Chennai: This Valentine’s Day was not just about chocolates, roses and teddy bears. Chennai saw a different kind of celebration with a lot of creativity thrown in.
Pen2Publishing, a self-publishing outfit, had organised a short story contest on the theme of love, to culminate in the prize distribution event around Valentine’s Day.
It was another kind of V Day (Victory Day) for the prize winner, Rohan A Jain, whose story, A Melody of Nostalgia, was picked for the prize. It was part of the anthology Casket of Love that consisted of 13 stories by other winners.
Rohan, a Chennai youth, is a ‘published poet, aspiring novelist and ardent lover of movies’. The final-year student is waiting to complete his studies to launch into serious writing.
Journalist, blogger and author of 10 books, Meera Raghavendra Rao and her husband-author N Raghavendra Rao, were present along with authors Vidya and Shankar to launch the anthology Friday.
Speaking about being an author, Meera advised the youngsters to complete their education, take up a permanent job and keep writing, a hobby. She asked them to always be original and think out of the box.
Raghavendra Rao confessed in front of the audience that he was inspired by his wife’s writings – who made it a point to show him her writings before sending them out – and, quietly, one day, became an author himself.
Vidya, a poet, writer and blogger, has come out with a coffee table book on the Parthasarathy Swamy temple in Triplicane called, The Flautist of Brindaranyam. Her husband Shankar is a professional photographer and his work is reflected in the book.
Meera and Vidya have also written the foreword for the anthology. Samyuktha and Sakhi represented Pen2Publishing at the event that took place at Writers Cafe in Chennai. Publisher Ramesh Reddy handed over the prize to Rohan.