Welcome to Introduce Yourself, a new and exciting blog segment of The PBS Blog dedicated to introducing to you new and established authors and their books.

Today I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Yashi Singh. Welcome to The PBS Blog! Let’s get started.

What is your name and where are you from?

My name is Yashi Singh and I’m from New Delhi, India.

Nice! Our first author from India in the place to be ya’ll. Yashi, I am curious, what does your name mean?

Yashi is not exactly a semantic word in Hindi. Still it is used as a girl-name in North India. My mother named me Yashi as she liked the name. It was short and pretty rare she thought. The correct word in Hindi is “Yash” which is a noun and it means “glory, fame and admiration”. And the adjective form is “Yashasvi”. So yes you may not find “Yashi” in a Hindi dictionary but it is derived from “Yash” and I always said it means famous whenever I was asked this question in school to evade the debate of its grammatical existence. However, I found later that “Yashi” in Japanese means “a palm tree”.

Beautiful. What is the most annoying habit that you have?

I tend to waste time on the internet looking for things I did not log in to research in the first place. As links lead you to links and it gets one big mesh of information. My aim is to get better at time-bound internet research.

I like that “time-bound internet research.” What would your perfect writing / reading room look like?

A quiet place with soft music in the background, comfortable seating and temperature moderate. The lighting could be natural or artificial but it should not be dim as it hurts the eyes.

 

Yashi, what do you hate most about writing advice? What do you love?

It’s subjective. The bad part of any advice is they don’t know you, what worked for them or didn’t may be the case with you. So exercise caution before following any advice whatsoever. The good this is helps you become aware of other writer’s experiences and helps you rule out the mistakes they made.

I love that. In fact, I don’t think we’ve had anyone on the blog to express that perspective before. Everyone has a different experience indeed. What job do you think you’d be really good at?

I’d be good at anything that resonates with me at that point of time and space as I am a spiritual person and I keep expanding my horizon. I keep looking for wider avenues. From being a poet hidden from the word I have come far. Shedding that old skin of hesitation to share my work with others to get published was the biggest step of my life. One that makes me happy and proud.

I love it. What was your childhood dream?

Can’t remember.

Lol. In your own words, what is humility?

Fruit-laden trees are always bending with a humble attitude. Being courteous and gracious is the foremost thing for me.

Nice. Alright now. If you had unlimited funds to build a house that you would live in for the rest of your life, what would the finished house be like?

A cottage villa like house I would call An Abode of Love.

Speaking of Love, Yashi, in your own words, what is love?

Love is the force that drives the universe. It is a feeling that issues forth in the heart, the most natural form of being is the state of being in spiritual love.

The Hermit: some quests of a spiritual kind

 

I agree that love is the force that drives the universe. I love it. Can you elaborate more on that? Like, what is spiritual love?

I’m not a spiritual leader or teacher so I may not be able to tell you what the generic meaning of the term is. My definition of it is pretty simple. It is to have faith in God and trust the universe. To know in your heart that you’re loved by the universe and things may not work out sometimes but you have to trust the system. It is meant for your spiritual growth. So it should be mutual. To be able to appreciate the beauty of life, to stop and behold and to surrender to God, the supreme to universe or whatever you call it. No matter what your belief is. Even agnostic or atheist world cannot ignore the fact that the conditions on the planet Earth are conducive to life for a reason.  You take in so much from the environment every single day. You breathe, you take in Oxygen. You walk, the earth bears your weight. Which is kind of funny as people don’t realize not every planet has the gravity to hold you and the friction that allows you to walk. This life is a miraculous gift if only we stopped and noticed. Spiritual love is to express gratitude and thank the elements. It is also to love every soul in their purest form and not get attached to the physical garb.

Nice. The reason I asked is because I totally agree. I think love is spiritual indeed. Now, what kind of music do you like?

Eclectic

Well-rounded huh? OK. What skill would you like to master?

To learn music and sing well, you know play like a professional stage artist in a concert. Strumming a guitar, yes, it was my childhood dream!

OK, so you remember! Lol. What would be the most amazing adventure to go on?

Skiing in the Himalayas.

What skill do you think you’ve mastered?

Writing good poetry. Expressing myself beautifully with eloquent language.

What’s your favorite drink?

Can’t choose. Depends on the weather and my mood.

When did you publish your first book? What was that like?

In February, 2017. It was an amazing feeling. I had realized the time had come to take the plunge.

What is the most thought provoking book you’ve ever read?

Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco and many more.

What do you think of the world we live in?

Accept it and then take action to change what you don’t like not by forcing others or resistance but by sincere efforts. For example, if you don’t like the litter on the streets, stop throwing waste wrappers of toffees, coffee cups and the like on the road. Be the change.

Be the change you wanna see! I know that’s right. What are your thoughts on Race?

Not really any thoughts. Just that I find it really unfortunate people since histories have given it too much importance. It is a deceiving way to look at fellow humans.

What TV channel doesn’t exist but really should?

Dependable authentic news channels with legitimate verifiable proof of their reports not mindless irresponsible reporting.

What TV channel exists but really shouldn’t?

No TV please.

Lol. So, you’re saying do away with the whole thing huh?

I watched a lot of tv growing up. When my mom used to watch Balaji soaps and I used to crib I can write better dialogues than that. It used to be a lot of fun. But it’s been two years almost, I don’t watch tv anymore. All I did was switch channels and it became too tedious and boring. I rather do something more relevant like reading or watching an online video which is interests my current state. With tv you cannot choose. You’re forced to watch commercials and all. In India, we still do not have the liberty to choose the content we want to watch on tv. Even if the technology is there it is not widespread.

Wow. That’s interesting. You know they say watching TV is equivalent to staring at a blank wall all day. Scientists say it activates the Alpha Waves in your brain that are responsible for relaxation. So, you aren’t missing anything.

What’s the most difficult thing about being a writer? The most exciting thing?

Difficult to work something to completion, dedication to commit yourself wholly to a project and not get distracted. the most exciting thing is to be able to see your imagination take the shape of words and come to life. The very process of creation.

The Black Rose Blossoms: Una antologia : A poetry collection

 

Why is writing important to you?

It is the feed for my soul.

What do you love about yourself?

My Never’say-die spirit.

And what does that mean? The never say die spirit?

Never-say-die spirit means that I may fail, but I find some way to carry on. Never give up is too cliché I know. So may I change path, direction and everything to stay in sync with my inner being. If my inner self is not happy I cannot function. I never wanted fame, money or power. I just wanted to be me in some little corner and write. I just wanted to have inner balance. I do not understand the ways of the world. I like the secluded, quite and simple life.

Wow. You just contexualized my life lol. If you had one superpower that could change the world, what would it be?

I don’t need a superpower to change the world. On second thoughts why would I change it? This world is exactly how I created it with my conscience..it is meant for my spiritual growth.

Come on now Yashi, you KNOW you gotta break that down for us. You said you created this world with your conscious. Break it down for us. What does that mean?

Wait wait wait. Not literally. I don’t know why I said that at that time. It’s been so long maybe I heard that line in some spiritual lecture and was contemplating on it. What I mean to say is that the world we see is a projection of our thoughts. Nothing spectacular about it. It’s like “I create my reality” notion that is popularized by many books. But I also think my world was very sad and gloomy all because of my negative outlook for years. Nothing was going right all because my thoughts were negative. These are all just philosophies and you can choose anything that you believe in. Some believe that the soul chooses its parents, family, difficulties before birth which help it to grow spiritually. See, I don’t talk about what is true I only look at the various thought processes and you can adopt anyone that makes sense to you. I just like to think with an open mind and I do not know the complete truth and I won’t lie about it. Being a writer I can share my thoughts but then they tend to change and I choose to keep it to myself as it is for my personal growth. My work is mostly fiction and that is why I don’t say I’m starting a cult here. I like that creative liberty as a writer and a poet where I can create a world of fiction. Don’t go by my words. I’m not  used to interviews and most likely  I’m going to forget everything I said. Please forgive me but I tried. I’m only as human as you are. 🙂

Lol. Yahsi, you are doing fantastic! Your perspective is refreshingly set-apart. “The world we see is a projection of our thoughts”. We don’t hear that kind of insight often. I’m just pulling it out ya 😉.

Now, back to writing. What genre do you write in?

Fiction and Non-fiction both. Poetry, romance and self-help.

In your own words, what is truth?

Logically put truth is the correct understanding of things, people or situations as they are. Something which cannot be falsified with rational counter-argument. But personally, I feel the truth is what you believe to be true. Your conscience is a powerful manifester of your thoughts, and your truths are embedded in your psyche.

What a pleasure to have you, Yashi! We truly enjoyed having you. Thanks for spending this time with us today.

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Bio.

Yashi Singh is a refreshing voice in the current crop of new authors. Hailing from a land of unity in diversity, India, she knows how to weave the theme of spirituality in all of her diverse works. She first published her short story Sandhya and Arambh early this year. She quickly followed it up with her sensational and soulful poetry, an anthology, The Black Rose Blossoms. She has depicted the journey of a black rose bud, from a Gothic bloom to a spiritual blossom. Each carefully crafted section alludes to a phase in the spiritual journey of the flower. In a short span of time, she has show-cased some spectacular pieces of writing. Next up, was her self-improvement guidebook titled Thinking the Right Way in which she has given out the secret techniques for holistic success. Not sticking to genres she was bold enough to come out of her comfort zone and share her diverse work for the sheer joy of sharing. She is essentially a poet first in her words and writing to her is breathing, vital to stay alive. Yashi likes to polish her art and she is grateful for all the gifts she was blessed with. Her latest book, The Hermit is her shot at a new way of story telling, spiritual fiction.  A tempestuous past haunting the three protagonists, not being able to find any answers all their life they die in pain. What happens when they question God for all they had to bear?

 

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