HYDERABAD : Nikhil Chandwani’s story of how he is tranforming people by helping them pen their thoughts and then publish their book sounds magical. Except that he is able to do it in the real world by leading the way for confused, suicidal, depressed Indians. The man from Nagpur is now spreading wings to Hyderabad and is set to open the Nikhil Chandwani Foundation in May in Jubilee Hills.
“Suicidal feelings, depression, frustrations, and existential crisis can be resolved through expressing and writing about it. I met a lot of writers, confused in their lives, unable to earn a livelihood through writing. Here I try to help aspiring writers to take up the pen as a profession, publish books, and find a reading audiences for their concerns, problems, and opinions. Once the market is carved out, our students are provided with stages for guest lectures at prominent events, and their books are marketed as well,” says Nikhil.
They provide book writing mentorship and book publishing package to the students and it has rescued a lot of writers’ who have been depressed in major parts of the world. Nikhil hails from Nagpur and is an engineering dropout. “Writing saved me,” he says and goes on to explain. “I was able to publish eight books and currently, I travel to speak about how creativity can save humans and build a passionate career. I’ve already spoken in over 250 campuses. People often talk about startup mentorship, but creative human mentorship is missing in the modern world. There is no proper job module available for writers, and they often end up switching profession.
This makes them depressed, frustrated, and some of them resort to trying and quitting in life. We are trying to save them. I have already met, and helped over 100 writers get their books, and monetize their work through column writing, publishing speaking, and even script writing. We have National Award winners on board, who were my students, before, and now they’re also doing the same with us.”
Nikhil says that his family background and struggles while dropping out has made him take to writing to express himself, and hopefully change the world. The writer mentor is also proud of how he got Md. Zabi Khan, who was recently nominated for Padma Shri and a National Award winner who rescued over 5000+ animals in Hyderabad, to embrance writing. Zabi never believed in magic nor angles until he met Nikhil. It has been Zabi’s dream to save animals, but surprisingly few understood his passion. He says that Nikhil gave him a voice, a stage, a world record. “He recommended me for a Ph.D., helped me become a visiting professor, recommended me for a National award...” Another student from Hyderabad, Dr. Shakila who recently published her book, Odyssey of Spirits, also feels the same about him.
The training facility attracts students between the age of 16-72 years including few of them who are disabled, previously suicidal and depressed. The foundation helps them write their thoughts and after giving them basic writing lessons (as everyone is not a born writer), the inhouse editor edits it and within a month, the book is published.” We then do the editing, proofreading and even more. We get the book published and the author keeps the complete royalty. The writer is then taken into public speaking stages like TEDx where they talk about their story, newspapers where they write about their story, and then if the student is interested in script writing profile, we help them in getting a professional success in their fields of interest, “ explains Nikhil.
kalanidhi@newindianexpress.com @mkalanidhi