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AUGUST 2017<br />

CONFESSIONS<br />

Price 300 INR | 10$<br />

Print Copy<br />

WWW.INKDRIFT.COM<br />

Issue - 1<br />

Volume II


CONFESSIONS<br />

Volume 2 | Issue 01 | <strong>August</strong><br />

CONTENTS<br />

MELANCHOLY...........................................PAGE 1<br />

Sakshi Upadhyay<br />

CUTS AND BRUISES...............................PAGE 2<br />

Nandhitha Hemanthkumar<br />

INDECENT LOVE......................................PAGE 3<br />

Roney Oenophile + 1<br />

WISHING FOR BLOODY........................PAGE 4<br />

Kasy Long<br />

A LETTER TO MYSELF............................PAGE 5<br />

Paridhi Puri<br />

I HATE THE BAD ROOM........................PAGE 7<br />

Kayenat Patil<br />

THEY FEARED.........................................PAGE 9<br />

Shilpa Mazumdar<br />

THE CONFESSION.............................PAGE 11<br />

Viniti Rajwani<br />

CONFESSION OF A MILLEN...........PAGE 13<br />

Husain Rokadia<br />

ANKUR KUMAR....................................PAGE 14<br />

An Interview<br />

BOOKS TO READ.................................PAGE 18<br />

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Editor in Chief<br />

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Managing Editor<br />

karuna@inkdrift.com<br />

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Associate Editor<br />

sheetal@inkdrift.com<br />

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Associate Editor<br />

poorvashakar@inkdrift.com<br />

NEENA C JOHN<br />

Associate Editor<br />

neena@inkdrift.com<br />

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UDIA GARG<br />

Associate Editor<br />

udita@inkdrift.com


Section One<br />

POETRY<br />

“I wish for my calendar to be<br />

accurate<br />

when the blood is supposed to<br />

arrive. ”


Issue 1 - Confessions<br />

Melancholy<br />

Melancholy<br />

Sakshi Upadhyay<br />

I sabotage myself by seeing you with her,<br />

covering it up with saying “it’s just to feed my curiosity”,<br />

it is like enjoying pain which in this case is entirely mental.<br />

The more I see them, the more my inside burns and leave<br />

it filled with agony.<br />

It’s like a real fire has been lit up which no amount of water<br />

can put up off,<br />

yet here I am unable to control or should I say eager to see<br />

you,<br />

even if it means her on your side and Every single time it<br />

hurts, it aches but I continue,<br />

like you are some narcotic substance and I am an addict.<br />

Yes I am guilty of wanting you,<br />

even when you were never mine to have,<br />

yes I am guilty of wishing for you,<br />

even when I knew it was unfair,<br />

yes I am guilty of praying for you,<br />

even when I am an atheist,<br />

yes I am guilty of falling for you,<br />

even when you asked me to stay away,<br />

yes I am guilty of losing myself even when the maps were<br />

clear.<br />

but,<br />

yes I am stronger now,<br />

because I have to,<br />

yes I haven’t moved on yet, but eventually I will ,<br />

because I have to,<br />

yes I still have hopes and dreams to fulfill,<br />

because I WANT TO.<br />

And I know how it feels like to be stuck in that infinite<br />

time and space of “not getting over “<br />

but it’s just a matter of that same time,<br />

I will be grateful to you for this,<br />

but until then let me be buried alive<br />

with that aching heart and longing eyes.<br />

PAGE 1<br />

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Cuts and Bruises<br />

Issue 1- Confessions<br />

Cuts and Bruises<br />

Nandhitha Hemanthkumar<br />

A cut , a bruise for each mistake;<br />

Doesn’t ease the pain nor wipe tears away.<br />

Few more strikes- one ,two, three-<br />

Hoping and praying the scars will remind me.<br />

Patches of crosses and knicks litter my arms,<br />

I stare at the mirror; furious and alarmed.<br />

I remember each cut, each colour changing<br />

spot<br />

The memory behind them long lost.<br />

Hand trembles as I clutch the handle-<br />

Cold against my skin.<br />

Eyes closed,I focus on the memory,<br />

I keep the cuts thin.<br />

Words repeat in a broken loop;<br />

They circle around​ my head.<br />

I repeat the words as the blood thins…<br />

Whispering - never to be heard.<br />

Already knowing, I will be here again;<br />

Crying - breaking - astray .<br />

Mistakes will repeat; new ones will follow;<br />

This is my bitter pill to swallow.<br />

PAGE 2<br />

www.inkdrift.com


Issue 1 - Confessions<br />

Indecent Love<br />

Indecent Love<br />

Roney Oenophile/Priya Acharjee<br />

In lonely, sunny afternoon, shower your kisses<br />

On my drought heart and heal the scorched<br />

‘Me’; burning for the heat of love,<br />

To sow the seed of intimacy and<br />

Let the plant of our love grow in the womb of fire.<br />

Your kisses are what I am hungry of.<br />

Your love is the light that I conceived in my body<br />

Like photosynthesis,<br />

Let’s mix up this light and love in us<br />

To make the food for our soul;<br />

And quench our age old hunger.<br />

So permit me to be the outcome of cloudburst<br />

To Sprinkle my love with indecent kisses<br />

Approbating you to ravish me bad,<br />

To gratify you for your yearning lust, and<br />

Your dried up desires for somatic thirst.<br />

Let the light of love illuminate<br />

The dark soul we have<br />

And meld our love to bear the fruit<br />

Of our ecstatic relishes<br />

Let us quench this culminated hunger<br />

That we have been craving for so long.<br />

PAGE 3<br />

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Wishing for Blood<br />

Issue 1 - Confessions<br />

Wishing for Blood<br />

Kasy Long<br />

I flip a new page on my calendar each<br />

month,<br />

but know the headaches, fatigue, cramps<br />

and the fresh white pad won’t be in my<br />

future.<br />

I wish for my calendar to be accurate<br />

when the blood is supposed to arrive.<br />

Later I wish for those ten fingers,<br />

those ten toes, that healthy heart<br />

pumping blood to a new brain.<br />

Two lungs, a stomach waiting<br />

for its first drop of white milk<br />

from my breast. I wish for a hand<br />

to wrap around my finger.<br />

I wait for my turn—wish for the blood<br />

to show I’m ovulating.<br />

I swallow the Clomid pills, sign my name<br />

at the fertility clinic,<br />

and toss the negative pregnancy test<br />

into the empty wastebasket.<br />

www.inkdrift.com<br />

PAGE 4<br />

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Issue 1 - Confessions<br />

A Letter to Myself<br />

A Letter to Myself<br />

Paridhi Puri<br />

Hey, hey, here you are, lying in the middle of a half thought of-hiatus,<br />

shouldering the weight of words, a forlorn author had meant for someone<br />

else, of course. You choose to write letters mistaking them for others,<br />

but to end up dedicated only to you.<br />

At midnight, when the exhausted sigh and the broken breathe, the insomnia running<br />

in your veins makes you rage like a bull trampling its hooves on the civilization.<br />

You lie down, investigating the lives of a person you’ll never know, or<br />

reading about people who cannot be read.<br />

Those black eyes laugh with glee when they see full marks dancing on the top of<br />

their exam paper. Hey, hey.<br />

Those lips curve into a deliberate smile when they see a mention of their name<br />

as the crazy person who shouts on the top of her lungs and sits on the floor in the<br />

classroom and chooses words over wear any day.<br />

Hey, hey, there you are punctuated by the clauses of a thousand deadlines, assignments<br />

and work, but still you choose Adam Levine’s voice over everything<br />

else as the particles drown in the delight and desperation of you mastering the<br />

moves only meant for Moves like Jagger.<br />

I see you proceed there, in front of the mirror, as you make silly faces and basically<br />

acknowledge that you’re a dork and oh foolish maiden, you then proceed<br />

to hide your red face as the maid catches you scrunching your eyebrows like a<br />

madwoman.<br />

A plethora of playthings, you make and take within you every day.<br />

What a wonder, you are.<br />

Regards<br />

Myself<br />

PAGE 5<br />

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Section Two<br />

STORIES<br />

“I’m stuck here forever.<br />

The bad room is just how I remembered<br />

it to be.”


Issue 1 - Confessions<br />

I Hate the Bad Room That Rain<br />

I Hate the Bad Room That<br />

Rain<br />

Kayenat Patil<br />

I<br />

knew it was somewhere between ten minutes and two years, but I did notice<br />

the subtle change in behavior. Don’t get me wrong, I’m super affectionate<br />

and I love to cuddle but something was definitely different today. I was<br />

woken up by the bright yellow ball on the see through wall, so I jumped on the<br />

bed to wake Mommy up. Now, usually she would pull the fluffy sheet closer and<br />

try to stop me from waking her, but today she wasn’t in her bed.<br />

Where is she? Oh no! I panicked and started running around the house looking<br />

for her. I called out to her, but I couldn’t find her. Then sometime between<br />

thirty seconds and four months I found her. I was so happy, yay! She didn’t get<br />

lost around the house. I sometimes get lost around the house, but don’t tell that<br />

to Mommy. I ran with all my power towards her and showered her with hugs<br />

and kisses, oh my god! I was so worried, but thankfully she arrived. She hugged<br />

me back and put her arms around me. She pulled me up on the bed and started<br />

talking to me. I couldn’t understand most of what she was saying, I tried paying<br />

attention to her, I really did, but it was just so boring. I started looking here and<br />

there for something more interesting and fun for us to do than talk.<br />

Aha! A ball, I saw my favorite ball peeking from the corner of the huge, shinny,<br />

scary wall. I crept my way towards my ball, avoiding the scary wall and ran<br />

back to Mommy and handed it to her. I prayed that she would agree to play<br />

with me. But she just kept the ball under the fluffy sheet and walked towards,<br />

oh no! Not that room. I tried to stop her, I called out to her but she just ignored<br />

me and went into the bad room.<br />

All I know about that room is that it’s bad. We live in a house that is covered<br />

in all sides but it still rains in that room. I hate that room, like I hate rains.<br />

Everyday I try to keep her safe by stopping her from going into that room, but<br />

she never listens to me and when she comes out shes always has tears, but<br />

strangely, they are all over her body. I hate to see her cry so, I do my very best<br />

to cheer her up, but she doesn’t listen to me. So, whenever she comes out, I try<br />

to console her, but she shoos me away.<br />

I guess Mommy doesn’t want me to see her cry, but I still do it anyway because I<br />

love her. She usually takes a lot of time in that room so, I patiently wait outside<br />

PAGE 7<br />

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I Hate the Bad Room That Rain<br />

Issue 1 - Confessions<br />

“I’m stuck here forever.<br />

The bad room is just how I remembered<br />

it to be.”<br />

for her. However, today was different, she was out earlier that usual and she<br />

wasn’t crying from all over her body. It was a good thing that mommy didn’t<br />

cry today. I am so happy for her. It was still a bit strange as it it was our routine,<br />

she would come out with tears all over her body and I would try to cheer her<br />

up and make her happy and she’d try to get rid of me, but I didn’t mind that, I<br />

love her and if she doesn’t want me to see cry then that’s totally fine, as long as<br />

she continues loving me, but the situation turned even stranger. She called me<br />

towards her. So strange! She never lets me near her after she goes into the bad<br />

room. She gently picked me up and cuddled me. I love cuddles and kisses and<br />

long walks and food.<br />

Oh no! Shes taking me inside the bad room. I need to get away! And that too<br />

quickly! I squirm and try to free myself from her grasp, but she has held me<br />

very tightly. No! I cried out to her and almost freed myself but it was too late. I<br />

was already in the bad room. No! Don’t close the door! How do I get out now?<br />

Crap! I’m stuck here forever. The bad room is just how I remembered it to be.<br />

Bad! Uh oh! Mommy is putting me into the big bowl of tears! No! I don’t want<br />

to go there. Please Mommy stop, I’ll be a good boy I promise! I don’t even bite<br />

anymore! I swear! But Mommy didn’t listen to me.<br />

I have a confession, I don’t like rains or getting wet by that huge bowl of tears!<br />

Why can’t you hoomans understand that?<br />

Ruff ruff.<br />

PAGE 8<br />

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Issue 1 - Confessions<br />

They Feared<br />

They Feared<br />

Shilpa Mazumdar<br />

She woke up with a shudder. She could still hear a loud music being played<br />

outside her room mixed with voices of girls and boys singing to the tunes<br />

of a song, in a distorted manner. They seem to be drunk. They might be<br />

celebrating somebody’s birthday.<br />

She felt an intense urge to go out and get some fresh air. She wished if she<br />

could take some deep breaths to soothe her inner self. She was frightened and<br />

weary. She took out her laptop and hoped to continue her work on the ongoing<br />

project where she is appointed as an intern.<br />

The last thing that she remembers about it is, that it all started two weeks ago,<br />

on a hazy Saturday morning. It had been a couple of weeks since they were here.<br />

There were ten of them. They had been selected from all over the country to<br />

work on a project on water sharing over international boundaries. She shared<br />

the same floor with Tanya and they were the only girls on that floor. They did<br />

not know all of them. They were familiar only with two boys. Abhishek being<br />

one of them was a nice lad. He helped them in getting a hang of the important<br />

nearby places. He often took them out to buy groceries and helped them<br />

with other chores. The other friend, Mayank left three days before Saturday.<br />

Mayank was a chap who talked less, so he was not missed much. They were<br />

enjoying the campus, tourist spots, hangout places and of course the food, life<br />

at the new work was good with everything in place.<br />

She was in a deep sleep that Saturday morning when she was awakened by the<br />

loud knocks on her door. Her video chat was still active with Nikhil since she<br />

fell asleep in the middle of it. She cut the call and typed a message, “I Miss you.”<br />

To her it seemed that there is nobody but the cleaners. It had been a week they<br />

had not turned up for room cleaning. She opened the door and was shocked to<br />

see barefooted Tanya with untidy hair, moist eyes and a petrified look on her<br />

face.<br />

“Sakshi, someone came inside.” And then Tanya started sobbing. She was clueless.<br />

She checked her phone. It was 5.25 in the morning. Pretty early for Tanya<br />

to wake up for work.<br />

“What’s the matter, Tanya? Tell me. Had a bad dream? Why are you barefooted?<br />

Drink some water. Come inside.”<br />

“Sakshi, he came inside. He tried to lift my top. Believe me. I just want to leave”,<br />

Tanya spoke in a terrified voice “I screamed. But he ran away and took the<br />

stairs. I could not follow him. I don’t want to stay here.”<br />

PAGE 9<br />

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They Feared<br />

Issue 1 - Confessions<br />

She did not know how to react. It was difficult to believe that something like<br />

this could happen in an institution of this repute. She tried to get the things<br />

correctly.<br />

“Tanya, tell me, how could someone get inside without opening the door? Did<br />

you not lock it last night?”<br />

“I did. But I was not getting much of sleep today. I went to get some water at<br />

about 5 ‘o’clock. I was reading a book after that in my room. I did not latch the<br />

door but closed it properly.” Tanya replied, still crying.<br />

“Okay, fine. Can you identify the guy? I heard many of them partying last night<br />

near my room. Maybe someone too drunk did this. We will inform the authorities.<br />

Nothing to worry.”<br />

She always took this upfront position when it came to standing for a right cause.<br />

“No, Sakshi. I could only see his red t-shirt and blue pants. I don’t want to tell<br />

anybody and I am leaving today only. I am going to call Papa.” Tanya went out,<br />

almost running.<br />

She left the campus that very evening. Sakshi informed the authorities about<br />

the incident. But without the victim’s statement, they were reluctant about<br />

even investigating such matters.<br />

She asked Abhishek for help. He seemed more concerned about his career. He<br />

refused, saying, “ I don’t want to get involved in your ‘social work’.” What if<br />

they think of me as a rebel and my grades go down?”<br />

She had been busy with work after that and the thing just got out of her mind.<br />

And now there are six more days to go and it is again a weekend. Tomorrow will<br />

be a Saturday morning. And some people are busy getting drunk just outside<br />

her room. That incident with Tanya was just a repercussion of heavy partying.<br />

Tanya left out of fear.<br />

She is stuck inside her room out of fear.<br />

The authorities feared that they might end up accusing the wrong person or<br />

their institute may be defamed.<br />

Abhishek feared that his image may go wrong in the institute if he spoke against<br />

such matters.<br />

But how long?<br />

How long do we take to overcome our fears and speak up?<br />

It’s the time to think.<br />

PAGE 10<br />

www.inkdrift.com


Issue 12 - Confessions<br />

The Confession<br />

The Confession<br />

Viniti Rajwani<br />

Have you ever read a common word that suddenly starts to lose its meaning,<br />

just when you need it to strike a note within or inspire a flame of<br />

thought? As I start to write this piece I feel like I’m already running<br />

out of words or perhaps there are just way too many of them swarming in my<br />

head that I’m just unable to find the perfect combination to string along and<br />

adequately express my thoughts.<br />

Why are people so afraid of confessions? Is embarrassment the worst thing<br />

you can feel towards yourself? As an infant we all were able to express a range<br />

of emotions without being timid, so why do we lose the capability to openly<br />

practice the same set of emotions when we have grown past about twenty odd<br />

years? Emotions that were naturally ingrained in us- with brutal honesty as<br />

adults? Why do we hide behind lies and secrets fuelled by insecurities?<br />

In am an attempt to contemplate the answers to these odd but important questions,<br />

I realized that this is a generic flaw in us all. Everyone has at some time<br />

in their life fallen short of their own standards and judged themselves way<br />

too aggressively for it. I too have monsters under my bed, monsters I created,<br />

monsters I aggravated and monsters I had sown in my heart. Even so, I’ve paid<br />

my dues, the ugly ones too.<br />

I let my bully turn me into a bully, and at the time I believed I was doing the<br />

right thing, standing up and fighting for myself after spending way too much<br />

time feeling helpless and self-pity. I felt a sense of empowerment in sabotaging<br />

her for ill-treating me for what was a majority of my school life.<br />

She was my classmate and we would spend a lot of fun filled bus rides home<br />

from school, sleepovers; and I always found myself connecting amicably with<br />

her, although only as long as we were not around a group of our close friends.<br />

I could never understand why she had developed such a distaste for me in a<br />

public setting when we got along so well while we were together. She began to<br />

dominate and somehow always managed to exclude me from all activities as a<br />

group.<br />

It had gone one for too long, in all this time I couldn’t ever figure out why things<br />

had to change so much. Then one day out of nowhere I got an opportunity to<br />

learn why she felt that way about me. In hindsight, I could’ve just called her<br />

PAGE 11<br />

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The Confession<br />

Issue 1 - Confessions<br />

out on her behaviour and directly asked her, but teenage me didn’t know any<br />

better, obviously. She threw her personal diary in the bin in front of me. You<br />

must know that my intention was only to learn, to get insight of her feelings<br />

towards me to be able to fix it somehow, so I did what every un-god-fearing<br />

person would do; I retrieved her diary from the bin and read through it.<br />

To my surprise, I didn’t find much about me, there was barely any mention<br />

about how much she disliked me. That baffled me, for one simple reason which<br />

was that she had actively spent enough time trying to exclude me from all social<br />

circles even though she didn’t hate me enough. She wasn’t very fond of me<br />

even then, for reasons I still don’t know but it wasn’t a huge deal. Anyway, I<br />

could’ve still showed compassion and spoken to her about it but I chose to humiliate<br />

her instead by spreading her personal insecurities throughout my class.<br />

I turned into the monster that I had spent years fighting. It shaped my school<br />

life or lack thereof.<br />

She obviously found out and the discovery was translated into an obvious fury.<br />

We had an altercation, she used her hands. I deserved it so I didn’t retaliate.<br />

But the point is nothing really came out of it. We won’t ever get along, and I still<br />

do not even understand why. The point is I wish I had levelled with her, at the<br />

right time, opened up and expressed my distress that she was causing.<br />

However, I learnt from that experience, I learnt to express my feelings when<br />

necessary, I learnt to not aggravate and ugly situation by adding more to it. I<br />

learnt to acknowledge my demons and in that meaning tame them. That’s the<br />

best we can do.<br />

PAGE 12<br />

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Issue 1 - Confession<br />

Confession of a Millennial<br />

Confession of a Millennial<br />

Husain Rokadia<br />

We have come a long way from the analogue landlines to touch-screen<br />

mobile devices, from steam engines to high speed bullet trains, from<br />

“who let the dogs out” to “shape of you” & “despacito”, from Orkut to<br />

Facebook and Instagram and from meeting at the coffee house to video conferencing,<br />

somewhere we lost track of ourselves and have become this instant<br />

gratification addicts. Be it food, a walk in a park or even a tough bowel movement,<br />

we are right there to “post” it all, “snapchat” it or even write about it on<br />

our “wall”, pun intended.<br />

What once stood true for the World Wide Web (www.) bringing us closer has<br />

become its own bane. We are all connected yet so distant, the information of the<br />

world fits in our palm but we do not know our own neighbours. Our need and<br />

desire for instant gratification has made us beasts, whose hunger for likes, upvotes,<br />

shares, subscribers & followers never end. Self-respect is often measured<br />

by the amount of number of likes and comments. This urge for instant-gratification<br />

has torn us apart in addicted, self-doubting individuals who value their<br />

self-worth as per public response to a selfie or a clever comment.<br />

Twitter has become the twisted version of a Salon. What once used to be a contest<br />

of minds has become a shouting competition. Let’s not even get started on<br />

tolerance issue these days. There is almost nothing you can say that will not<br />

offend someone these days, be it a die-hard political “karyakarta” (fan) or a<br />

Bollywood personality or a public figure. The time of respecting another’s views<br />

have long gone for us.<br />

The digital world has mesmerized us beyond belief, our romance has become<br />

sexting, our trust has become displaced in people who like our “DP”, we have<br />

lost the value of conversations, sadly small talk has become deep.<br />

Some might think we already know about this, why even write/talk about it.<br />

But, we need to talk about it because accepting the problem is the first step in<br />

its correction.<br />

We have been blessed with the best of intelligence, capability and emotional<br />

strength of our world yet we squander our virtues when we could achieve so<br />

much, because it bears more value to believe in it and do something about it<br />

than like a picture/post that alarms you of some wrong amidst us.<br />

It is time we gather ourselves and rise above this petty desire for likes, upvotes,<br />

comments, re-tweets, etc. and build a society on gratification of merit and virtue.<br />

This is the Confession of the Gen Y.<br />

PAGE 13<br />

www.inkdrift.com


Ankur Kumar<br />

Issue 1 - Confession<br />

Ankur Kumar<br />

An Interview<br />

An interview of newbie writer<br />

Mr. Ankur Kumar, a student of<br />

National Institute of Technology,<br />

Rourkela conducted by Ms. Nikita<br />

D’Monte (Editor in Chief- <strong>Ink</strong> <strong>Drift</strong> Magazine).<br />

Currently interning at Ministry<br />

of Earth Science, Delhi, his début novel,<br />

“The Emotions” has been published by<br />

Dream House Publications in March ‘17.<br />

Editor: Hello Mr. Kumar, Congratulations<br />

on your novel, “The<br />

Emotions”.<br />

Let’s begin with a short introduction.<br />

Please tell us a little about<br />

yourself.<br />

Ankur Kumar: Thank you, ma’am.<br />

I am Ankur Kumar and have spent 23<br />

years of my life in the crowd of kind<br />

hearted and sweet people. I am in the<br />

second year of my master’s degree in<br />

Earth and Atmospheric Sciences pursuing<br />

degree from National Institute of<br />

Technology, Rourkela.<br />

I am like a person that if someone asks<br />

me to choose one out of my sister (blood<br />

relation or not) and my girlfriend/lover<br />

then without thinking over a single fraction<br />

of second I would choose MY sister.<br />

I can do anything (=everything) for my<br />

sister’s happiness.<br />

I am a bit studious too. I should correct<br />

myself. I was a bit studious. Writing<br />

WAS not my passion. I didn’t want to<br />

write but the situations in my life, forced<br />

me to write something.<br />

Editor: Tell us a little about your<br />

novel. (A short excerpt or what your<br />

story is about in general)<br />

Ankur Kumar: “The Emotions” is a novel<br />

which is based on the ‘pure non blood relation<br />

of brother and sister’.<br />

Everyone is busy in writing their own<br />

love stories but very few people are there<br />

who are trying to put other precious relation<br />

in a form so that other people can<br />

understand the relation. In this novel, I<br />

have tried to redefine the same relation of<br />

bro-sis which we always expect from our<br />

blood siblings.<br />

This story revolves around the narrator<br />

and protagonist, Aadarsh. He doesn’t<br />

have his blood relation sister. This is a<br />

story of his craving, yearning and unconditional<br />

love for the sister relation.<br />

Editor: What made you write a novel<br />

on this theme? What was your inspiration?<br />

Ankur Kumar: I told you previously that<br />

I never wanted to write but my life forced<br />

me in the writing career. From the time<br />

when I started understanding the relation,<br />

there is always a special place in my<br />

heart for the sister relation. I thought that<br />

I am different from others and caring for<br />

this relation a bit more than other people<br />

do.<br />

You always want those things which you<br />

don’t have in your life and people who<br />

have that thing may not understand the<br />

PAGE 14<br />

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Issue 1 - Confession<br />

Ankur Kumar<br />

importance of it. In the same way, I don’t<br />

have a blood relation sister. Sometimes,<br />

I feel jealous of those boys who have a<br />

sister. From day one of my life, which I<br />

remember, I always wished to have a sister.<br />

I also want to pull her hair, to tease<br />

her. I also want to spend some time with<br />

her, I want to play with her, as other<br />

boys do. In general, I want to experience<br />

sister’s love.<br />

7 years back, I started to consider a girl<br />

as my sister, just to complete my dream<br />

of having a sister. The journey of building<br />

this story starts form that day.<br />

There is a motive behind writing this<br />

novel is just to tell other people about<br />

the existence of this non blood relation<br />

in our society. My motive was my inspiration<br />

at the time when I was stuck in<br />

between writing the manuscript.<br />

Editor: Did you ever feel like giving<br />

up? Like the writing process was<br />

too tiring or just not meant to be?<br />

Ankur Kumar: There were few times,<br />

when I used to write night after night<br />

and in the morning, I questioned myself<br />

that, “What will happen if I won’t get any<br />

good publisher? What will I say to those<br />

people, if all publishers refuse to publish<br />

this story, who I told about my upcoming<br />

novel?” I didn’t have the answer of<br />

these questions. At that time, there was<br />

always a fight between my mind and my<br />

heart. My heart wanted to write a novel<br />

and my mind wanted to study hard for<br />

the desired course, for which I was admitted<br />

in the institute. I always had the<br />

fear of failure, because I was writing on<br />

this topic for the very first time among<br />

all the Indian Authors.<br />

According to me, if you want to achieve<br />

something in your life, then the first<br />

thing to ask to yourself is, “WHY AM I<br />

DOING THIS?” I had the answer to this<br />

question.<br />

Having a good story is not the only pre<br />

requisite to writing a novel. But you must<br />

have a determined reason to put down<br />

your views in a novel. I had a good and<br />

unique story from the last 4-5 years but<br />

previously I hadn’t had a specific reason<br />

to write. Something unexpected happened<br />

in someone’s life which enforced<br />

me to write a novel. That unpredicted<br />

thing is the reason why I wrote this novel.<br />

You can easily guess the reason just<br />

by turning few pages of this novel, “The<br />

Emotions.” And when you have a perfect<br />

reason to do something, then you never<br />

care about the time, dedication and<br />

patience. It inevitably comes within the<br />

purpose for completing your dreams.<br />

Editor: What was your inspiration<br />

in such times?<br />

Ankur Kumar: My inspiration was just<br />

my motive. I want to change the mind<br />

of our society (one step makes a difference).<br />

My sisters are of my age group. If<br />

I am in a mall or in a shop with my sister<br />

to gift her dresses or I am spending my<br />

lunch time with my sister, then automatically<br />

our society starts assuming that<br />

these two must be a couple. This is one<br />

of the things which I hate the most about<br />

our society. To change these people who<br />

pre-assumed every relation was also my<br />

motive to write about this relation. This<br />

is still my motive for my future works.<br />

PAGE 15<br />

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Ankur Kumar<br />

Issue 1 - Confession<br />

Editor: Are you planning any more<br />

publications in the future?<br />

Ankur Kumar: Yes. I am working on my<br />

second script and planning to launch<br />

in first week of November. And after<br />

this one, I am planning in the corner of<br />

my mind to write the true story of ‘Delhi<br />

Nirbhaya Gang Rape Case’. This will<br />

take time and probably to launch in the<br />

middle of the next year.<br />

Editor: What are your goals as an<br />

author?<br />

Ankur Kumar: With my writing, I just<br />

want to be a mode to convey reality to<br />

the audience—which they already know<br />

but our society forced them to think in<br />

another manner.<br />

Editor: What problem did you face<br />

while publishing your debut novel?<br />

Ankur Kumar: I sent the proposal to few<br />

publishing house during the time when I<br />

was half-way with my script. In the middle<br />

of October, I got rejection from few<br />

publishing team. After that, I stopped<br />

writing for two weeks. In the meantime,<br />

I hated myself. I regretted my decision<br />

of giving preference to the novel, instead<br />

of studying hard for the course.<br />

Later, I got acceptance from 2 publishing<br />

house. And then I again started to<br />

complete my manuscript. I read the contracts<br />

of both publishing houses. And finally<br />

I decided to move on with Dream<br />

House Publications (DHP). The whole<br />

team of DHP aided me very well to publish<br />

this novel. The actual launch date of<br />

this novel is 3rd April 2017. But just for<br />

my event, DHP team worked night and<br />

day, for a week at least, to prepare the copies<br />

of our novel for the book launch event.<br />

I didn’t tell about my upcoming novel to<br />

my parents, even when I signed the contract<br />

with the publishing team. I told my<br />

parents just a month before the launch<br />

date, March 08, 2017 (International Women’s<br />

Day) of this novel.<br />

I changed the title of my novel at least<br />

4-5 times during this journey. Previously<br />

it was, “I do love you, but I can’t”, “The<br />

Rhythm of Heartbeats”, “My heart hurts”<br />

etc. and later we finalised “The Emotions”.<br />

Editor: An author’s work is always<br />

almost inspired by personal life.<br />

Your take on the statement. Was<br />

your work inspired by your life?<br />

Ankur Kumar: The story is inspired by my<br />

life and it’s a true story. But my work and<br />

decision to write a novel is inspired by seeing<br />

the young successful authors, of my age<br />

group, like Savi Sharma.<br />

Editor: Your mantra for a successful<br />

life would be?<br />

Ankur Kumar: I am not in the list of those<br />

people who blindly believe in luck. Luck is<br />

one the factor to have a successful life but<br />

luck is not only the factor. Luck is not in<br />

our hands. But doing the work with dedication<br />

is in our hands. I still believe in<br />

doing the things rather than thinking or<br />

dreaming about it.<br />

Apart from this, I was a person who loved<br />

to dream, always. But I changed myself. I<br />

still dream with my open eyes, but to some<br />

extent.<br />

Editor: Do you read much and who’s<br />

PAGE 16<br />

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Issue 1 - Confession<br />

Ankur Kumar<br />

your favourite author/poet? (if<br />

any)<br />

Ankur Kumar: I am doing my masters<br />

and have lots of things to study for the<br />

course. But still I take out a few hours<br />

from my schedule to read the novels and<br />

magazines. I have read the novels of different<br />

authors but I am very impressed<br />

with Sudeep Nagarkar Sir’s work.<br />

Editor: Which famous person, living<br />

or dead would you like to meet<br />

and why?<br />

Ankur Kumar: Mmm… There are too<br />

many people in this list. But I want to<br />

be like Shahrukh Khan Sir. I am following<br />

him not because he has fame, money<br />

and too many followers but the way he<br />

builds himself, in his field, from the bottom<br />

to that level where every newborn<br />

star wants to become like him.<br />

I don’t want to be an actor. I want to do<br />

that level of work with the same determination<br />

as how Srk Sir did/is doing in<br />

his career.<br />

cluded?<br />

Ankur Kumar: Nothing else. And again<br />

thanks a lot for giving me this opportunity.<br />

Editor: How can readers discover more<br />

about you and you work?<br />

Facebook: www.facebook.com/theemotionsbyankur<br />

Twitter: @ankur017k<br />

Amazon book link: http://amzn.to/2ttyXjG<br />

Thank you very much for taking the time<br />

out of your busy schedule to take part in<br />

this interview.<br />

Editor: Who edited your book and<br />

how did you select him/her?<br />

Ankur Kumar: Nita Samantary (Author<br />

of ‘Printed Chemistry’ and the CEO of<br />

‘Creative Coach’), a member of the editing<br />

team of Dream House publication,<br />

edited this novel. She spent her precious<br />

time to edit this novel. I am saying this<br />

because her marriage came in between<br />

of the editing schedule. Her keenness<br />

headed for her work made this novel to<br />

launch on the scheduling date.<br />

Editor: Is there anything else you<br />

would like to add that I haven’t in-<br />

PAGE 17<br />

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Lost Callahan by Aaaksa Karuna Shah<br />

Issue 1 - Confessions<br />

Books To Read<br />

Lost Callahan (2015)<br />

by Aaksa Karuna Shah<br />

4.8/5 Stars<br />

Emma, Saphy, Ilesha, Yukti, and<br />

David are living peacefully under<br />

the same roof until a severe<br />

tragedy hits them. Something<br />

happens to Emma. Saphy loses<br />

her best friend. Ilesha moves out.<br />

Yukti is left to face the most challenging<br />

part of her life. Amidst<br />

the chaos, Saphy sets out to find<br />

her lost friend - to embark upon a quest for memories that<br />

are lost, a journey towards happiness. On the other hand,<br />

Sean is looking for something to lose, sulking about the<br />

memories from the past. With a hidden connection that he<br />

holds with her childhood friend, he writes the best chapter<br />

in Emma’s life - to help her reach out to her memories, and<br />

discover the lost Callahan within her. The novel is a gripping<br />

tale of everlasting love and friendship which is found<br />

and lost, only to be found again.<br />

Buy the title today on Amazon, Flipkart, B&N etc.<br />

www.aaksakarunashah.com<br />

PAGE 18<br />

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Issue 1 - Confession<br />

Beyond The Veil by Siddhi Palande<br />

Books To Read<br />

Beyond The Veil<br />

(2017)<br />

by Siddhi Palande<br />

4.7/5 Stars<br />

A Lawyer by profession, Janhvi<br />

Desai has lived her life on the<br />

dictates of her family. Assuming<br />

that marriage will bring in freshness<br />

and freedom she gets married<br />

to a Mumbai based engineer,<br />

Ram. But once again faces wrath<br />

of the society. Every passing day<br />

as Janhvi Desai - Raghuvanshi, her self-esteem diminishes<br />

as her dreams get trampled upon. But while finding the<br />

meaning of her being her relationship with her estranged<br />

husband takes a beautiful turn. Between Ram and Janhvi<br />

rests a delicate secret and an irrevocable difference. But<br />

some relationships thrive despite the difference. Delve into<br />

the dysfunctional world of an Indian girl where patriarchy<br />

is villain, free will far removed, where two bruised souls<br />

meet and it is only to change the definition of soul mate.<br />

Buy the title today on Amazon, Flipkart, B&N etc.<br />

PAGE 19<br />

www.inkdrift.com<br />

<strong>Ink</strong> <strong>Drift</strong> Magazine<br />

www.inkdrift.com<br />

2017 © All Rights Reserved


The sinner will not confess,<br />

nor will the priest receive<br />

his confession, if the veil of<br />

secrecy is removed<br />

- DeWitt Clinton<br />

WWW.INKDRIFT.COM

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