Weaving dreams into words – My Take by Rahul Rawal, Author, Blue Crayons

Rahul Rawal works with a US-based firm and is a writer by passion, who does not need sleep to dream. He wakes up in the morning to drive his career and his corporate family and sleeps after a quiet moment with his
pen and paper. His stories are an extension of his profound love for words and an unprofessed trait of dreaming with his eyes open. He loves to travel because he believes that every place we visit or every person we meet has a
story to tell.

Like any other kid I have also changed my professional aspirations a number of times. Initially I wanted to be a doctor then somebody told me it involves studying for years at length so I dropped the idea. Same with becoming a scientist which was also an option once. When the country was fighting the Kargil War along the Kashmir border I wanted to join the army as well. Probably that’s the only time I regretted being restricted to a wheelchair. I finally ended up at an MNC at last after completing my post graduation.

Daydreaming with purpose

But all these years there was one thing I was good at and that was imagination. I have always been a compulsive daydreamer as a kid and not just a daydreamer, I used to plan my dreams well before going to sleep in a hope they would follow the script. While growing up these characteristics helped me win a lot of friends and people around. I was a sincere and a good student but the only complaint my teachers had in a parent-teacher meeting was that I was always surrounded by my classmates. Not my fault, everybody just loved listening to me.

I don’t know whether this was good or bad but I wasn’t aware of my storytelling talent until much later in life. It was just 7-8 years back when I wrote my first piece. On a New Year’s Eve when everyone was busy partying their way into the new year, I was desperately looking for ways to vent my emotions and that’s when I wrote a short piece on my blog. To my surprise everybody in my connections loved and appreciated it, little did they know what fire they’re fanning. I started enjoying writing as well and that’s how I discovered this ‘compulsive’ disorder of storytelling and that’s how Blue Crayons (my debut book) happened.

Blue Crayons is a collection of 40 short stories spanning across different genres like relationships, paranormal, social issues, etc. Some stories are directly taken up from my own life. For example, my conversation with a guy who was so sure that I can start walking on my legs after his prayers, my view on a miracle – maybe a miracle isn’t exactly how we seek, and then there are some works of fiction as well but even fiction is a combination
of a half inspiration and a half aspiration.

To me a writer after all is a product of his own experiences blended with the reflection of people he meets along his path, topped up with his imagination. Lastly, I like to thank each one who is reading this because
without you, whom I would tell my stories to.

Besides writing I waste a lot of time thinking about what to write. I am more a seeker than a believer, hence everything intrigues me. I love travelling and trying to make conscious efforts lately to come out of my comfort zone and explore as much as I can. I want to keep experiencing life so that I can keep writing because writing is therapeutic.

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