A WRITER'S JOURNEY [AN EARLIER CHAPTER OF MY LIFE]

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I love what I do; I am proud of what and how I write. I revel at the power of words. I am fascinated by the writings of great men and women. I am in awe of inspirational words- - -from the humblest to the noblest works of art. I am a seasoned writer with a penchant for contributing informative and inspiring articles. Somehow, it all came into my life and fell into place naturally and oh so swiftly! Going down memory lane, I now realize that as a young girl, reading became my passion. I longed to be left in my own world with books. I read voraciously whatever I could lay my hands on. Initially, it was romance novels; later, as I entered college and opted to major in English Literature, I turned to serious literary works of Shakespeare, Emerson, Keats and Wordsworth among many others. While in pursuit of academics, my writing skills were confined to Essays and Letter-writing at which I excelled. The words flowed easily in a natural, conversational style. I remember taking notes and writing down my observations about anything and everything under the sun. My drawers were filled with pieces of paper jotting down quotations and any interesting information that I came across either on the radio, newspaper or in a magazines. I had umpteen diaries and journals in which I scribbled anything that caught my attention or made my heart skip a beat! I had no clue then that I was gradually emerging as a writer. I was thrilled when my contributions were accepted by college and local magazines. I frequently freelanced for Women's Magazines championing women's rights and occasionally wrote for local newspapers on current burning issues. As a teacher, my writings became more and more inspirational both for the children and their parents. During this tenure of almost three decades, I became a kind of Family Counselor through my articles in school monthly brochures. Having undergone a Montessori Training Course in Early Childhood Education at Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.A., I acquired a better understanding of people across the continent. It reiterated my belief: the world is my Country; its people my brethren; to do good is my religion. However, for me the defining moment came when I was totally involved as the Honorary Editor of the Official Publication of Make-A-Wish Foundation, India. MAW is an International Foundation having Chapters in countries all over the globe. It grants wishes of terminally ill children regardless of race, religion or socio-economic status. Any child below 18 years who has been diagnosed having a life-threatening medical condition can be a wish child. Portraying inspiring stories and anecdotes of these children in my writings, their true stories of courage and hope had a tremendous impact on my life and personality. It was their solid grip on reality while facing multitude of challenges, their joy in having their wishes fulfilled and capturing their indomitable spirit in words- - - all these and much more, empowered me to write from the heart and become a better writer. Today, I consider it a Blessing to have had the opportunity to experience the amazing 'Magical Power of a Wish' first hand. Years later, reflecting back on my writing journey, I realized that I found a sense of release in these tumultuous outpourings. Some of these were in poetic form while others reflected on my true inner self. Today, I continue to believe in the dictum: "Your own sense of value determines the quality of your performance. Performance is only a reflection of internal worth, not a measure of it. The inner winner recognizes his/her own value and uses it to achieve his/her goals." -Denis Waitley, Seeds of Greatness Treasury. I pray that I can do just that.