He experienced loneliness and also felt love. The former transpired into poetry and the latter into a book. Akhil Maheshwari, author of the new book, Love is Beyond Everything, finds refuge in words, his biggest escape.
My greeting is reciprocated with a very soft hello. Maheshwari is shy, but his written word reverberates with the aim to dispel stereotypes about women, especially in India. “The plot is a love story. I chose this genre because it is one of the most popular ones. I hoped to first attract the reader’s interest, and after getting them involved in the story, I wanted to talk about social prejudices,” says Maheshwari.
Remarriage of widows and divorced women, especially one with a child, girls made to marry below marriageable age, acceptance of an older woman marrying a younger man, gender pay gap... are few of the many social issues he has communicated through the protagonists in the book. It took Maheshwari about seven months to construct the plot that, he says, was an exercise in highlighting hypocritical practices that have existed since time immemorial. The final writing down of the book didn’t take much time as he was restless to share his story.
Being an active observer of society helped Maheshwari a great deal. He found it fascinating to see what people are made of, how they function, the inherent differences in every one, and how a taboo sinks its venomous teeth into society. “I chose the medium of books because they help us reason. They help us evaluate our behaviour,” says the Chartered Accountant and an American Certified Management Accountant. He also enjoys his role as a motivational speaker and a career mentor, both of which he started in 2011. He currently assists the group CFO of Tatas’ Aerospace and Defence Business.
Singing, dancing, playing the guitar…, while these hobbies are passe, his interest is writing never dimmed. Through poetry, journals, inspirational literature and now a book… he hopes to pen new thoughts, and like all authors, hopefully ones that make lasting impression.
Love is Beyond Everything
Publisher: Halfcrow Publication House
Pages: 170
Price: `225
At: Amazon.in
Author: Akhil Maheshwari