Subhechcha Ganguly 
A serial entrepreneur, a Corporate professional, a motivational speaker, a single mom and as she calls herself, “a seagull in flight,” Kavitha Srinivasan (Kay S) is a very empathetic and compassionate writer and poet with varied degrees of experiences in life that made her explore writing as a passion. This gave her the power to impact and inspire like none other. Her first book titled, “Unfinished – A Woman’s Tryst with Destiny” was a fictional novella based on her life’s experiences and that of her friend who passed away. Her next book is a Collection of Odes & Quotes titled, “Midnight Musings.” She is an inspiring motivational speaker who has mentored and inspired many people in her life. She has her own blog, has written many articles, theatre reviews, and also co-authored PhD and dissertation papers. Currently, she lives in UAE with her sixth business and hoping to scale new heights as a writer and a businesswoman.
Q1) Tell us about the time when you felt inspired to set your foot in the writing field.
Ans: If I have to exactly put a time frame, I would say it was back in my middle school days when I started comprehending poetry, prose, and literature where every poetry and literature written by some of the great writers cajoled me and took me to another world. I cannot name just one of them, but some poetries and literature that struck a chord were quite a few. Daffodils and The Solitary Reaper by William Wordsworth holds a special place in my heart, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, and A Psalm of Life by H.W. Longfellow are only some of them as the list is long and then of course Shakespeare’s Tragedies & Comedies along with many more such greats in English Literature. I must say that I prefer writing poetry more than writing novels as I find a deep soulful connect in poetic expression and find it to be the virtual impression of my soul. This deep sync with writing held me close to the Universe and I made reading a habit. One day when a calamity hit my life, I seriously began writing and this was at the age of 17 and I have not looked back since then as to me it was a catharsis that helped deal with all the challenges in my life. I did not decide to be published until I turned 46 though, which was actually the time when I felt I need to leave a legacy behind and the journey started in a professional manner, but I remain very Unfinished as I have miles to go before I sleep.
Q2) You are also an Entrepreneur. Tell us about how competitive the field of business is and how are you balancing both the professions, entrepreneurship and writing?
Ans: This is indeed a very nice question for which I believe I can write miles and yet will try to be as brief as possible. Being an entrepreneur to me is like a fish taking to water as I have always been enterprising since I was a small child and always dreamt of being a businesswoman, not to amass wealth for materialistic reasons but to be able to succeed in order to uplift the downtrodden, help the needy, skill the unskilled, educate people who cannot afford education, and empowerment of women and youth. This ardent and intense need to be able to do this always drove me to try and associate myself with business although I have held many positions in the Corporate sector. I started my first business at the age of 26 and have transitioned many until now with my recent one now in Dubai is one which takes all my focus, attention, and passion to newer heights. Having said that I must say it is not at all an easy journey because it is almost always like a thankless job to have, with you always trying to be the better version of yourself because even being the best is not merely enough sometimes. It requires you to strive harder and harder as there are times where you feel like you can never please or satisfy anyone irrespective of how capable and efficient you are. Having said that, would I give it up for the peace and so-called stability employment would provide, “NEVER!” Because, it is in this chaos that I find my peace. I still believe I am an intern at life, learning new things, evolving to be a better human and a business woman and striving to hit that proverbial heights of success. With regards to the balancing act between business and acting, I believe it is a natural transition because Business is to appease my mind and heart, but my writing appeases my soul and gives me solace when I need the catharsis from the mundane duties of life. So, technically speaking I run from the monotony of business and professionalism into the world of writing to immerse myself, soothe my soul, cajole my senses, and find my real self within the silences of the words and also in the noise they create. I find myself to be a seagull in my thoughts, an eagle in my mind, and a nightingale at heart when I write and that is a feeling that I cannot express in words. That is a world where I exist with myself and my master in the vast abyss of the Universe where everything else is blurred beyond recognition where thoughts flow like a river, an ocean, or dance like a waterfall in the wilderness of night. Am I extremely good at balancing both? I don’t think so, but I most certainly do my best to do justice to both as both mean the world to me and act like an elixir to my existence. Very recently, I was featured on an online digital magazine of which I am enclosing a link as I believe it will give more insight to who I am as a businesswoman.
https://insightssuccess.com/women-icons-making-waves-in-the-arab-world-vol-2-march2023/
Q3) Your upcoming book Midnight Musings . Where did you get the inspiration of the book. Tell us more about the book and also attach the link for purchase.
Ans : Midnight Musings is a book very close to my heart as it is a confluence of my feelings, thoughts, dreams, aspirations and my rendezvous with the Universe and everything attached to it: the people, nature, art, creation, life and death. The book is a dedication to my spiritual guide and the Master of my Soul without whom I could not have completed this book as it was pending for almost 2 years after signing the contract with the publisher. As I was planning the layout of the book and what needs to be part of it, I had many thoughts; but one important intention was that I did not want it to be just any poetry book. I wanted it to be something that will leave an impact in people’s lives such that they would want to pick it up again and again after purchasing to find solace, motivation or inspiration from it. While these thoughts were going on in my mind, I was reminded of the many number of people who had reached out to me commenting upon the positivity and inspiration they got each day from the quotes I wrote each morning and sent out to them. Many of them expressed the need for it to be printed in book form and that struck a chord. I decided my book is going to be a collection of poetry, prose and something more. That is when I reached out to my Godsons who do amazing photography and I had actually written some of the poems inspired by their photography along with the people whose photographs I wanted on it. I requested their permission to use them to immortalize their talent and their connect with my soul and they readily agreed; that is how ‘Midnight Musings’ became a Collection of Odes and Quotes with a visual appeal that will create an impact. It has been received well until now with some amazing reviews from great writers like Bhavani Iyer and Sadiqa Peerbhoy who I adore, respect and admire along with many more readers who have picked the Kindle version and loved it. I feel any writer’s purpose of writing is served when they have positively impacted lives. I am deeply humbled and grateful for all the support and love I have received. I hope to continue to write to inspire in the coming years. Here are the links for the book.
Publisher’s Site: https://notionpress.com/read/midnight-musings-1379257
Amazon India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0C27JCQH7?&tag=notionpcom-21
Amazon (US): https://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Musings-Collection-Odes-Quotes/dp/B0C2S855CB
Amazon (UK): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Midnight-Musings-Collection-Odes-Quotes/dp/B0C2S855CB
Q4) What are the challenges you have encountered in the process of writing from the first stage of ideating to the last stage of publishing.
Ans: Oh well! How do I list all of them as there are definitely many but will list the most important ones. To me the process of writing is very fluid and natural because when I begin to have thoughts flowing, irrespective of where I am or what I am doing, I sit down and write. Most of these writings are written in the middle of the night where there have been instances where thoughts begin to flow when I am sleeping and I have woken up to record my voice as I could not write or have typed it on a notepad on my phone. So, the process of writing is very easy at least from my perspective, but what is the most challenging thing is remembering, as I literally cannot remember a single poem I have written because I believe them to be the thoughts of the Universe and the Supreme flowing through me. I believe I am the pen and the Supreme the ink that flows through the refill of my mind. One of the biggest challenges I feel was the initial job of compiling all that I have written because I am not a very organized writer picking up a book and a pen and writing in one spot. My writings can be on my computer, in a book, in my phone wherever I can put them at the time when thoughts flow. Ideating took some time because of being able to transport those thoughts and ideas into a physical appearance and after that getting the book to exactly appear the way it did needed a lot of deliberations and discussions with the publishing team and I must say I found an amazing publishing manager in Kavya Reddy from Notion Press who was extremely patient with my idiosyncratic views and needs and helped me achieve this feat of having it published exactly the way I wanted.
Q5) What would be the advice you would want to give to the young writers of today?
Ans : One of the most important advices I would give is to first believe in yourself and your thoughts, read yourself before you write and most importantly be honest when writing because words have temperature and what you write and convey will matter and impact many people’s life. Each one of us must be conscious and conscientious to be responsible with our thoughts and writings because they matter. Very importantly, I believe each one of us has to realise and believe that everything we say and write is recorded by the Universe that will be repeated at some point in time. So, let us all endeavor to leave a legacy that when repeated or remembered will create an avalanche of a positive impact that shall inspire a generation. Let us not become and live to be limited versions in an unlimited Universe. You are what you choose to be or say and you will be defined by the choices you make, in words or in the world. So aspire to live and write limitlessly but responsibly.
Q6) Also tell us about your book “Unfinished – A Woman’s Tryst with Destiny””. What inspired you to write this book and also attach the link for purchase.
Ans: This is a book that is not written to be a literary piece. Unfinished was a book written as a catharsis for me. The book actually began with my first journey out of the city, sitting in a bus after being divorced, a single woman with 2 kids trying to restart her life but was shelved for 3 years after that as I could not continue. I found myself in the ICU one fine day in 2018 in Trivandrum when I was laid off mercilessly at which time it dawned upon me that I may not have a long time and my life story had to written to leave a legacy behind for people to be inspired to never give up in life irrespective of what happens. My intention was not for it to be a bestseller or a literary piece of work but for the story to be heard and read about, for my children to know who their mom was, and for those umpteen souls who suffer to bounce back from tragedies and calamities. I always believe that the Universe and the Supreme watch over its own and my faith upon that thought remains strong until this day. Thus, I discharged myself out of the ICU, locked myself at home and completed the book in four days. Of course, there were many iterations before publishing but it happened. The reason it is written as a fiction although it is a biopic of my own life in conjunction with a friend of mine who is no more in the world is to protect ourselves and our families from the sensitivities that becomes part of the book, but having said that I am extremely glad I was able to write it and proud to be who I am where I am how I am for I am a result of all that life has molded me into. It sold about 600+ copies and I have put a stop to the print edition as I am planning on re-writing it again to make it more interesting and literary, but for those who would like to read it, the kindle version is still available on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Unfinished-womans-tryst-destiny-Kay-ebook/dp/B07MFFT7D1
Thank you so very much for giving me an opportunity to speak with you and reveal a few pages from my book of life.
