“I don't think there is anything under the sun, you can't achieve, if you are fully determined "
______ Nishtha Shrivastava
Born with a name which itself means determination, Nishtha has kept herself glued to her goals. Grounded, she stands as the epitome of excellence in all that she does . I came to know about her through a writers’ platform and found her personality too intriguing . Having won a number of awards for her writing ventures, she has gained recognition for her candid style and profuse emotions embedded into the characters. Her debut novel, Rakshabandhan, the Fading bonds of faith , though based upon a societal taboo topic, reveals the unsung Saga of Emotions. Dev and Shreya , the characters given shape by Nishtha's writing prowess and exquisite imaginative skills , bring about some hard-core facts of life .The intoxicating delusion of young age, its fire, its ambition can distract even the simplest of girls from a small town, who are brought up with family values and principles as their core like it happened for Shreya. Even the strongest officer like Mr. Sahai can feel helpless when he sees his life falling apart and loved ones getting detached from their roots. The battle between love and peace is not verified by achieving the end goal of togetherness but can also be lived by gracefully handling the pain and uncertainties of separation when life doesn’t go as planned you, as it happened with Dev. The end cannot assure you to have the life of dreams in a lavish house, with your love along your side but a few wrong steps and the guilt of your mistakes can bring about loneliness and there’s memories left to please you for the rest of age.
This is the story of guilt, remorse, ignorance, love, friendship, promises, ambition, passion and reliving. This is the story of Dev- Shreya and the Sahai’s
Appreciated with some unexpected applauds and appreciations, she made it as the ‘Best Debut Author 2021’, ‘Best Fiction Author 2021’, ‘Writers Ink Award 21’ and ‘Best Book Fiction 2020’. Those appreciations and titles brought her a lot more motivation and inspiration to soar even higher. With her multi-talented persona, she shines bright in Indian classical music, dance and various other art forms. Nishtha spoke her heart out on the stages of the pageant and was crowned as ‘Miss India Shining Star 2020’, ‘Miss India Vivacious 2020’ and is now the Indian representative for ‘ Milestone Miss Asia International 2021’. She still finds peace and comfort in writing her stories and is now announcing her next novel, which is based on social relationships and the dilemma of families. With the fearlessness in her heart and intense expressive writing will assure the novel to be the next best seller. Easy chair is Nishtha’s
second novel and her tribute to her late grandfather Mr. Susheel Sahai, who has been her inspiration for the long awaited tale to be told. Nishtha feels that these are just the beginning of a glorified journey and she has a long way to go, deeper into people’s heart and she is ready to explore life in extreme ways.
Here is an excerpt from the interview
Q. Welcome to Koffee Konversations Nishtha. We are extremely grateful to you as you could squeeze out time from your busy schedule .
With an added flavor of fresh energy, she replies
Ans. Hey , this is so exhilarating to be with you this evening. It is so exciting, an experience. Thank you so much .
Q. Authoring requires a lot of patience and inintellect. Now you have 2 great books , Rakshabandhan and Easy Chair . Was it easy or like cracking nuts?
Ans. Well..nothing is easy. Everything requires a lot of dedication, sincerity and, yes …..your passion. If you aren't passionate about it, you will find it very tedious.
Authoring came as a gift that was passed on to me from my mother. I have always loved listening to her tales and she is a classy writer too . Where life had various colors and I was blessed with the lively spirit by my mother, I ensured to nurture them wisely and not let any hurdle falter me or decelerate my speed for excellence. Things kept happening, I had no plan , except for the one that I had to do all that made me happy. My quill has proved to be my perfect bliss , like the moonglade, that floats on the sea of tranquility.
Q. Miss Vivacious 2020, Miss Shining Star 2020 and now Miss Asia International 2021 . How did you find way into pageanthood ?
Ans. To be honest, it was nowhere, even in the faintest of my thought. Once, when I was addressing a public gathering , sharing my experiences about writing novels, Mrs Agrawal , a family friend, suggested me to go for pageants as she felt that there I could get a large platform to showcase multiple talents. I am a trained Bharatnatyam dancer too . I took her words seriously and went ahead for it and her advise proved to be excellent.
Q. Being an IT professional you could have gone abroad to settle down with more lucrative perks, you chose to stay back in your country. What held you from flying abroad?
Ans Interesting question…l would love to answer this. I ensured to make my father proud by pursuing an engineering degree and becoming an IT professional but I held myself back when it was to fly abroad. Compromising on my values and dismissing my roots was never my calling. I didn’t believe in the notion that travelling abroad will place you in a more respectable stature within the society, You leave a lot of things behind when you fly to distant lands. I couldn't afford to do this .
Q. Wishing you all the best for miss Asia International 2021, we would like you to convey your mantra to many girls and women aspiring for the glamor world.
Ans . See..it seems to be a cakewalk but it isn't. You have to meet challenges and face competitions. Pageanthood requires a deep seated passion to give your sweat to the ramp and above all, to dedicate yourself for the betterment of the society . Opportunities do come but you have to be selective in picking them up. Pick the right opportunities with adequate amount of patience and intelligence. Once you have picked them up, give your fullest to make things happen.
My mantra ; Trends keep changing. Be a trend setter and a trend changer . Do not stop, stay determined, keep working .
She is a trend changer indeed . Her novels evoke a naive acceptance of flexibility in relationships . Society has some fixed norms, which can only be changed by fearless writings and impactful approaches . Nishtha loves to write on family issues and finds scintillating hopes in the ink.
Some links that would connect you to Nishtha Shrivastava
Milestone Miss Asia International
Rakshabandhan, The Fading Bonds Of Faith
Easy Chair, the rest of age
The interview is live on Spotify and Google podcast