Have you ever wondered what it is like to be a 24-year-old mentally challenged girl, an uneducated, corrupt politician, a drummer's daughter, a visually challenged person, a 77-year-old broke man who is thrown out of his house and 12 other people of different circumstances? Engineer and aspiring writer Dipen Ambalia in his recently-launched book, “In Their Shoes” (APK Publishers, Rs.120) has visualised the world from their perspective.
Empathy comes easy to Dipen, and he masterfully uses it to tell stories effectively. “I like looking at the world from others' points of view.” Full of humour, pathos and hope, the book has been written in a simple style. “In Their Shoes” is a result of Dipen's hard work and perseverance. “I wrote the ‘struggling' chapter to inspire aspiring writers.”
“ Inspired by a senior in college, a good writer and blogger, I started my own blog in 2007, dipenambalia.blogspot.com. I wrote a post on perfecting the art of fooling bosses. It was well received,” says Dipen with a twinkle in his eye.
“I wrote a 100-page story ‘Life of Jignees Orkutbhai Patel' which again was well received by my friends. I hurriedly wrote a book proposal and sent it to some publishers, but it was rejected. So I didn't write for another three to four months.”
It seemed Dipen had given up on his dream of becoming a writer, but a sudden realisation would change his destiny, “I decided to write again because if I didn't, I would lose out. That's when I thought of “In Your Shoes”. I got a positive response for my proposal from publishers, and wrote the book within four months. I wanted to write something in memory of my father and to create social transformation, besides creative satisfaction,” Dipen says about his reasons for writing the book. He is a philosopher at heart. “In my spare time, I love sitting alone in Marine Drive in Mumbai and watching the sea. Whenever I watch the dashing of the waves of the sea against the shore, I feel deeply inspired as to me it signifies perseverance.”
Dipen wants to pursue writing seriously. “I believe if one converts a passion into a career, then you'd never feel that you have worked for a day in your life.” Dipen plans to write a book on how twenty characters react to different situations.
“If even a single character touches a reader deep within, then I know I have achieved something,” Dipen concludes.
