As we journey through life, we gather countless lessons along the way; lessons about courage, hard work, patience, persistence, and everything in between. Some we learn easily, and others, the hard way. Yet, there is something magical about seeing a lesson we already know, summarised in a few simple words on a page. Perhaps it’s because there is power in seeing our experiences written down, allowing us time to process, or reflect. Or perhaps, they turn into simple reminders we can always look back at. Either way, such pages, in black and white, have the power that rare treasures have.
S Prakash, a debutant author, who has a career in advertising, had self-published one such collection of thoughts. The lessons in his book were gathered and put together over a decade, he says, borrowing from his life, from the lives of people he’s met, from seminars, books, and more. Spread across 70 pages are eight parts, each reminding us of the little things that matter the most, aptly titled ‘Compass of Little Things: Navigating Life’s Changes Through Small Daily Choices’ (Notion Press, Rs 199).
The book’s title was suggested by Prakash’s son. “It was kind of like collaborative family work. My daughter, who is a media management graduate, proofread everything and helped me in making the content concise and clear. My son, who is running his own digital marketing company, went through the book and suggested, ‘Compass of Little Things’. I liked the title so much I retained it,” Prakash says.
Despite having always resorted to writing as a hobby, the push to publish this self-help book came when he shared his initial manuscript with a friend’s daughter who is practicing as a dentist. “I was told that she was keeping the book under her pillow all the time. She was treating it as a Bible, to just go through every day. She had highlighted points and was sending me messages about what she liked,”
Prakash recalls, emphasising the fact that the book is published in a format where one can randomly open up a page and read any one message, written in under five sentences. “Readers can also make a note, a small note at the bottom for which I have allocated space and dotted lines.”
And if there is one lesson that Prakash would like for his readers to remember, it is this: “People say knowledge is power, but it’s not. Knowledge has to be put to work for it to be considered powerful.” Referring to his thought collection as a potential enabler of success, he concludes, “I want people to just take value from this book, even if it’s just from one point or line I have written. That way, my purpose of writing this book will be accomplished.”