BENGALURU: On interacting and listening to the narratives of multiple women and their unlived aspirations, Viji Narayanan had been wanting to write a book on, how ‘you must chase your dreams’, and how ‘you must not sacrifice your life for others’. However, it was her career as a software engineer and her obligations towards her family that stalled her from writing the book.
After 25 years of working as an engineer, Viji decided to act on what she wanted to talk about in her own book and stepped into the world of writing. She decided to pen down a few words of encouragement for other middle-aged ‘dreamers’ and write ‘Many Dreams Many Lives’.
Along with her job as an engineer, the author also completed a Master’s programme in counselling where she encountered a varied number of women who came with a barrage of different issues. Most of the issues included the problems they face with their relationships, family, career and so on and so forth. Her interaction with these middle-aged people moved her to write about the different people who come from varied backgrounds and how they are caged by the stereotypical notions and expectations of womanhood. She says, “The main intention of writing this book is to guide them, motivate them and to channelise them to chase their dreams and not to sacrifice their life for others.”
Even though the book focuses on women-centric issues and how women stop themselves from pursuing their dreams, some of the people she spoke to, were also men. Viji says she does not intend the book to be gender specific and that it can be read by all.It took her around three months to finish writing 1,00,000 words. She says, “The editing, re-editing, and the copy editing, took around six months. In total, it took nine months to complete the book. In the end, it was reduced to 77,000 words, and I had to take off two characters and it felt bad”.
Born in Coimbatore, Viji spent her most of the life in Mumbai and did her graduation in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur. After marriage, she immigrated to Ohio and has been living there with her husband and three children. She says that she wanted to write this book before her 50th birthday and is happy that she could achieve it.Many Dreams Many Lives,is her first book, which has already been launched in several parts of India. It was recently launched at Higginbothams at MG Road.