TWENTY5 Years of Penguin India - An Evening in the Celebration

Winters of 2012 were on verge of bidding goodbye and Penguin was celebrating its TWENTY5 years in India. While I preferred to spend my lazy days within office and home boundary, Penguin India were all set to rejoice this benchmark occasion. Fever of the celebration continued for ten days long at India Habitat Centre of New Delhi and several legendary names like Anupam Kher, Yaana Gupta, Shashi Tharoor, Gulzar Saahab, Rajnikant, Ravinder Singh, and many more accompanied Penguin in the celebration. Spring Fever 2012 started on March 16th and continued till March 25th, 2012. Like many others, I too got to know about the occasion on official Facebook page of Penguin India. Penguin had set various themes for each different day in their schedule. While browsing through their schedules, something caught my attention. Delhi’s Got Talent – That’s what it was named and it said:

Do you have a special way with words?
Does prose or poetry brings out best in you?
Do you dream of seeing your name appear on a book-cover?
Is being an author your ambition?

 As I read, my breath raced faster and my heart pounded heavier. I continued.
“If you answered yes to any or all of the above questions, guess what, we at Penguin Books India might be looking for you!” It further stated. In the event of their celebration, they were on the hunt for a writing spark from Delhi. I call Delhi the city of talent and there is no doubt about my opinion. Be it professional skills or the artistic side of human talent, Delhi has got plenty of them. So Penguin had made doubtlessly the right city choice. Within those few minutes of reading the leaflet, dream of my life revolved in my eyes. I visualized the book – with my name written on it – ASHISH CHAUHAN YOUNGY and there was sign of Penguin in orange circle at the bottom of the book-cover. I am sure I was smiling while thinking of the most passionate dream of my life.

Couple of Days Later
 “First of all, I am highly thankful to Penguin India for offering such a nice platform to young talent. I remember the story of Ravinder Singh, author of two best-selling books when he talked about how he struggled to get his first book published. He would wander in streets of Old Delhi to get a publishing platform for his book that later became one of the most selling and loved book among Indian readers. So, I am grateful if some of us writers get a platform for their writing career. This will be like seeing a dream come true. And which writer would not love to see his work published by PENGUIN!”

As excited I was for this event, equally I was confused too. I agree I have a story and a dream but I did not have a manuscript already prepared. I had few poems on my blog but I was not sure of they will accept it as all these poems already have appeared in front of public. Writing a small piece of prose – is really not my style. Even if I make up my mind to do that, what I would write about. Busy working days, tired evenings, and sleepy nights - the weekend is yet far. When I will write? The rest of the hopes were killed by the unnecessary stress I was taking. Well, thanks to Anvesha, a friend and Ritu, my friend and co-worker for boosting me up and at least starting me up with writing something.

I wrote about war, it seemed too heavy; in their opinion. I wrote about rain, it seemed gentle yet too common; in their opinion. I wrote about life, it seemed too complicated; in their opinion. Ughh! This was too much. Consumption of teas and breaks during work increased and my think tank denied to work anymore. I was doing my best. What was wrong then? I remember expert advice; it says, “Whatever you write, write from your heart.” Oh, so this was where I was lacking. I was writing for some hope of return. I was not using my heart. I went to cafeteria and played table tennis… a lot; worried about the next day’s competition. Came back and Googled a lot, randomly. The search for my muse took me into the thought search of purpose. Purpose took me to the meaning of my life and I found myself standing on the bank of a river. It was green all around. White lily flowers were growing on stoned on the river-side and birds were swimming in the clear blue running water of the river. It was so relaxing. In my curiosity, I started talking to the river. And it was amazing she was replying to me back. I weaved this discussion into a poem and named it ‘That is why I Dance’.

On the Evening

Special thanks to one of my poet friend Nithin Jacob for his precious review on my poem. The poem was green flagged from him and thank God! I felt confident for the first time. DharmRaj and Rohit, two bosom friends accompanied me and we headed towards the Southern parts of Delhi. I am also among most of Delhites who love South Delhi. Neat and clean, higher ratio of Mercedes and BMWs on roads, less encroachment and a feel of freedom (in comparison to other parts of Delhi, of coarse). After parking car, we made our way to M.P. theatre where all the set up by Penguin was done. It indeed was an atmosphere of celebration. Plenty of books kept for showcase which were loudly screaming successful 25 years-long journey of Penguin in India. A big stage was prepared and then multiple rows in ascending heights. Posters all around singing the glory of Penguin and raising the curiosity of contestants and audiences. I caressed Delhi University ID card in my left pocket as I saw the additional twenty percent discount for students.

It was an abundant feeling being with lots of people with same heartbeat – The Writing Throb. A comment by a young girl writer – “Wow! There is a great variety of people here.” – promoted my cheeriness to the next level. “There are more 70 people participating”, announced the information my friend as he estimated length of the queue for registration. Every face was glowing with a dream. Everyone wanted to win though there was no fear of losing. Because even we would lose, it was our victory. Presenting our work at such a platform was an achievement in itself.


As the dusk fell and chill increased in air, our curiosities were intensifying. Ravinder Singh, part of the jury panel, came on the stage and brought himself the popular RJ of Red FM, Swati. I already had an encounter with her at book launch of Can Love Happen Twice. It was nice to see them once again, both intellect and prompted. Without killing any more time, we were briefed with the rules. We were given two minutes to show what we got. Number 1 to 5 were asked to be around in order to be most time-efficient. Luckily I was 30th, good enough to keep me psychologically relieved. Writers did their best in those two minutes. These were two minutes which could change their entire lives, two minutes which could convert their dreams into reality. Poetry, prose, excerpts. Synopses – whatever represented them best, they did. Most of them were really good and some of them were outstanding. Few of them which I personally liked were – Part of the novel in which there was Mrs. Singhania and non-fiction on Delhi by SOMEONE. God! She was completely in love with Delhi and I really loved it when she pronounced Hindi words in her English accent. Many writers, many views. Some spoke of love, some talked about life, some revealed secret of atomic theory, some said of purpose of life. Doubtlessly, bond of a father and daughter is most heavenly bond on earth and is beyond to be kept in words but the way it was put in words by someone, touched most of hearts. I recited my poem too:

Born in the auspicious lap of mountains,
River, where you go; over peaks and plains?
She curled and twirled, blushed, and then smiled,
She kissed my feet and ran into the wild.

Gorgeously she took the curve, to jump over the cliff,
Thunder song she sang, repeated with the riff,
Oscillated white lilies, dearly grown on stones,
Delighted swans swam, glided on your tones.
 In your rhythmic walk, from town to town,
Through narrow valleys, and then deep down,
Dance of thy streams, like waves of damsel hair,
Sashay way you walk, like ballet dancer flair.

Birds, trees and human, beast, brute and nature,
Blessed all with your love, you never ask for favor,
What makes you to travel, generous and so kind?
Carry silence in motion, what you want to find?

One crave in my heart, one wish like a fire,
Destiny of my being, the only one desire,
Thousands miles far, lies there my devotion,
I was born to conflate, to meet my soul-mate ocean.

Time was moving on, all of us were enjoying among stories, celebration, drinks and bliss. Where the pace slowed down, spontaneous Swati spiced it up and rest of the job was done by the youth spark. We got to see two great examples of time utilization there, which I would love to mention. One of the contestants, aged around 55, suited and designed in French-cut beard, congratulated and appreciated the good efforts of Penguin and his fellow contestants, as he realized he has lost most of his time in congratulating, he made one more announcement, “MY TIME STARTS NOW.” and started reading his poetry. This made most of us laugh hard. Another youngster came and directly hit a question Ravin Sir, “What is mean of life for you? What would you call life in one word if you had to?” On being reminded that her time is running, she was like this, “That’s OK with me.” “Life is journey.”Ravin Sir replied. Her Hindi poem was also about life and quite impressive. We shared viewpoints about love, pain, joy, and different human emotions. Every view presented a different perspective on the subject. Not just quite entertaining but informative too the event was and we loved being there. As the evening came to an end, we left for home with sweet memories in hope of the best.

Post Event

Heartily congratulations to Maryann Taylor, Vikas Agarwal, Raghav Mimani, Amit Gupta and Aakash Joshi. Heartily thanks to Red FM, Ravinder Singh, RJ Swati, judges, participants, audiences and everyone. Special thanks to Penguin India for organizing such a talent hunt. Such efforts are not only an opportunity but a fuel supply to our dreams. May you celebrate millions of TWENTY5th anniversaries, Penguin India.

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