GAS officer Maitridevi Sisodia has come up with her first book, co-authored with a writer friend, that sheds light upon the problems and social malaise faced by women in our society. The book urges a change in the repulsive culture of wronging and blaming women, which has set in like an indelible stain on our social fabric. 

In an exclusive conversation, Ms. Sisodia gave Indian Masterminds some insights into the book.

CONTEMPORARY CHEERHARAN

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The name of the book is ‘Contemporary Cheerharan: Women Fighting Injustice and Indignity’, and it is an anthology comprising of poetry, essays, short stories, diary entries, epigrams, and open letters written by the co-authors, centering around myriad issues faced by women, such as dowry, rape, forced prostitution, unequal gender division, domestic violence, acid attacks, etc.

“In our book, you won’t simply find short stories or straightforward open letters; we are here to represent our voice using art and literature in the hope that our country has eyes to gawk the reality,” says Ms. Sisodia. 

FACEBOOK PLAYED A ROLE

Currently posted as the Deputy Collector, Stamp Duty, Vadodara, and Special Land Acquisition Officer, Narmada Project, Ms. Sisodia has written the book along with the co-author, Mr. Gaurav Jukela, a senior manager with Electrolux, based out of Singapore. They were both parts of AIESEC during their college years, with a keen interest in writing. Surprisingly, the idea to write the book sparked from a Facebook conversation between the two writers!

“We were sharing our angst against the plight of women and the countless issues faced by them. We decided we wanted to express our infuriation with words, without sugar-coating anything and expressing reality as it really is – partly from experience and partly from observation,” she told Indian Masterminds.

TOOK 8 YEARS TO PUBLISH

Initially, the co-authors thought of publishing an E-book of their thoughts and collection. They began writing it and the first draft was ready by 2014. As they got more and more invested in writing the piece, they decided to take a chance at publishing a paperback. They submitted the manuscripts to several publishing houses but did not receive a concrete reply from any. 

Furthermore, due to their personal and professional work commitments, the project went on the back burner for a long period of time. But 2019 brought a ray of hope for the book once again when BecomeShakespeare publishing house selected their manuscript.

“In 2019, BecomeShakespeare selected our old submitted manuscript for Wordit Art Fund. This art fund is specifically to encourage new authors, with really author-friendly terms and little direct investment from authors. Due to the art fund, this book got a new lease on life. We rewrote a lot of the old pieces, added some new pieces. And the book ‘Contemporary Cheerharan: Women Fighting Injustice and Indignity’ finally got published,” Ms. Sisodia said.

BOOK’S SUCCESS

Being a civil servant is not an easy job. But the regularity of the officer in setting up a schedule for herself and following it religiously has helped her in balancing her work life and her passion for writing. 

Her book is a hit among book lovers. Within the launch week, it became the second-bestseller under ‘Hot New Releases’ in the anthologies genre. It also came in as the third bestseller in the social welfare and social services genre.

Ms. Sisodia has been awarded Sahityakosh Samman 2022 at Ne8x LitFest for her outstanding work. After the huge success of her first book, the officer is looking forward to other projects in the future, as well.