Two youngsters, on the brink of giving up on their dreams, managed to realise them with the help of words, thanks to a writers' rescue programme
Ritesh Verma
Two years ago, at the end of his third year of engineering, Ritesh Verma was staring at a backlog of 12 subjects, which means he had failed in 12 subjects. Verma, who had moved to Mumbai from Lucknow in 2010, had a keen interest in filmmaking. But, he came to the city to enroll himself into IIT coaching classes. In 2014, he took admission at the Vellore Institute of Engineering (VIT), still with no interest in the subject whatsoever. "I went with the flow, that's what everyone else around me was doing. In less than a year, I regretted it," says Verma. Earlier this year, the 22-year-old won the Los Angeles Film Festival award for his short film Fears, that he submitted in the student-category. He also published his first book of poems, Mystical Emotions, close on the heels of graduating as an engineer.
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Two years ago, all this was far from even a dream. In November 2016, Nikhil Chandwani, founder of writer's rescue centre Nikhil Chandwani Foundation, visited VIT for a guest lecture. The foundation is known to mentor their students to channelise their struggle and personal failures into writing. Once the manuscript is ready, they connect the student with publishers and give them a chance to chase their dreams.
Verma was 20 when he first met Chandwani. He had hit an all-time low and, in Chandwani's words, he found the possibility of pulling himself up from his fallen state. "I was going through an identity crisis. I poured my heart out to Nikhil. I wanted to write a book of poems and I shared the idea with him. He wanted me to complete the semester and visit him in Nagpur, where the foundation is headquartered. I was very close to dropping out at that point, but I held on to see what could change from my visit. I had nothing to lose," says Verma.
Siddhartha Roy. Pic/Atul Kamble
Turns out, it changed everything. During the post-semester break, Verma moved to Nagpur, and under Chandwani's mentoring, started writing the poems. "I learnt everything from scratch, through brainstorming sessions — how to express myself better, use less words to say more." It took him nearly a month to finish the 84-page book after which Chandwani helped him with contacts for publishers. After a month of knocking on many doors and hearing several no's, Verma's book finally saw the light of day. Word spread and soon he was giving talks in IIT Chennai and among other colleges, including his own. "The tide had turned. I was the one motivating students now. The book gave me the courage to return to college and helped me graduate," says Verma, who now heads the centre of Chandwani's foundation in Hyderabad.
For Siddhartha Roy, 19, though, the existential crisis hit him when he was in the eighth standard. "I was not a bad student but I was extremely disillusioned with the rat race for marks. My dad wanted me to become an engineer, my mum, a doctor. I wanted to write a novel. At the start of my 10th standard, I was wondering if I should appear for my boards or write my novel," says Roy. It was around that time, when he met Chandwani in Nagpur. "Everyone is scared of breaking a pattern. Everyone, understandably, was against me writing the book. He was the only support I had." Chandwani mentored him to juggle both, the novel and his studies.
Roy completed The Special Fish, that grew to be a bestseller, in his 11th standard. "I remember it was launching on November 14, my mother's birthday. I was excited but I thought to myself, kaun padhega?" Soon the book, which revolves around teenage relationships, began to garner sales. Such was the impact at that time, that Roy was invited to give his first TEDx talk in Bengaluru.
Roy donated a large chunk of the profits he made to help drought-affected farmers in Maharashtra. He's also on the brink of starting his own foundation, to help youngsters in distress. His second book, Rise In Love, releases next month, even as the first book continues to reprint. The manuscript of his second book also won the best manuscript award at Lit-O-Fest this year. "When one feels low, the only thing they need is motivation. That is what the foundation does. It does not teach you how to write. It only ensures that you keep writing. And when someone believes in you, you will reach your goal," he says.
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