"Anything to Look Hot" by Dr Jas Kohli released

(L-R) Mr Vivek Atray, co-founder Chandigarh Literary Society, author
of two best-selling novels and Deputy Commissioner Panchkula, releasing
Dr. Jas Kohli's (centre) debut medical fiction "Anything to Look Hot"
alongwith the session moderator and author Suditi Jindal. 

Mr Vivek Atray, Deputy Commissioner Panchkula and co-founder Chandigarh Literary Society (CLS) released the book “Anything to Look Hot” by plastic surgeon Dr. Jas Kohli, here today.

Complimenting Dr Jas Kohli for finding time for his creative pursuits, Vivek Atray said that literary activities in the region on the increase and many of the youngsters, working professionals and housewives are expressing themselves beautifully and sharing it with the world, which is an encouraging trend.

In a writers' life, however, Mr Atray said, that first phase of writing is all about total involvement and daydreaming when you are in the process of writing, and second challenging phase is to find the right publisher, and the last phase is even more tough when one has to market and promote the book to the readers.

He announced that the third edition of CLS Literati shall see over 50 authors from around the country from 6-8 November at the Lake Club.

In a session moderated by another author and life coach, Suditi Jindal, Dr Jas Kohli shared his journey and the four years that he spent in working on his first novel, and commended Srishti Publishing for accepting his work and encouragement.

Dr Kohli also said that he was indebted to Chandigarh Literary Society where in the last year’s Literati he happened to meet many established authors, especially Jerry Pinto, who guided him through the process.

“I have already been playing with the idea of sharing the travails and tribulations of a medical professional; I have lived it all through the protagonist of this novel, a plastic surgeon Dr. Dhruv, whose life’s journey surpasses even a masala movie for humour, drama and action” Dr Kohli shared.

Dr Jas Kohli has used this book to debunk many a myths about cosmetic surgeries, the dangers of falling into the traps of glitzy ads without confirming the credentials, and the book, he feels, will enthrall those who can do Anything to Look Hot.

Dr. Kohli read out excerpts from his book how the cosmetic surgeon Dr Dhruv finds himself surrounded by celebrities and movie stars in Mumbai, to tweak their looks.  “When the superstar diva of the past decade doesn’t want to play the hero’s mother on screen, she insists that she be reshaped into the most beautiful woman in the world…by any means.”

Suditi Jindal quizzed Dr Kohli on his protagonist's

The hero finds satisfying the movie stars a different ball game, because every girl wishes to have bee-stung lips, and every guy wants to flaunt a six-pack abdomen without working too hard.

Many of his colleagues from PGI were present amongst the invited audience including his teacher Dr P.S. Chari, former head of plastic surgery in PGI, senior plastic surgeon Dr. VD Singh amongst others.

Dr Jas Kohli is a senior plastic surgeon, in active practice. He received MCh degree in Plastic Surgery from Delhi University in 1998. Starting as a precocious writer, he penned poems and short stories for school and college magazines. Admission in MBBS turned him into a diehard academician, and he all but forgot that there was a fiction writer lurking beneath the load of medical books. He has published a number of scientific papers in his medical career, including two internationally acclaimed ones in the British Journal of Plastic Surgery and also written educational articles in the local newspapers on plastic surgery.

Dr Jas is a member of APSI (Association of Plastic Surgeons of India) and received the APSI best paper presentation award in 1997. After becoming a plastic surgeon, he worked at various centers in India and abroad and came in contact with all shades of characters, from sane to inane. He realized, that to be a successful plastic surgeon, apart from surgical finesse, one also requires a sense of artistry, psychology, fashion and of course, women!

Confessing to be a confused conglomeration of cells, he juggles his time between writing, plastic surgery, astronomy, bird watching and his family comprising his wife and two kids.

Mystery of the Girl in Blue Skirt Unveiled

The mystery is finally over. There were 135 versions that people from as far as New Delhi and Noida sent to us for CLS Annual Story Writing Competition that was announced in May.  

Ms Sumita Misra, chairperson, Mr. Vivek Atray, Mr. Madhav Kaushik, and Mr. V.K. Kapoor of Chandigarh Literary Society (CLS) gave away the prizes to the winners of its annual short-story writing competition at Beant Singh Memorial Cultural Centre at Chandigarh.

The first prize went to Tript Kaur, who travelled all the way from Delhi to receive the prize.  The second winner was Panchkula SDM, Radhika Singh, and the third winner was Srishti Sood.  The jury had also shortlisted three other stories for special mention, written by Pankaj Sharma of Ambala, whose sister came to receive the prize, J.S. Ghuman, and Sherein Bansal.

The short-stories were adjudged by the panel of judges which comprised former chairperson of Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi Dr Manju Jaidka and Chairperson of Deptt of English and Cultural Studies, Panjab University, Prof. Pratibha Nagpal.

Sumita Misra handed over to the winners prizes gifted by Capital Book Depot of Chandigarh along with the certificate.

CLS Chairperson Sumita Misra informed that there was an overwhelming response again this year with 135 entries to the competition that involved completing a short-story from an opening cue, “He was sure that it was her...almost! He walked briskly down the pavement, overtaking several fellow pedestrians.  She wore a white top and a flowing blue skirt. Her hair flew tantalisingly behind her as it used to all those years ago..."

The judges had the tough time reading each story, evaluating it and finally deciding on the winners, said Dr Puneet Kapoor who coordinated the competition.

Sumita Misra informed that the 3rd edition of Chandigarh Literary Society’s signature annual event, Literati 2015, will be held on 6-8 November at the Chandigarh Lake Club in which over 50 noted authors from around the country are participating with book releases, on-the-spot competitions, and exciting cultural evening programmes.

Literati 2015 preparations in full swing

Noted actor, writer, playwright, actress, director Sohaila Kapoor visits Chandigarh for the cultural evening performance

The team of Chandigarh Literary Society (CLS) congregated at the city’s landmark spot, the Lake Club, to finalise the arrangements for the upcoming lit fest, LITERATI 2015.

This is the third edition of Literati which is scheduled for 6-7-8 November informed festival director and chairperson of CLS Sumita Misra.

Sohaila Kapur’s latest play Maqalaat would be premiered at Literati, and would be one of the major highlights of the lit fest, and would be performed on the Saturday evening, the 7th November at the Lake Club, she added.

Sohaila was in the city to meet with the team Literati as well as make logistics arrangement for her play. Speaking about her play which revolves around the great 13th century poet Rumi, Sohaila said that we as authors and interpreters of Rumi’s great legendary works are mere “dharohar ke rakhwale” and through this play I attempt to bring back his universal message of love and peace which must lift the veil of darkness full of envy, anger and fear that envelopes the people around us.was in the city to meet with the team Literati as well as make logistics arrangement for her play.

Speaking about her play which revolves around the great 13th century poet Rumi, Sohaila said that we as authors and interpreters of Rumi’s great legendary works are mere “dharohar ke rakhwale” and through this play I attempt to bring back his universal message of love and peace which must lift the veil of darkness full of envy, anger and fear that envelopes the people around us.

Sohaila was in the city to meet with the team Literati as well as make logistics arrangement for her play.

Mr. Vivek Atray informed that Literati 2015 would have noted columnist and author M.J. Akbar at the inaugural session with host of celebrated national and international authors including Vinod Rai, Hugh & Colleen Gantzer, Kiran Nagarkar, Sohail Hashmi, Rakshanda Jalil, Manju Kak, Malvika Karlekar, Jonathan Gil Harris, Ashok Vajpeyi, Sandip Roy, Tishani Doshi, Mridula Koshy,  Nayantara Sahgal, Gul Panag, Anusha Yadav, Nighat Gandhi, Amitabha Bagchi, Amrita Chatterjee, Payal Dhar, Chitra Viraraghvan, Krishan Shastri Devulapalli, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Renana Jhabvala, Munna Dhimman, Himanjali Sankar, Devika Rangachari, Aditi Chaudhary, Surender Mohan Pathak, to name a few who have confirmed their participation.

Other highlights of the Chandigarh lit fest would workshop sessions for budding writers, on-the-spot activities for children, evening cultural entertainments, and live performances.

CLS has ignited interest amongst people of all age group in the region towards creative writing and city has become the perfect launching pad for many of the established as well as the debutant authors to release their books including Anupam Kher, Preeti Shenoy,  Pavan K. Verma, A.S. Dulat, Navtej Sarna, Prof Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Kamla K. Kapur.

Since its formation in 2012, CLS has activated the Chandigarh literary scene by hosting some of the celebrated authors including Anupam Kher, Navtej Sarna, Pavan Varma, Ketan Bhagat, Yousuf Saeed to name just a few, besides organizing various workshops for budding authors, and short-story and poetry writing competitions. 

The Blue Skirt had a Magical Effect

We are overwhelmed!

ime's Up via photopin (license)

Though the clock stopped on the midnight of 15th of June, for the short-story writing competition, the entries were still pouring in.   Unfortunately we could not accept them beyond the given time.  Very very sorry. We just had few dozen stories three days before the deadline, and all of a sudden the flood gates of creative fluid opened and our email inbox was ticking constantly with your contributions pouring in like cats and dogs.  

Thanks each one of you. Thanks to all those who also could not make it and missed the deadline.  But we are grateful, nevertheless, to them too. 

Well friends, all of you will have to wait now, as the real work starts for us now...sifting them out, and sending it across to our panel of judges to go through each one of them.  

We are sure this would be a hard task for them to find out as to who this girl in blue skirt was?

But we shall keep you informed as and when we are halfway through as to when we would be able to announce the result.  The result of course would be announced on our facebook account/chandigarhliterarysociety.  So keep logged in.

Passion for writing is like hunger, Vivek Atray

Chandigarh Literary Society and The Bombay Review online magazine organised a workshop for budding writers at Hotel Aroma today in which over 50 young writers participated. 

Mr. Vivek Atray

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Vivek Atray, a fiction writer, columnist and Deputy Commissioner of Panchkula and Ambala spoke about the nuances of writing, which he described as an intense desire like hunger, and you feel grumpy if you don't write on a particular day. 

There are more writers coming up in India who might take over the dwindling population of readers, until the writers engage the readers, he said. 

Another young writer, Uday Pratap Singh, whose debut Panjabi movie, Annu Bains' produced and Jatinder Mauhar directed QISSA PANJAB, is due for release soon, shared his journey. 

Mr. Uday Pratap Singh

A St John's passout, Uday studied in USA and bachelors in finance but his heart was in film making and once back in the city, he wrote his debut screenplay in just a fortnight for 'Qissa Panjab', and is eagerly looking forward to release of the movie. 

I had the passion to be different and i dabbled in basketball, skateboarding, and what not, and the heart was not there in the accountancy that I studied abroad, he added. Though this was my first attempt I read all about the process of writing a screenplay, talked to several professionals, and ultimately, challenged myself into writing.

'Follow your dream', he advised the budding writers. 

The workshop was attended by many members of Chandigarh Literary Society, including Madhav Kaushik, Secretary, CLS, Simrit, Simran Kaur, Lalita Jagmohan, JN Vohra, amongst others. 

The energy, enthusiasm and vigour of the youngsters was worth watching as they scripted poems and stories in a jiffy on-the-spot. Garima Pura, Poetry Editor, The Bombay Review magazine and her associate Vidushi, conducted the entire event with aplomb. 

Many participants evinced keen interest in the CLS activities and signed up for membership. 

Young writers had all their stories written on their smart phones.

Engrossed...Enthused...Engaged!!

Simrit and Simran at work....bring young literateurs to CLS fold

We are also not behind the 'anytime, anywhere generation'

To Write Right

Garima Pura,  Poetry Editor, The Bombay Review, inspired by the Short-Story Writing Competition, obliquely shares the art of writing.

The class 7 corridor in the senior wing of the convent school shivered at her arrival and echoed with her voice, “I will dip you in the thickest soup you’ve ever tasted!”, remarked Miss Lucy with anunder-tone as sleek as the blade of the knife, just as lethal too.

Her advent was never heard, it was felt.
A woman of few words, all which escaped her mouth was quotable.

“English Grammar cannot be rote learnt, it can only be understood-
Creative Writing cannot be taught, it can only be practiced”

While students juggled with her question paper that was sure to implant red inked marks on their report cards, she would sneakily elbow them towards the elimination of two options out of four that were offered.

She’d whisper, “Step one to better English, is stop translating it in Hindi to check!”
The classroom could be mistaken for an-equipped-with-sound-absorbing-apparatus studio huddled by mute kittens on her summons for ‘those who want to read their essays aloud’.

“The language is expression. Do not mar the joy of it with fear.
The classroom is to learn, not ace. The language is to express, not impress”.

Three tentative hands and one taut fist could be seen sheepishly half risen, on the horizon where her careful nature reached out, to nurture their frail confidence.

She taught them, to write right.

The secret of writing a short story.

"Can I also write a short story?"
My octogenarian uncle who loves reading all types of books, called up in the morning having received the facebook alert about CLS competition for short story writing.
"Yes, of course, you can." I responded enthusiastically to encourage him.
"Well, but how do I begin?"
"We have already got an interesting lead sentence to begin your story," I reminded him.
"Yes, I know, but how do I begin?"

I remembered the advice of my professor on the first day of my journalism class, "Just write."
This is the most crucial step, and hard too, to begin writing.
He told us the protocol, what he called as the 'secret' of writing.
Get up a little early in the morning. Pick up the note book by your bedside and the pen.  And start writing.
If you want to enjoy the process of writing, just get up, have a bath, sit down on your table/desk, pick up the typewriter and start clicking away whatever comes to your mind.
Forget about mistakes. Don't bother about the vocabulary.  Just put your thoughts first on the paper.

That indeed is the truth.The only way to write is to write.

Look forward to great stories for the CLS Short Story Writing Competition.