About Eshwarmurthy Pillai:
Eshwarmurthy G Pillai was born in 1972 in Mumbai, a city of dreams. His grandfather had influenced him immensely towards leading a social life. Starting the profession career as a Medical Representative in Mumbai, he experienced patient’s trauma closely, which still continues. Working with two great pharma giants, he developed the passion of writing and innovative thinking. After completing his MBA in 2003, the pharma journey continued and gave an opportunity to travel across India. In the process, he went on acquiring more knowledge keeping his passion alive.
Hang On – A Second Wind, the first book of the series “Hang On” results from those acquaintances from the farmers of drought affected region.
LiFT: Tell us about your book, the journey of writing it and its content.
Eshwarmurthy: The book, Hang On – A Second Wind, is based on the farmer’s suicide. It’s an effort of six years’ journey after hearing and seeing the various problems faced by our farmers in India. I did have few opportunities to interact with the farmers during my professional visits to interiors places in Maharashtra and other states. Their struggle is indeed painstaking for the basic survival. I have tried my level best in my book, to show some encouragement to fight against the odds that they face in their day-to-day life. In fact, couple of my readers have suggested me to continue the journey of Subodh, the protagonist in this book.
LiFT: Why you chose this title?
Eshwarmurthy: The title Hang On – A Second Wind, carries two meanings.
1. Hang On, means to hold on oneself, at the time of severe distress with no option to look at, for the survival.
Besides, Hang On is my book series title, with many more to follow.
2. A Second Wind, is a subtitle, means during severe distress if one keep himself or herself calm and composed, he or she will definitely find a ray of hope in any form.
LiFT: When did you realize that you want to be a writer and what’s your inspiration behind it?
Eshwarmurthy: Writing has been my hobby since 1997. Writers live in fools paradise, I have heard about it through my mentors and has experienced it very well. Its only the outside world that encouraged me to write more and more, especially the doctors whom I used to meet during my professional days. Seeing my writings and thoughts, they used to tell me that I am sitting on a gold mine. It took me years to get it realized as to what I am capable of. Besides, my daughter is my biggest inspiration after my grandfather, to continue with my passion of story writing. She is my garbage box and comes out with great thoughts encouraging me further.
LiFT: Where do you see yourself ten years down the line in the world of literature?
Eshwarmurthy: Ten years down the line, I see myself as a renowned author and motivational speaker with good number of published books.
LiFT: How much do you think marketing or quality of a book is necessary to promote a particular book and increase its readers?
Eshwarmurthy: The way the world has digitalized, the marketing promotion has become of extreme importance. Moving from the traditional publishing world, the digital world has thrown open ample opportunity to the indie publisher and authors to reach out to the readers world wide. At the same time, it has made difficult also for the independent authors to target the right readers for their books. Nevertheless with a proper PR agency for the book promotion, things are getting easier and lucrative.
LiFT: What is the message you want to spread among folks with your writings?
Eshwarmurthy: The only message I would like to give, is follow and live with your dreams. For I strongly believe, “No dreams is achievable. It has to be achieved.”
LiFT: What do you do apart from writing?
Eshwarmurthy: I am a Healthcare marketing professional working in medical device industry for last ten years. My professional experience is more than twenty five years. As a social responsibility, I donate my blood regularly since 1992.
LiFT: What are the activities you resort to when you face a writer’s block?
Eshwarmurthy: I stay aloof and if at home, I close myself in a room for long hours. I prefer to stay at railway platforms for long hours as seeing the people around helps me bringing my senses. I do prefer to travel long alone especially in train or in a bus.
LiFT: What if your story will be adopted as a movie? Whom would you want to work as a director or actors in it?
Eshwarmurthy: I am die hard fan of Mani Ratnam Sir. When it comes to writing and visualizing my books, I always see the following who inspire me to write more and more:
Mani Ratnam, Balu Mahendra, K Balachandran, Vikram Gokhale, Sachin Khedekar, and Nana Patekar.
LiFT: Are you working on your next book? If yes, please tell us something about it.
Eshwarmurthy: Yes, I am working on two books for this year. One is a family drama with Hang On Title Series. While the other one is a romantic comedy family drama.
LiFT: What are your suggestions to the budding writers/poets so that they could improve their writing skills?
Eshwarmurthy: I would tell them to attend the webinars of all great authors as many as possible. I want them to stay away from the negative world however close they maybe, if they want to pursue their writings. To improve the skills interact with the outside world as much as possible and make it a daily habit.
Click here to order Eshwarmurthy’s Book – Hang On – A Second Wind
