Book 1: I Too Had A Love Story Book 2: Can Love Happen Twice? Book 3: Love Stories That Touched My Heart
Ravinder Singh is a bestselling author. His debut novel I Too Had a Love Story has touched millions of heart. Can Love Happen Twice? is his second book. After spending most of his life in Burla, Orissa, Ravinder has finally settled down in Chandigarh. Having worked as a computer engineer for several years at some of India's prominent IT companies, Ravinder is now pursuing his MBA at the world-renowned Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. Ravinder loves playing snooker in his free time. He is crazy about Punjabi music and loves dancing to its beat. The best way to contact Ravinder is through his official fan page on Facebook.
What can you say about a guy who lost his girlfriend by the time the two of them were to exchange their engagement rings?
That he plunged into the deepest ocean of trauma? That, for whatever happened, he lost his faith in God? That he was so madly immersed in the love of his mortal girlfriend that, after she was gone, forever, he wrote an immortal love story in her memory?
Or maybe that, after a long interval of time, one day, love knocked at his door once again?
We’ve all experienced the first flush of love and remember its lingering fragrance. For ages love has remained one of the most cherished experiences that everyone wishes to live through at least once.
Humanity, time and again, has coined many definitions to describe this beautiful emotion, but this small word is a feeling that can’t simply be defined. It has to be narrated ... in the form of stories –love stories.
Love stories That Touched My Heart is a collection of such stories from readers who have a tale to tell, shortlisted from the entries that were submitted in a competition conducted by Penguin Books India.
Selected and edited by Ravinder Singh, this anthology-made up of the stories that touched Ravin’s heart the most-will make you believe that someone, somewhere, is meant for you.
I'm not Spiderman, but I do believe in the line 'With great power, comes great responsibility', which Peter Parker recapped at the end of the film. This anthology is my way of using my power and moving a step towards accomplishing my responsibility to create a platform for many of the upcoming debutant authors. However, at the onset, it is important for me to tell you why I am a part of this project and what I think about it.
As I write this note, I want to go back in time-the time when I was a wannabe author. For me, the year 2008 was full of struggle. All I had with me was a dream-to narrate my love story. But for some reason the world around me was trying with all its might to stop me from realizing that dream. Nothing seemed to be working out. Apart from my belief in the saying 'Where there is a will, there is way', and the fact that I had a complete manuscript in hand, I wasn't equipped with anything else in my adventure to become an author. It didn't help that I had absolutely zero contacts in the publishing industry. Adding to all this was the fact that I myself had a load of questions-where to start from? Which are the publishing houses I should send my submissions to? How best to approach them? ... The list was longer than the word count of my first chapter! The answers I got were limited and most of them were incorrect.
Months passed by and by then only two things had changed in my status. First, my work had been rejected umpteen number of times. Second, some publishers hadn't even bothered to respond to my submission. I was still waiting for the third kind of status update-the positive one. However, I came across some people who showed me dreams but cheated me in the end. I also came across some good people who helped me beyond what they'd promised to do. In the end, I did get published and I also learnt a lot. I learnt from both kinds of people, the people who helped me as well as those who deceived me. I am still in touch with both kinds of people. My journey of becoming an author who is loved by his readers was full of frustration but also full of hope. As I come back to my present, all this is history. And now that it is history, I have taken up a task for myself-I want to do my bit and make the road for several wannabe authors less bumpy, if not smooth. Everyone who deserves it should get a chance to narrate his/her story.
Love Stories That Touched My Heart is a great project. In my view it is a plan in which all emerge as winners-the publisher, the authors and myself. A nationwide contest gives the publisher a chance to reach out and nurture fresh talent and fresh writing, besides getting a good selection of stories. From the thousands of stories that we received, the best twenty-four have been selected for this collection (we were not able to get in touch with the twenty-fifth winner). This project is also a perfect platform for debuting storytellers to compete with each other at a national level and to prove their mettle. And for me, the takeaway is to introduce these twenty-four new names to the world of storytelling. Something I set out to do in the first place.
Each and every love story that has made it to this book is unique in its own way. And as the title says, these stories have really touched my heart and I wish they touch your heart as we1l. The best part for me was to get a chance to experience a variety of feelings in just one book. While a few stories left a sweet smile on my lips, a few others left me emotional by the last paragraph. Some of these stories are very simple in terms of plot, but the style with which their authors have narrated them was extremely interesting. Their choice of words and their expressions won my heart. And in some cases the storyline itself was far more impressive than the style of writing. I picked them up and edited at the same time. Before I started going through the submitted list of stories I was clear about one thought, i.e., every author has his/her strengths and weaknesses. My idea was to pick up the strengths and work on the weaknesses. The idea of identifying different strengths and fixing different weaknesses is what brings diversity into this anthology, gives it that flavour and texture that can be a rollercoaster ride of emotions. And this note is incomplete unless I mention that I didn't just enjoy reading these stories, I also learnt a lot from them. Some of them showed me the art of writing an unconventional and out-of-the-box story, while some others heavily influenced me on how to beautifully write the first paragraph--something that I struggle with.
Writing a short story may be a small step in the journey of becoming an author of 200-odd-page novels. But winning a nationwide contest is a big and crucial step. Who knows, a couple of years from now the authors of this book will be writing an editor's note, the way I am doing right now, and will recall this first step in their journey of becoming writers.
Before I end this note, I also want to thank those thousands of participants for submitting their stories-even if they did not make it to this book. And here is my strong recommendation for them-if you truly believe in yourself, don't give up. Hone your skills for, who knows, you may be the winner of the next season!
I didn't make it in my first attempt, neither did I make it in my fifth attempt. But always remember in that someone who said, 'Where there is a will, there is a way.' And no matter what, you can and will find the way! God Bless,
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