A beautiful coverage on the Book Launch from a journalist friend of mine. Thank you Smita for this –
“It was one Tuesday morning, a usual day, I took our little one for a walk and returned. I saw her crying on the sofa. I was shocked & was sure I missed some important day, is it her birthday ? our wedding anniversary ? the day we met ? the day we went for a movie first ? oops ! Nothing striked my mind. I kept that apologetic face and asked her, “Why are you crying dear ? what happened” ? “I am not using my full potential”, sobbed her. I was confused. “What ? You are a blogger, a dancer, you were a radio jockey, you are also working in your passionate field in the company. What else do u want ?”, I was really confused. “No, I am capable of more, I am using my full potential”, she repeated. “Ok, what do u want to do ?”, I asked and that answer was the shock of my life.
“I want to write a book”, she said with a steady firm tone. I have never seen her reading a book in last ten years atleast. But, I was getting late to office and I said, “Good, all the best”. But, I guessed, by evening her mood swings would have been gone.
When I returned evening, she was researching about her book, she told me it is about women rejoining work after a break. “Ok, day 1 anxiety” I did not pay much attention to her. It went on for few days, few weeks, I saw that she was getting more serious into it. She wrote, edited, reviewed, edited again. She connected with known friends, unknown friends via social media, gathered inputs, understood various perceptions and did a thorough ground work. She told me that she is going to publish her book. That is when I could see how much she meant it. She is a go-getter. And then she worked with publishers, got her book published and dint stop there. She is doing a lot of promos, trailers, marketing events, contests. I always thought people should learn these from courses . But, it just comes naturally to her. I am very proud of her, and extremely happy to introduce “Author Narmadha” to all of you here”, said Kamal, our author’s better half during the Book Launch of GET READY LADY.
Everyone around knew that there could no other person neither a better way of introducing the author than how Mr Kamal did. The author started with her HI HELLO session. This is a magical session that will set up the mood of the audience. After the energetic HI HELLO, our author said, “This is what I have tried in my book. Bringing more energy from you, pushing you out of your comfort zone, yet making you do what you enjoy doing”. She also spoke about how little girls have their dreams of becoming a doctor / engineer/ astronaut in her childhood and now once she is a mother, how she is stuck with a dilemma on whether to work or not. However, the author rightly pointed out suggesting women to take enough breaks post maternity , yet they should be confident and should also know when to bounce back.
Dr Kavitha Kovi, MBBS MS (Obg) Consultant , Rainbow hospital was the chief guest of the BOOK LAUNCH. She spoke about “Work Life Balance” from a doctor’s profession. A profession which is NOT a 9 to 5 job. She is a mother of two lovely children. “If anyone says she has achieved work life balance, then it means she has attained Nirvana stage (Neutral emotions). Because, there is no 100% saturation in work life balance. She advised new mothers to take break, prioritize family & children. Then she spoke about how to stabilise your support system when you want to join work. How to maintain the routine with your spouse too. And last but not least, how do you mentally and competency wise prepare yourself for the journey”. The audience were mesmerised by the content and quality of Dr Kavitha’s speech. And our author Mrs Narmadha was delighted to see how aligned their thoughts were, as these exact tips are also mentioned in the book.
After a short workshop on the three stages women face while rejoining work (mentioned in the book), the BOOK LAUNCH happened. Mrs Malarvizhi, P.G Asst, Maths teacher , our author’s mother gave the first official copy to Dr Kavitha Kovi and launched the Book.
There was selfie contest winner announcement . Mrs Harini received the momentum for posting her first selfie on social media for the book promo selfie contest @ https://www.facebook.com/tigressandbutterfly/ followed by pre order buyers receiving saplings as a token of love from the author.
Though the entire event is a women oriented concept and driven by women around, it was hosted by a male anchor, who brought in a lot of fun and laughter around. Mr Navneet was given a sapling of yellow rose as a token of respect and friendship by the author.
The final closure of the book launch grabbed everyone’s attention. Vote of thanks was given by Mr Sundar, Manager – SBI . He is none other than our author’s father. “I am from a village where they kill female babies once they are born”, he started his speech, which made the audience eyebrows up. “We are two sons. I was always the favourite and respected elder son. The moment I got a daughter, everyone including my parents hated her. I got a second child, who was also a female baby and gone my respect. In a year, my younger brother got a son, and that is when he was handed over with all love, appreciation and respect. I never felt bad for not having a daughter, however had felt dejected for people around me, showing the gender bias to this extreme discrimination. Too much of salt spoils the food. Same way, too much of pampering spoiled my brother’s son and he is still not settled in his career, struggling to make a living for his family. Instead my daughter has proved her potential and now standing in this forum as an author making me proud. Everyone who did not respect me for not having a son, now respects us for what my daughter has achieved. Some of them even envy me for having such a talented daughter. “, he made every woman in the gathering to relate to some incident she and her father would have faced in their childhood. Mr Sundar also spoke about how women,who are working mothers can achieve in this world and create their identity. His wife Mrs Malarvizhi is a living example he quoted. With that he wished every woman not to let her dream fade away. He gave them confidence that it is definitely possible to be successful & happy both on personal and professional fronts.
The book launch was a wonderful eye opener for many women who were present that day. After the networking break, the participants were busy getting signed copies from the author and here you go with the moments captured.
You can watch the videos of the same via given links
Dr Kavitha Kovi’s speech
Author’s dad Speaks
Introducing as author Narmadha Kamalakannan
To read the sample of the book and order your copy here
You can mail the author @ nimmi.cheeku@gmail.com for any queries / details.