Tell us something about yourself.
My name is Rajan V Kokkuri. I was born in Attoor Village, Thrissur District of Kerala. At present I am living in Muscat with his wife Anitha Rajan and works at Australian Engineering giant Worley as a Principal Process Designer. I have published four English books so far.
My book ‘I REMIAN FOREVER YOURS’ was published in September 2019.
This is a story of an orphan girl and her search for true parents.
‘My Precious Dreams’ is my 2nd book. This book predominantly unfolds the life of beloved late parents and my journey of life. I was fascinated about the life of few people and scribbled them from my memory to stories.
My 3rd book is The Invisible Love book is a collection of ten short stories and has close connections with either living or lived characters. I would like to give an exposure to the people whose love was not visible to everyone in the naked eyes. I wanted to acknowledge some people in my past life. 2 stories are based on the prevailing water and climate situations highlighting the natural beauty of the olden times.
‘BORN TO DREAM’ is the title of my 4th book. It is about the founder of the BPL Group of Companies, Shri. T.P.G Nambiar. I started my career in BPL INDIA, and I am proud to say that TPG, the living legend, was my first inspiration to succeed in whatever I do. I have compiled articles from former 121 BPL employees like myself.
My 1st Malayalam audio tale “Ammaku Vendi (FOR MOTHER)” became a hit after it was shared on Muscat Arts’ Facebook page. I also contribute frequently to ‘Quora,’ which has over 173000 K views, and ‘TripAdvisor,’ which has over 10300 views.
My debut audio story, I Remain Forever Yours, is now available globally.
I have won few awards too. In a survey held by LiteraturesLight and Criticspace, my first novel ‘I REMAIN FOREVER YOURS’ was selected one of the “Top 100 Debut Novels-2019.” I have also won the weekly poetry competition at the Delhi Poetry Slam thrice.
What inspired you to start writing?
There are a few late people in my life who had extraordinary abilities and a great deal of affection for me, which I have felt since I was a child. I’d like to write about some memories from my life with them as a tribute to them, as well as some stories about current issues like water scarcity.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Yes, I always wanted to be a writer. My village Attoor in Valluvanad area of Kerala, on the closer to famous Nila River and Kerala Kalamandalam in Cheruthuruthy which is a well-known for famous scholars and poets. The unique surroundings and few of them whom I have grown up seeing during my school days. I used to take part in the competitions of children story books and written few letters to editor of newspaper also. I continued to take part as a socially responsible person, dared even sent email messages to the Ministry about the requirement of water ATM in railway stations & concerns about safety of Rail passengers. Water ATMs were implemented in the due course, it may not be based on my request, but I was very much concerned about the difficulties of people and wanted to pen about them.
In the year 2017, I came across a poor family living on the footpath near Sree Guruvayoor Temple, Kerala. Their frank talk about homelessness and finding the lost child after nine years touched my heart. I couldn’t forget the incident and wrote my 1st story. ‘Thelogicalindian.com’ selected the story and published it on the website under ‘My Story’ series.
I’ve been fascinated by great leaders and writers since I was a child. I didn’t know what I wanted to be, but I knew I wanted to be someone who was always in contact with people.
If I didn’t become a writer or and Engineering Designer, I would have become a teacher or a soldier.
How did you plan to write a book?
I always try to note the moments of my life and try to convert them into stories. My nostalgic memories help me to plan the book. I am inquisitive to learn and about people, places, and different cultures. Most of the things come in my mind instantly and I do write a poem or an article seeing an event or a person.
How do you come up with the title of your book?
I generally spent lot of time to come up with the title of my books matching to the stories. My last book’s title ‘BORN TO DREAM’, I had spent few sleepless nights too. It is based on a very legendary personality and I have realized the title after studying him deeply.
Tell us about your first published book? What was the journey like?
I got the idea of the book from the real life of a celebrity. Some love and desires of life never gets fulfilled. I have converted many real-life plots in my life into the story.
My writing career began when I published a true story of a homeless couple on the website ‘The Logical Indian.’ Then, a request for a 1,000-word article for the UK blog ‘WorthingFlash’ fueled my desire to write more.
What does success mean to you?
I have always tried to excel in the various opportunities in my life. The result may not be success always. I remain humble even when achieve great success. I wish to serve more people and will utilize my success for helping the people.
Can you share with us something about the book that isn’t in the blurb?
My 4th book is based on my life with my 1st employer company and its founders. I didn’t get a chance to publish the book as I wanted narrating the stories of its founder’s life.
Are you working on anything at the present you would like to share with your readers about?
I would like to translate my present few English books into my mother tongue if possible. I have just completed an English story for a famous Podcast which will be available Worldwide. There are few offers which I must start the plans.
Where can readers purchase your books?
All my 4 books are available as paperbacks through Amazon website. My 3 books are available as E Book through Amazon Kindle. Indian readers can get the books through other websites like Flipkart etc. Few books are available in Google Books also.
Writing can be an emotionally draining and stressful pursuit. Any tips for aspiring writers?
I would like to tell them to keep an open mind and try to learn from everything around us. We need to learn new words, note down the plots, and convert the real personalities into characters. I always try to connect to place, time and people in my stories. We should not be afraid of errors or failures and keep attempting do many things in life and the life will lead us to the most appropriate place we deserve by the God.
My 4 books are available through the below links:
https://www.amazon.in/dp/9389113997/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_Y3ZK965V3H55T9MRAV6N
https://www.amazon.in/dp/8194564131/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_S22T2JTVM4SV99PSENQH
https://www.amazon.in/dp/8194807360/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_NWBEDHK1613Z2YDNSZDZ
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09SBR133G/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_5Q2NHW94PC8M77BX6384