From Dreams to Reality: My Journey of Publishing

We all have dreamt of writing a book and imagine ourselves giving our autograph to every person who bought our book. Mine was no different from the rest. I might be generalising this. But we all had dreams. I had a dream. I dreamt of writing a book and getting it published someday ever since I started reading books. What fuelled my passion for writing a book as an 8-year-old child was the classic scene from Baghban when I saw Amitabh Bachhan signing a book which he wrote. Yes. It was just symbolic of his life ahead after being mistreated by his children. But having read books and seen such a classic scene in the movie, I always wondered to myself...What motivated the authors to write such fat books at all? Can I too write a book? A childish move though I often tore pages from my drawing book and stapled 6-7 pages at a time believing that I am indeed writing a book and feel proud of having written one. Over time this fascination for publishing my work grew and it was somewhere in 2006 when during a visit to my aunt's house, I insisted she gets my 10-page book (what according to a 12-year-old boy was a book) only to be told that it was a lengthy process involving editing, typesetting and printing, which was beyond my understanding. This however was short-lived as my academics became more demanding and I hardly got time to involve myself with writing and maybe just dream about it!? For years up to 2014, it remained on the backburner

Reliving the Dream Post-2014

As a child, I fell in love with trains and my love for writing stemmed out of my love for trains. I started writing my blog and gradually started writing for university magazines such as We Care, a flagship publication of Centre for Social Action, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), with two publications for two consecutive years 2015 and 2016 helping me reach out to my peers and expand my passion through writing. This was a humble beginning to my long journey of publishing until the next major break in 2018 when I published my article on the idea of Railway Diplomacy with Stimson Centre, Washington D.C and subsequent publications with Harvard Economic Review, Crawford School of Public Policy, Oxford University India Policy Forum, Cambridge University and Down To Earth to mention some in the days that followed. In 2018, I joined ResearchGate, a social networking site for researchers to share their published works and works in progress where I got noticed by Mr Stabak Roy, a PhD scholar from Tripura University and this started our association on some of the most thought-provoking projects and have been actively engaged since then.

Finding my Call

2018 marked the end of my university life with a Master's degree in International Relations. Unlike my batchmates who jumped onto the M.Phil and PhD journey, I decided to take some time for myself and catch up on my long pending dream of writing a book, currently in progress until a year later when I resumed my research journey by joining the M.Phil programme at JAIN (Deemed to be University) in the field of Public Policy which was also the year when I found my calling of publication one fine evening as I was wrapping up with my coursework for the day when I received a call from Mr Roy inviting me to contribute a chapter for their upcoming edited volume scheduled to be published by Springer. A reputed name in academia. The adrenaline rush which no amount of words can describe and rushed to my guide's chamber to inform her of the invitation received. As I progressed in the coming days on my chapter, I received immense support from her. Being a newbie to a full-fledged chapter writing compared to the op-eds which I was for so long writing. At no point in the process, did I ever feel anxious or sceptical of my abilities to deliver the chapter on time? The chapter was finally completed and submitted. It was then that COVID-19 struck us hard. Real hard with deadlines being pushed forward amidst the changing scene before finally settling in for the latter half of 2021 and see the book live on the Springer website. August 26, 2021, was a red-letter day with my book finally up for purchase and the first glimpse shared, what followed was a small celebration with a home-baked cake and some favourite dishes and wishes from family, teachers friends, colleagues and my students of course! Even as I shared the glimpses of the book and my name in the list of contributors, I finally lived the dream of writing a book. Though not entirely, but definitely as a contributor even as I work on two of my long pending dream projects, but it will be quite some time before I share my experiences with you all

Everyone Mattered: From People to Situations

It all may sound easy as you read through the story. But eventually, this journey was filled with achievements and challenges. My Post-Graduate phase and the pandemic were the key determining moments, which I have been able to overcome through these years. There were times when I was confronted with the question of being realistic about carrying on with my passion and scrutinised for my decisions from Railways being a part of my Master's dissertation to facing rejections. Every moment has its importance in the journey of my first publication. The pandemic in its second phase has been extremely challenging- mentally and emotionally. But the excitement of getting my first publication kept me motivated through those difficult times. The support of my colleagues. teachers, students, family and friends have been instrumental in this journey. Maybe I didn't fully live my dream to have a full-fledged book launch and giving my autograph. But if I have reached so far to my first major publication, I will as well live to fulfil my dream which the pandemic pulled back from fulfilling. The journey has just begun, there is much more to the journey which is to unfold as I move forward to a new project and new milestone. That ends my story on my first publication

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