Mononomosumi is an ISO certified Edutech Platform, that brings together technology to the education sector and providing requisite support to students, writers and school administrations. It is awarded with various accolades such as “Best Education & Technology Platform — India, 2020”, Best creative Website. Shiksha Bharti Award etc. and featured in various reputed media houses. Monomousumi has been successfully conducting international writing contests for several years since May 2018 with thousands of participants nationally and internationally.
Here we are introducing interview series of the winners of different writing contests organized by us.
Please introduce yourself in brief
I am currently residing in Madurai, Tamil Nadu with my parents. My father is a chemical engineer and my mother is a homemaker. I was born and brought up in Singapore and we had migrated to Bangalore from Singapore in 2012. After staying in Bangalore for some time during which I had completed my higher secondary and college education, we have shifted to Madurai recently. I am an enthusiastic, determined and hardworking person with a flair for reading and writing and my other interests are research, history, cricket and psychoanalysis.
What are your prominent achievements?
My article about the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup and Wimbledon Tennis Championship which were held on the same day, was elected and published in the section “Some Readers’ memorable moments of 2010s” as a part of the series “Decade Definers” in the Hindu newspaper. My creative writing piece which I had written for the International Creative Writing Contest which was organized by Monomousumi had won the Consolation Prize and it was also selected and published in the book “Cocktail Creatives Volume 3” by Monomousumi. My poster about the college and home dichotomy during COVID-19 was accepted and shortlisted for the “To be honest… Open Challenge” presentations which was organized as a part of the event “Defining Boundaries” which was organized by the Centre for Information Technology and Public Policy(CITAPP), IIIT Bangalore. My friend and I had jointly written and enacted a play called “From Page to Screen”, a play about the meeting between a film director and a writer when the latter wants to adapt a novel written by the former as a film, had won the first prize in the inaugural edition of the intra-collegiate drama festival, Upstage which was organized by the Department of English of the St.Joseph’s College, Bengaluru while I was pursuing my undergraduate degree. I had written a book “Tales of the Past” which was about the childhood days of my mother and grandmother and I had also presented it during an intra-collegiate fest in my college during my undergraduate degree.
When did you participated in the monomousumi writing contest and what was your rank?
May 2021-Editors’ Award, June 2021-Outstanding, August 2021-Outstanding, October 2021-Third and January 2022-Outstanding.
What is your weakest point and how do you overcome it?
I sometimes take a lot of time while thinking about an issue or matter. However, recently I learnt that I must avoid spending a lot of time about thinking about something depending upon the situation and rather think and act quickly but correctly and take the appropriate steps and decisions.
Who is your idol and why?
I have always considered Swami Vivekananda to be my idol and guru as his thoughts and teachings have always inspired me and has caused me to come back even stronger whenever I face some obstacles or problems in life like a phoenix bird instead of worrying about them. Moreover, reading his book of teachings and his quotes has pushed my determination, willpower and self-confidence to a very high level and has also instilled in me the belief that I can achieve my goals in life through my hard work and talent.
Which inspires you the most why you would like to emulate them?
The story of the famous American broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite’s great career became an inspiration for me as a budding journalist. I became inspired to work in the broadcast media such as the radio and the television, travel to different places and report about the latest news and happenings to the people as he did when I watched his television news programmes in YouTube. The image of him weeping while delivering the news of US President John Kennedy’s death to the nation and people while he had unexpectedly receiving the news during a TV news program is still vivid in my mind, when I saw it for the first time. Moreover, it also became a strong reminder for me that there is always emotions associated in the field of journalism also and we can also perform our duties as journalists very effectively if we learn to manage and overcome our emotions while at work.
What keeps you motivated in your life?
My devotion and faith in God, my determination and willpower and also my belief that life is always full of unexpected twists and turns and also that there are always new and unexplored areas, people and horizons waiting for us every day.
Where do you see yourself after 5 years from now and what is your ultimate goal?
I see myself as having successfully completed my Ph.D. within the five years and also working as a journalist in the print or broadcasting medium. I also see myself as a writer who has written and published some books in the next I aspire to become a famous and successful journalist and writer.
What is there in your wish list?
Some of my wishes are 1. To visit various countries such as China, Japan, the UK and the USA, explore the local languages, traditions and cultures and interact with the local citizens there. 2. To become a Radio Jockey(RJ), work in a radio station and do a radio programme which will be heard and appreciated by many people across the city or country OR to become a news reporter working in a television channel and cover live events from the concerned places or locations itself and report to the people. 3. To do my level best to help the underprivileged and poor sections of our society and contribute to their well-being and development.
Any memory which you would like to share to the world?
When I was in my eighth grade, I had written a biography of a famous Indian social reformer for an assignment in my second language Tamil and I had prepared it like a booklet according to the format of the assignment which was specified by our Tamil teacher. My friend, Manish who was studying Hindi as the second language, became very happy when he saw my assignment in the booklet-like format and asked me, “Hey Saravana, when did you start writing Tamil books?”. That instant, those words spoken by him at that moment, opened up a new world for me and it gave me an unexpected and big fillip to my love towards writing for me as I had started thinking of writing and publishing my books and becoming a famous writer like Jules Verne and JK Rowling from then onwards. Even now his words are afresh in my mind and I always thank him for lighting up the flame inside me to become a published writer.
What’s one thing that make you different from your peers?
I am normally a slow and steady person; doing my tasks and endeavors one at a time and then slowly upping the ante after I get into the groove . However, once I start loving the things or tasks which I am doing, then it is a different ball game for me altogether as I will become totally immersed in doing and completing it with dedication. Then I will also very rarely take breaks during these moments and it is only completing that particular assignment or task that I will get up from that place or start doing another task. I believe that this is one of my traits which makes me unique.
What are your hobbies and how do you balance your profession/studies with your hobbies?
My hobbies are reading, writing, surfing the Internet and researching and reading about matters in depth. I normally make a timetable from morning to evening; setting aside specific time slots for studying, reading books and novels, writing and research so as to avoid overlapping and juggling my hobbies with my academic pursuits. I normally do my work related to my academics in the morning and then do my hobbies in the evening so as to delineate them better. This is also due to the reason that I will also be able to do both of them successfully and effectively.
What are your writing tips for your peers? Do you have any advice for aspirants of writing contests?
Aspiring writers should always write daily: fix a daily target of writing a certain amount of words everyday like 200 or 500 words and you can write anything you like or wish to such as a story, poem or a diary entry etc. Doing this daily will not only help you to enjoy writing but also to discover your strengths in writing such as the writing style and the genre of the writing in which you are talented at. Once you have discovered these aspects of your writing repertoire, you can go to write a novel or a collection of poems eventually and become a famous novelist or poet. Some of the famous authors and writers started writing their well-known works initially while writing daily and then went on to write books based on these pieces once they have discovered that they have a story to tell. In addition to this, the beginning of any essay, story or other writing pieces should be written in a very nice and interesting way which will capture the attention of the readers and make them to read the rest of the writing piece as the beginning of the piece is the first brush of contact which the readers have with your piece and thus a good beginning will make the readers invested in the piece and also make them to read the rest of the piece.
What would you like to do your bit for the society?
I would use my writing and journalistic skills to educate the people from the various strata of the society especially the poor and illiterate people and the underprivileged people about their rights and privileges, importance of education, various initiatives by the government and the NGOS for their welfare and some of the other ways in which their lives can be improved so that they can live peacefully and luxuriously. I will also write articles and educate and spread awareness among the people about various pressing issues such as climate change and environmental degradation etc.
Do you think participating in Monomousumi contest helped you in anyway?
Participating in the International Essay Competitions organized by Monomousumi has helped me to become a better essayist as I understood and realized which aspects of essay writing which were my strengths and which I needed to work upon and improve in order to write better essays. Writing essays and taking in the International Essay Competitions has also taught me of the importance of planning the content and structure of my essays before writing as this will help not only in keeping my thoughts organized, but also keep the flow of my essays perfect and also helping me to ensure that I have included the vital aspects of my essays and not missed anything.
Anything other you wish to share
The writing competitions organized by Monomousumi such as the International Essay Contest and Creative Writing Competitions are great initiatives for young and budding writers as they provide them the perfect outlet to showcase and exhibit their talent. They also motivate them to continue writing with more vigor and poise by providing them with rewards such as publishing their articles in books and thus becoming published writers which is the dream of budding writers.
How did you come across Monomousumi and share your experience with this platform?
It was during the lockdown last year that one day my mother told me that I could write and publish articles online so that I will be engaged fruitfully and it will also be a great way to spend my time. I also liked her idea a lot and started searching for online essay competitions in which I could participate. It was then I came across the International Essay Competitions organized by Monomousumi and I also took part in the essay competition. Participating in the writing competitions organized by Monomousumi has been both a very rewarding and enriching process as it has made me to realize and identify my talent of writing essays. It has also provided me the perfect platform to showcase my talent by publishing my essays in the website for a wide audience. In addition to this, I feel both very delighted and encouraged when I receive prizes and other rewards for my essays and this has been a great incentive for me to continue writing essays by improving on my writing skills and also participating in other writing competitions organized by Monomousumi.
Your thought on “Essay“
Essays provide a medium to express the thoughts of the writers regarding a particular field, topic or a matter and they also contribute to increasing the awareness and knowledge about the concerned topics amongst the general audience when they read the essays online or offline. Sometimes, the writers of the essays also acquire new knowledge about the topics or matters which they are writing sometimes, when they research about the topics and thus it is a very beneficial and enriching process for them. Planning, research and organizing are the three main phrases of writing an essay. When writers take part in an essay competition and the topic of the essay is given to them, they should sit down and think patiently about how can they approach and write about the topic in a new and yet creative manner. This is possible in essay competitions generally as the topic provided is usually a general topic and thus it offers a lot of scope for writers to approach and write about the topic from new and different perspectives. For example; if the topic of an essay writing competition is railways, participants should first brainstorm and plan about the various ways in which they can write about railways; not only the usual topics such as the components of railways, some of the fastest trains and the largest railways stations in the world, but also from interesting perspectives such as some historical anecdotes about railways, the role of railways in diplomacy and the role of the railways in films and popular culture etc. Once you have come up with different ways to write about the topic, select a perspective or sub-topic which interests you as you will able to write very well about a topic about which you are interested in. Then, after planning and selecting a suitable topic for your essay, carry out some research about the topic by surfing the Internet, reading books, journals and newspapers etc. and gather some information for your essay so as to write about it in depth. One tip for gathering information for your essays is to search for specific terms of the topic rather than the topic itself as it will give very useful results and information which you can use in your essay. This is often the longest and elaborate phrase of the process of essay writing as you will have to find relevant and suitable information for your essay. However, doing it slowly and patiently will yield the perfect results.
Write and Win: Participate in Creative writing Contest & International Essay Contest and win fabulous prizes.
