This is a guest post provided by Aiman Khan, book reviewer.
“There exists a beautiful bridge between the reader and the author whose book he/she has chosen to read or has already read.” Or so I do strongly believe.
I won’t say I’m a very good reader or reviewer, for that matter, but whenever I pick up a book, I feel like connecting with the author to hear how his writing journey was like. How he struggled, how he fought the internal and external battles, and what kept him going. This works like a magical dose of motivation for me. And it completes my reading purpose fully.
Today, the author I want to proudly talk about is Saraf Ali Bhat hailing from Kaldabal, Pampore: a 20-year-old youngster. Yet, what he aims for, what his perceptions are, what he has been doing selflessly, what more he has in store for all of the people out there… all of this indicates that age is indeed a number, and one can do wonders beyond this number by going way beyond oneself; by dedicating oneself to a higher and nobler cause.
Let’s start with his professional journey. He has successfully written 2 good books: A smile worth a billion poems and Triggered Sorrows.
Well, I read Triggered Sorrows and was totally intrigued to know how a youngster can manage to write with such honesty and sincerity. And this led to a series of questions with Saraf himself who was humble enough to pour his heart out for people to hear him; his people I’d say; people of his motherland: Kashmir.
What amazes me is that as a Kashmiri, I didn’t come across his name before. This means that the literature culture is somehow slowly shifting outwards while there exists pious beauty in our roots which we sometimes fail to acknowledge.
You would be glad to know that while pursuing his writing career, he did give a thought to many others like him who were not fortunate enough to publish what they feel. And for this noble cause, he came up with a publishing house named Helping Hands. As selfless as this name is, such has been his work to promote those who have been facing one hurdle after another in their path to write and publish.
My first question to him was why he didn’t turn this publishing house into his source of income – I mean have you ever heard of publishing houses helping the writers publish their work without charging a single penny?
“Kashmir is a place where people, especially youngsters, can create history but, due to violence and unrest, they are not able to do so. I’m not running a business, nor do I want to run it as my business. I don’t want people to give up on their dreams if they are not able to pay. Also, Kashmir is not in that era when writing can be a full-time profession. I need their artistic sense to be taken as a passion, not a profession,” said Saraf with a selfless smile on his face.
Being curious, I asked him how his writing journey has been like all along.
To this, he began by saying: “In my writing journey I faced a lot of struggles about the particular genre I wrote about.’’ And to not let other people suffer the same fate, he decided to publish the works of those unheard voices that were truly worth listening to. Taking readers into consideration, he said: “Being unaware of what a published author stands for, I first wrote as I wanted to, but then I came to know that writing is not only about what we want to write; it’s also about what readers want to read.”
I won’t hesitate to say that he is becoming the voice of those who are afraid to speak up. As he himself says: “I always like to be as truthful as I can. But most readers don’t believe that because we live in an era where fiction is mostly like all genres.”
Mentioning his family, he further added: “Initially my family had no idea about my publishing venture but they came to know me through print and electronic media. My father had an extra supportive arm and helped me over, while my mother proved to be a good part adding much of the support to all of this going on. Moreover, both of my maternal uncles supported me morally which proved to be a great change in my writing journey.”
Also, nostalgia had the best of him while he mentioned how he started off with his publishing house: “I came all alone with no one as a part of it, but lately I had a good helping team, among whom Cealice, an Alaskan reviewer is a part.”
Also, being a Kashmiri and a practicing Muslim, he gracefully added “Luck didn’t favour me going to the place where a Muslim wants to die, where Moses and great Prophets desired to be born. Still, I’ve been to places of values and norms. I’ve visited almost all the Sufi shrines and kept spreading the love by their religious approach. I’ve always been inspired by what they did and what they wrote.”
And now something I’d gladly like to mention is that Saraf is the very first Kashmiri to win a reader’s choice award. Isn’t it something we all ought to be proud of? Yet when I asked him how he felt about that, without exaggerating in any way he said he was grateful for everything.
I couldn’t fathom the slightest trace of pride in him. Instead I felt humbleness embedded in his strong character, working without seeking benefits of the same.
This is what we all ought to do. “Never letting our success make us arrogant.” We have to emerge stronger out of pain as this brave youngster has. We can’t help but we can try to help one person at a time like he has. We can’t please all, but we can help others achieve their dreams as he has been doing. It is easy to get self-absorbed but it’s a beautiful journey to help others smile with peace written all over their face.
As portrayed in his second book, Triggered Sorrows, as someone sincere to his emotions, to the people around him and to the words, he has unfailingly been like that in his real life as well, where he is not only a brother, son, and a writer but also someone who is sharing and spreading the love of words with other sons that, like him, they could also embrace a part of their dreams.
In a conflict zone like Kashmir where our past, present, and future contains pain in different forms, he has chosen a path of growth; a path of learning for himself which is inspiring enough for all those Kashmiris who want to stand up for something in their lives; who want to look beyond the cloud of pain; who want to live not only pain but the bliss dreams are about.
With being on the giving end, he is receiving the ajar (reward) of eternal peace and a truckload of blessings which will always clothe him in warmth and joy. Let his journey inspire you to love what you do. And trust me, when you do what you love to do, a smile will find its way to your face.
-Aiman Khan. ( reader & reviewer)
