School memories inspire book by expat author
Times News Service
MUSCAT: Indian expat Farzeen Ashik released her maiden novel, “Rainbow Dorm Diaries- The Yellow Dorm”, on Tuesday.
The author said the book is based on her own experience of high school life at Nazareth Convent School in the south Indian hill station of Ooty, where she spent five years.
“I hope teenagers and even older audiences can relate to it. It is, in many ways, about the usual high school stuff. It is about friends, fun and being popular. All of that,” Ashik said.
Talks about teenagers
The book talks about teenagers from different backgrounds of life enrolled into a prestigious boarding school in Ooty. The novel describes new friendships the teens make, the peer-student relationships, their challenges and struggles to be independent in a dorm life, and other encounters in a new place from the point of view of teens.
The first copy of the book was presented to Indian Ambassador to Oman Indra Mani Pandey.
“Almost all people want to write a book, but not many have the courage to do it. So, I congratulate Farzeen to have done it. When I was younger, I was interested in fiction, but when I grew older, I grew more interested in non-fiction, books on diplomacy and the like.”
Excellent hobby
“I’m glad that we were able to pass on the habit of reading to our daughter. Reading is an excellent hobby because it exposes you to other people’s experiences and expands your knowledge base. So, certainly writing books encourages people to read more,” Pandey said.
Ashik said, “It’s such a great honour to have the Indian ambassador releasing my book. I am indeed very grateful to him for accepting our invitation.”
Sincere attempt
“It has been my dream and my passion to write a novel for many years and finally the dream has come true. A big thanks to my family who supported me during this journey. The novel is my sincere attempt to reflect and relive our school life experiences and I hope that teens and even older audiences will find it interesting and relate to the characters and experiences in the book,” she added.
Ashik is the winner of the Montegrappa Writing Awards 2017 at the Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature. She is also the hospital manager at Aster Al Raffah Hospital and Polyclinics, Oman, and a mother of two, who followed her dream of writing, balancing it between her professional and personal responsibilities.
Apart from her novel “Rainbow Dorm Diaries – The Yellow Dorm”, she is also a regular contributor to various magazines in Oman.