Spotlighting Author Nanda Pavaday
Do you know where one can discover the best possible stories? In those little lanes, the tiniest of instances where life lives, omnipresent but still very much there, beating away like a heartbeat inside us, it exists very much and yet is so tiny. Those daily wanderings of life which we experience whilst we grow up are what make us and lead us to the place we stand in today. Famous more in the form of memories we might make whilst on the path towards growing up these are those instances which are the very foundation of our personalities and are responsible for what we are today.
Well, today I am about to introduce you guys to an author whose work took me back to those fond memories by lanes of life that are perhaps one of the most priceless rendezvous of life that one can possibly imagine. His work, “Tizistwar nou pays-Tales of Simpler Times,” which is actually a memoir of 24 stories written by him to celebrate those good old days and relive nostalgia, has my heart for all the right reasons. So today I thought of making you acquainted a bit with this super writer who decides to splay a little bit of his life’s golden days for us to indulge in and partake of.
Nanda, 51, who is incidentally a resident of Mauritius, had started working at the age of 6-7 with his four brothers, helping his dad at the market. Being brought up and bred in a hard school of life, Nanda candidly shares how, like all other children, he always dreamed of one day being able to make his parents proud.
After completing his studies in economics in India, he moved to Mauritius and was initially unemployed. After a whole year of unemployment, he finally found a trial job in advertising. He used it to his advantage and made his career. In 2019, he first wrote the book “Tizistwar nou pays” which recounts Mauritius from his childhood and is also a collection of stories involving his mom and dad, as well as all those people and values that are near and dear to him. Having financed the venture at that time out of his pocket, the book at that time nevertheless created waves as far as Arizona, Orlando, Quebec, England, Ireland in France, Sweden, Denmark, Dubai, Australia, and many other places. People were so taken by this one that they did not simply read the book; rather, they walked around holding it in their hands to take beautiful pictures of it, wanting to share the beautiful charisma of its brilliant vibe and cover. It gave them that déjà vu of warm nostalgia, the reliving of the good old days when life was at its ultimate best, raw and unfiltered. Yes, whether it was Christmas or any other day, people were excited to hold this one and indulge in it.
Ask him what compelled him to create this masterpiece extraordinaire, and he says-“ nowadays children are growing up in a world that is so different from how it was prior to technology. We seldom see children climb on trees, play football in the streets, help their parents raise chickens, watch Hindi movies with the family, or visit the Chinese shop. This inevitably creates a divide between parents and children in terms of values and aspirations. ” “I wanted to pour out on paper what the 80’s generation holds in our hearts.” That is true!
In a beautiful ode he has given to his parents, Nanda further says how he feels that he has not only written a story for his mother but for every other mother in the world, since it surely has a warmth to it that will strike a chord with all the moms of the world. A splay of his childhood memories, he further asserts, -Tizistwar Nou Pays- Tales of Simpler Times is a collection of 24 beautifully written and illustrated short stories around themes like the new year, the Chinese shop, Hindi movies, the barbershop, playing football in the street, and climbing on trees, among others. He says that he has written it with all sensitivity since he wants each and every reader to journey through time with this one, reliving all feelings and emotions associated with those good old days.
Ask him about how, thanks to the over-presence of technology, the sense of comfort and memories is slowly evaporating from our lives, and he strongly agrees.
“I think technology and social media have brought a major change in our lives. Nowadays, our attention is fragmented, and we hardly stay in our activity long enough to enjoy it fully. We live our lives like we are travelling in a speedboat, in a race against time, always focusing on our next destination, hopping from one project to another, one deadline to another, one wedding at the weekend to a birthday the next. We live in a constant state of stress. Our attention is not in the present moment, and we are not involved enough to be making memories. To change things around, we probably need to think of the journey like we are travelling in a glass bottom boat, where there are many wonders right here under our feet, giving depth to every moment, and making the journey more lasting and enjoyable.”
Ask him about his favourite childhood memories, and he fondly replies- “has to be a few minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve with my family, feeling like my heart is about to burst with so much love. or waiting with bated breath on Saturday evenings for the Six Million Dollar Man television series to start. Or sitting at the George V stadium with my younger brother, watching our local football team play, or watching the Barbe Cup with my friend on those days at the horse racing court at the Champ de Mars. Or coming home to the particular flavour of a grilled goat on the family stove. or drinking Sinalco. or eating bread and butter dipped in my tea mug. or eating fruit salad made from the fruit trees in our yard. Or being on school vacation and watching my older brother make a kite with mousseline paper. Or that day when I scored a goal from the halfway line when playing football in college. And that time I came first in Grade 1 in school, the first time ever anybody in our family had come out first at anything, and feel one more time how it felt making my father proud…”
What a warm, wonderful exuberance he radiates through the simple, childlike innocence he has confided in above, not to forget the same which he has splayed across through these 24 simple tizistwars, which are life at its pristine best, I’d say.
Whilst his book has wonderful illustrations, which are a super treat for anyone who wishes to indulge in this read, Nanda also reveals the challenges he faced whilst getting this work translated. With the book being a repertoire of feelings, it was essential that the meaning not be affected in any way, nor its essence be compromised. As well, it was important to keep the flow of the stories, which is part of the beauty of the narrative in French.
Related: Book Review of Tizistwar nou pays-Tales of Simpler Times by Nanda Pavaday
As a parting shot to our convo, he candidly says- “When you write a text, you are transmitting energy to the reader. It is important to be aware of the energy and to keep it as it is. “At the end of the day, it is about building a connection with your reader.” Boy, do I agree with him or what! A brilliant writer with an even more brilliant talent, in an endeavour to bring forth some of the most unfiltered emotions of life for all of us to partake of and share, here is wishing Nanda Pavaday the very best for this work as well as for all the works he comes up with in the future.
Adios Amigos!
This post is part of the #BlogchatterA2Z challenge