New Delhi: Ravinder Singh is a best-selling author of romance novels in India, an alumnus of Indian School of Business - Hyderabad, and an ex-Microsoft guy who thought it is far exciting to write books than to manage programmes. He has recently started a publishing venture called 'Black Ink'.
2013 is behind us and we are now in a new year. Let me therefore, take a moment and wish you a very happy new year. May 2014 turn out to be a fabulous year for all of us; I wish so. But then, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. So again, a lot will depend upon how well we act instead of how well we wish in this year.
In the backdrop of 2013, the year 2014 is bound to be eventful. Yes, we are in an election year, but what makes this year a lot more interesting is that we are also amid a paradigm shift in the Indian democracy.
If the last year was about the unprecedented rise of the common man, then I hope that this year will be about sustaining that phenomenon and scaling up the model to a national level.
The youth of this country is awakening. It continues to understand that there is a generation - and therefore a mindset - gap in between what it wants vs. what the old system delivers. The burning issue of Section 377 depicts such gaps. The young India has protested on the subject of anti-corruption and women safety. I hope this year the same India channelizes its anger and frustration through its votes and becomes the prime driving force to decide who forms the govt.
I hope 2014 breaks all records in terms of voter turn-out. As an aftermath of 2013, a Voter-id card in 2014 should be seen as a powerful right in the hands of a common woman than merely as an id and address proof. I also wish that going forward, boys and girls who turn 18 will be as excited to claim their Voter-id cards as they are now to claim their driving licenses.
Being an author, I would love to see the Indian publishing industry and the overall reader base continue to grow in this year. With the advent of Indian contemporary writing, I hope that the world of electronic and entertainment media starts considering authors at par with the likes of the Bollywood fraternity, fashion designers, models and sportspersons, and that it offers an inclusive space to the author clan as well.
I look forward to new players in the industry who will establish an organized market for adapting books into movies. Right now, either there is a big void in this space or there is lots of chaos. Personally, I have set two big goals for myself in this year. First is to bring out a brand new book for my readers and second is to launch a set of debut authors in the world of storytelling at my newly established publishing venture
www.BlackInkBooks.in.
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