Author Highlight: Ramya R. Moorthy Discusses her New Book ‘A Journey in Search of Happiness’ and Stories from her Life
We are
delighted to welcome a very promising author and IT Entrepreneur, Ramya
Moorthy, for a brief Q & A session at our website about her recent Amazon
Bestseller book: A Journey in Search of Happiness.
In this Q
& A session, she will be talking about her writing aspirations, inclination
towards self-help books, and the route to getting her novel published. Stay
on...while we chat with her.
First off, we would like to know a bit about your life as an IT entrepreneur?
As an
Engineering graduate, I worked with many MNCs for 14+ years at Bengaluru. I
have no love to settle outside India though I travelled various countries
before marriage. Being a nuclear family, after my 2nd daughter’s birth, it was
highly challenging to manage my personal and work commitments. As my priorities
changed, I decided to quit my highly paid IT job when my kids were 3.5 and 2
years old.
But soon
within few weeks, I decided to register my company so that I can do the work
that I love when I find time without any stress and pressure. This led to the
birth of EliteSouls Consulting Services at Bengaluru in 2016. Initially, I
started an online academy which provides online technical courses in
Performance Engineering which is my technical area of specialization. Within a
year, I added Project delivery services and expanded our portfolio to include
Security Testing services. With support from my US partner, we co-founded
QAEliteSouls in New York, US. We had break-even point during our 2nd year and
progressed well to make multi-crore revenue. Still long way to go.
Next is, why did you choose to write about concepts/principles related to leading a happy life instead of success?Or what inspired you to write this book?
My life and my
quest has led me to write this book. My father is always my great source of
inspiration.
As I had to
face many struggles from my early childhood days, I was starving to claim
success and to lead a happy life. I was passionate to get a highly paid IT job
to close all our debts and my dream came true when I was 27 years. I had a
great satisfaction about my achievement but still I wasn’t feeling happy about
it. I had no clue why I wasn’t happy inspite of bringing all my dreams to
reality. I then realized Success is different from Happiness. That is the time
the real SEARCH triggered in me. I got married and after two kids, my
responsibilities tripled yet my search didn’t settle down. I usually don’t read
books but I started reading to understand the real meaning of Happiness. During
my research, life had many twists which also helped me to understand and
experience the real meaning of Happiness and Success. After all Struggle and
Success are the two-sides of a coin. I think, I have experienced both which
helped me to find the real happiness secret.
After years,
my search was successful and I got a beautiful feeling of satisfaction and
achievement and well-being. So, I decided to write a self-help book about my
experience and use some of my personal life experience to characterize the
mother character. But I decided to write this book as a fiction because I feel
that the importance of a 2 line moral is realized only if there is a story to
emotionally bind the readers to it.
Do you follow the lifestyle that has been stated in the book, like gratitude journal or meditation?
It is other
way around. I wrote the recommendations for leading a Successful and Happy life
in the book because I practiced it and it started doing wonders in my life. I
follow gratitude journal, daily positive visualization and meditation every day
morning as part of my daily early morning routine. This lifestyle has started
giving me great satisfaction and happiness in my life.
How do you handle the response of this book from your friends and other people?
My friends,
colleagues and relatives were definitely excited and happy to know that I have
authored a book. They all know me as a core technical person though I am a
blogger and conference speaker (only technical). Honestly they didn’t expected
this self-help book from a technical IT architect who has authored 15+
technical research papers. Their appreciation and wishes meant a lot to me for
the time I invested in writing this book amidst my family and work commitments.
I am happy
about the value it is creating in other’s mind. I have written this book to inspire
at least a million lives, so long way to go. I am confident that I will achieve
that milestone.
Why did you put Thailand tourism as one of the backdrops in the book – it could have been any Indian place? Do you know that readers learnt a lot about Phuket via your book?
I am an avid
traveler and have visited more than 10 countries so far. As the family in my
book was characterized as water lovers who are Swimmers and Scuba-divers, I
felt Thailand (Phuket) is the best place to be added as their vacation spot. I
have been to many places within India and other countries but Phuket is my
favorite tourist place. I agree that many details about Phuket are provided in
the book that would help Phuket tourists.
I personally
feel that the deaf girl in the story was not just inspired through the
discussion with her parents.Definitely, the daily activities and the new
environment facilitated by Phuket is also a great source for the little girl to
divert her mind and imprint great aspiring thoughts in her. I felt it played an
important role too along with her parents to make her to live a meaningful
life. That is why I decided to include tourism details though it’s a self-help
book.
Your book is an Amazon Bestseller. How do you see it?
I am
definitely happy about it. As every other first time author, am excited as my
book became a Best-Seller in Amazon. It’s a success to be shared with all the
Game-Changers, researchers, authors and other personalities who have been
detailed in the book. I dedicate this success to everyone who supported me in
publishing this book.
And more than
anything, I feel the authentic reviews from readers is the best award for an
author. I am more excited to feel the value for the time I invested in the book
when I read reviews and mails from my readers. Thank you for all the support.
What inspire you most in life?
My Father. He
is a man of failures yet a successful father.
What do you do when you are not writing?
I am crazily
busy with my work as I need to deliver projects, take client calls, manage
escalations, speak in conferences, research on a technical topic, etc. And not
the least, very busy mother of two little daughters.
Can you tell us about your current projects – be it anything?
Writing /
Hobby: I have started working on my 2nd book about WOMEN. This special book is
my dedication to brave Nirbhayas of India. This book characterizes different
traits of modern women for their well-being and to lead a successful life. I am
hoping to publish this book in 2020.
Profession: I
am handling multiple projects on Performance Engineering and Cyber Security to
various US clients. So far handled/managed 250+ projects and counting. It’s just
my daily routine job.
Personal /
Family: Every day is a big project for a working mother who has naughty children
at home. This project is more sensitive, unique with daily hick-ups and
struggles to spend quality time with no comprise in story-time, making favorite
dishes, packing creative lunch books with healthy goods, play-time, etc
irrespective of my health or mood. A lot more challenging project than anything
else.
What does literary success look like to you?
My thoughts
about the real meaning of SUCCESS are detailed in the book. In summary, Success
is not specific destination to achieve it once or twice. We need to
consistently keep aiming higher compared to yesterday without comparing with
others. Living life with compassion, without compromising the human values even
during tough challenging situation, following our passion and having courage to
rise up after every FAILURE is the SUCCESS.
Connect with
Ramya R. Moorthy
Mail : ramya.happyjourney@gmail.com
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