Meet Anitha, Bengaluru's passionate author who sells her own book on streets, metro stations
Bengaluru: From the busy streets and crowded metro stations to the bustling malls of Bengaluru, Anitha (44), an author by passion rather than profession, has embarked on a unique literary adventure. Her book ‘My Observation of Tension At (Tention)’ delves into the intricacies of tension and attention, and she's taking it to the public in a remarkable way.
Anitha embarks on a tour to metro stations, malls, parks, coffee shops and busy streets of Bengaluru with an intent to reach out and market her book to potential readers directly.
Anitha revisits her journey saying that she started this just with a keen intent on this topic, comprehending it in detail and also mentions about it being her personal requirement to explore tension and attention in detail, simultaneously this exploration results in her finding a way of expressing it through writing.
Anitha started her career as a researcher, following which she pursued to become a course facilitator at a private firm. Upon asking about her inspiration to pen down this book, she reveals that it was her personal expedition into the topic of tension and attention through observation.
Anitha's book, available on the e-commerce site Amazon.com, has received an impressive 4.8-star rating out of 5. To date, she has directly sold over 30 copies of her book to customers.
We met Anitha outside the Konanakunte Cross Metro Station and saw her marketing her book, below are the excerpts from our conversation.
VB: What made you take up to marketing your books on busy streets, malls and metro stations ?
Anitha: For me everything was absolutely very new from writing to publishing, which I had to learn through process. I Am not an author by profession, nor have I learned the process of writing while writing this book. So, I thought that someone would take up this book but to my dismay there was very little progress, marketing would cost me a lot of money, which is why I decided to market using social media and also through Amazon.com however I did not find any satisfying results. Meanwhile, this idea struck my mind that I have a product and let me take that product to the people and connect to them and make the product visible.
VB: How did the customers react to your traditional way of reaching out to them?
Anitha: Even those not interested in buying the book often listen to me. There are also many of them who have liked the idea that an Author is coming down and explaining, expressing about the book and also answering the people. And in the process I am making a lot of friends. Meanwhile this also benefits me in turn to get direct feedback.
VB: You're not a psychologist, and I'd like to ask whether you believe one needs to be a psychologist to write about such experiences. What is your opinion on this?
Anitha: One of the aspects to psychology is behavioural science that is derived through research. Our relationships with life around us evolves with exploring, experiences and navigating ourselves to coexist. For a professional help having a professional degree helps.
VB: What inspired you to write on mental health and address issues relating to tension in particular ?
Anitha: Tension and attention are universal experiences, and we all encounter them. We learn many things in school, but no one teaches us how to manage stress or pay attention effectively. This book aims to fill that gap.
VB: Some people ignored you the moment they saw you marketing a book, mostly youngsters are not interested in reading books, they rather prefer podcasts or video, what is your view on this?
Anitha: To get people to read is a challenge, once even if you get them, for them to stay connected to it is difficult. Many people have lost interest in reading the books and in this process some also suggested that I should do youtube videos on this particular topic. If you ask me what is the difference between YouTube, Podcast and book, I would say that book is like a low flame cooking. What happens with 5 or 10 videos will happen with one book reading.
VB: Keeping in mind the societal dogma, how did your family react to the idea of reaching out to readers in the streets ?
Anitha: Well, honestly my father did not like the idea, because somewhere he feels that they will make fun of me. He always wished for me to work in a corporate environment, instead of roaming around with a bag selling a book. My children and husband were surprised initially, however later they also started giving me ideas about going to church streets and other places to market my book.
VB: What are your plans for the future, what other books are next in the pipeline?
Anitha: Yes, actually the content will remain the same. I am transforming the presentation of this book in order to make it reachable to the younger audience more than that to reach a larger audience. My next book will be a graphic novel, simplifying the content.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
