S RISHTI P UBLISHERS & D ISTRIBUTORS
N-16, C. R. Park
New Delhi 110 019
First published by
Srishti Publishers & Distributors in 2014
Copyright Priyanka Baranwal, 2014
All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publishers.
Typeset by Eshu Graphic
Dedicated to
my late Grandmother
my parentsMummy and Pitaji
my familySumit and Ashmit
Unleash the power within; raise your inner voice, It is unlikely you get the same choice twice;
YOU can change your falling-apart devastating fate, Just think of it once
Its never too late, its never too late.
Priyanka Baranwal
Contents
Acknowledgements
N o step can be taken alone, especially the first one. Therefore, Id love to send a warm thank you note and a reservoir of gratitude to those who have helped me evolve into the person that I am today.
First comes my family, that is, my beloved husband, Sumit and our son, Ashmit. Without Sumit, I would not be an author today. Thank you Sumit! For prodding, guiding and supporting me throughout the journey towards this book. Whenever I lost faith in me, you were always there to uplift me and inspire me with hope. Your unparalleled faith has brought me where I am today. Your IIT memories and meaningful feedback have given my book the best shape and I fondly present it to you as a New Years gift with loads of love.
I am equally grateful to my parents whom I dearly call Mummy and Pitaji. What I am today is entirely because of my mother Mrs. Beena Baranwal and father Mr. Naresh Chandra Baranwal. I love you both and cant express its precision in definite words, though they call me an author and a writer. Without your blessings, love and incredulous support, I might have lost myself somewhere. So thank you for being there as parents, motivators, guides, family but moreover, as friends.
Another multitude of gratefulness I would like to send to my respected Tau ji with whom I have shared so many years of joy, happiness and learning. Thank you Tau ji, for being a roof to all of us.
Life would never be this easy if there wasnt any positive learning from another set of my parents, my mother-in-law, Mrs. Malti Baranwal and father-in-law, Mr. Kashinath Baranwal, whom I dearly call Ma and Papa. I would like to express my respect by giving them my love, care and dedication. Thank you ma-papa, for being such wonderful mentors in our lives.
My deepest gratitude goes to team Srishti for making my dream come true in the form of this novel. I also thank Wasim Helal for the fantastic cover design. His eagerness to come out with the most suitable cover has made this book look so enticing and striking.
A warm hug to my sister, Shivani; brother Piyush, his lovely wife Naincy and their naughty little son, Tanay; my elder sister, Shalu di and my best friend, Anita Agrahari. You people are an inseparable part of my life and will always remain the same. Thank you for being there whenever I needed you all.
To my lost friend Shikha Lal. I dont know about her whereabouts, yet Id like to send across a message through this book. Shikha! Wherever you are, please contact me if you read this. Id love to meet you.
Many thanks to our good friends, Vineet and Pratik for sharing their IIT memories.
Thanks to the bunch of our other special friends: Priyanka, Manik, Ankur, Vikas and Mahendra for being equally excited for this novel. It means a lot to me.
A heartfelt dedication goes to my all respectable teachers and mentors who have always guided me, especially to Harjeet maam, Sunil sir, and Late Mittal sir. I will never be able to express enough gratitude towards them.
My acknowledgements will be half accomplished if I dont mention my beautiful, cheerful readers. Thank you! As you all are undoubtedly the biggest part of my achievement. Send in your precious feedback on the links mentioned on the back of the book. It will help me enormously to grow into a better writer.
And, I hope you will love this novel as much as I do.
From the authors heart
T hey say, a spark is enough to ignite a fire.
And I agree!
It was a usual signature night of August in Bangalore, the 26 th day in 2012 to be precise. I had finished reading a novel and was deeply touched. After closing the book, I casually said to my husband, Sumit, How good these people must be feeling on seeing their names on a book; a book completely made up of their words and thoughts. They must be feeling very proud of themselves.
Sumit replied with a smile, Yeah, thats true. But you can also do that. Why dont you try writing a book too? I have read your articles online and the way you write poems, its wonderful. You can also be an author . You write really well.
I was bemused to hear this. I had never thought of becoming an author. But after a little persuasion from my husbands side, I decided to put my faith in his. Thats how the journey towards my first book started off. It is literally correct to say: a dream has come true that I had never even dreamt off .
When Sumit gave me the idea of writing a novel, it was also like a challenge to me. I have been a freelancer and I have written poetry too, but writing a piece as vast as a novel was a tough cookie. But when I started writing the story, I knew I have won the challenge even before I could finish writing it. I knew nothing could stop me now and when we think this way in the initial stage of a challenge, we sure become the winner even before we touch the goal.
I have worked really hard and that should not be a wonder. Reaching the goal is always expected to be challenging and tiresome. The journey always remains full of mistakes, sleepless nights, fully occupied days, moments of giving up and losing faith, criticism, falling and standing, falling again and then standing up against all odds. But one thing keeps you going despite all that: the unmatched vivid imagination of the moment when youll fulfil your dream. I kept writing day in and day for the moment when I will hold my first creation, my book Its Never Too Late .
I saw a dream, and now, that is on the verge of completion. Though this novel is a complete story in itself, yet there will be a sequel, because stories never really end. Just like dreams. So, I urge you to dream too. Dreaming makes you believe in your capabilities. Dreaming gives you a motivation that keeps you going despite all hurdles and rejections. But let me be honest here the journey for achieving a dream hardly comes easy .
I have faced many people in life who made fun of me, laughed at me during tough phases, preferred to throw me back in the crowd and never to acknowledge that I am also a human being. I can also get hurt and I was; so much so that I dont want to remember those times.
