds that life destroyed by a single brutal incident…

A man on his deathbed realizes a life spent in the US chasing money, filled his pockets but left him empty…

An ambitious reporter with her dreams within grasp, finds them turning into dust…

A beautiful woman is locked in a battle against unwanted male attention with shocking results…

Meet these characters - strong, inspiring, wayward, cynical, ambitious, and share their journey, in this contemporary anthology of ordinary lives, extraordinary insights.


3) How did you feel upon publication of your first completed project?
A) I felt great pleasure, great relief after going through all the processes involved in editing and publishing my book and subsequent tension to know how my child is going to survive in this difficult book world.

4) What is more important to you, story, or character? Why?
A) The story is more important as characters are part of the story. The basic story has to be strong and emotional and the characters will revolve around the situations in the story.

5) What is a typical day like in your world?
A) A typical day in my world involves reading news papers, magazines, novels, watching news TV channels, helping my wife in purchases of daily needs, contacting my friends & relatives through e mails, phone calls, writing stories in slow pace as my imagination takes me, go for long walks in the mornings and evenings keeping my thinking cap on for ideas for my stories.