About
Hey there! Let’s shed some walls between you and me.
About
Rahul Shandilya
Rahul Shandilya is a mechanical engineering undergraduate who finds himself an author at heart.
He has been writing for more than nine years now, and holds several literary accolades to his name, some of which include:
- Chief Editor, Ingite, 2017 (featured in the Times of India).
- Winner, InVerse, 2019 (a national level slam poetry competition in India).
The Story
- I started writing to get popular in school...
…and before that leads you to judging me, I was fourteen years old. Back in my eighth grade, I had a friend who wrote songs and poetry. With incorrect grammar, and not much technicality but a life story to draw from. People liked it; some even loved it.
I wanted that admiration, that attention. It was only fair that I got that, for I had been a topper scorer in English since forever.
So I wrote poems about depression and love, whatever that could mean to fourteen-year-olds. Much of what I wrote was just aesthetic and didn’t make sense…
- Until I turned 16...
Sixteen hits you like a charm, doesn’t it? Hormones flush your body, and you feel everything more intensely than you should. You feel more special than ever, with an understanding of the world and life that most people around you lack. A weird phenomenon called infatuation starts happening to you, and it always comes disguised as love.
I felt all of it, a lot more intensely than usual, because I had always been introverted and observing. And that started pouring into my writings. That is also when I started writing proses, short stories and then novellas.
- Writing has served me like meditation...
…and before you categorize this as cliché romanticism, hear me out.
One of the most common things my readers say about my work is that they read in words things they had felt very closely but could never properly articulate.
And that is primarily what I try to do—deconstruct thoughts and feelings for my readers and myself to understand.
If you can write down your problem on paper, you have solved it half.
I believe in this.
Unlike what many writers claim, I never write when I feel something. If a feeling, good or bad, is so strong I want to write about it, it will most likely overwhelm me. I am ripped of my ability to see it objectively.
So I wait for days, for the feeling to settle and the thought to pass. Then I sit down and contemplate upon it.
Then I write.
- My writing has aged with me...
…like wine? I will leave that judgement to you.
I wrote In the Sky of a Million Stars, the first novella of my book All the Sunshine that Wasn’t Grey back in the summer of 2018. I rewrote that story in 2021 while compiling my book.
People who have read both versions of it regard them as two different stories, although the plots and the characters remain the same.
Of course, my craft has evolved over the years. As a writer, I want to be the best I can get at my craft, and I make dedicated efforts to achieve that.
But that feedback primarily addresses the depth of my characters. My readers tell me my characters have become much more nuanced.
And I credit that to so many years of observing people. This entire practice of writing has made me more empathetic. It has made me capable of deconstructing their thoughts and feelings just the way I did to mine.
At the same time, it has taught me that people’s actions are driven by intentions, circumstances and experiences much deeper than what’s visible on surface.
If I can sum this up in one word:
sonder (n) | son.der | The epiphany that every random passerby you see is living a life just as vivid and complex as you.
It has taught me that my understanding of people is just as much as a mere attempt.
- My stories are yours to have...
Everyone has experiences, and these experiences become lenses through which we see everything—people, circumstances, relationships and life. You will also read my stories with your respective lenses on.
So my stories are only experiences I walk you through. What you make of it is yours and yours only.
- I'm not a just a writer...
…because I will limit myself to that one title otherwise. Outside of writing, I am many things.
- I am a coffee-enthusiast. I love the aroma of freshly-brewed cappuccino, and the conversations that can happen over it.
- Music draws me too. I love singing, playing the guitar or the keyboard, although I am not particularly good at any of them.
- I am a web-content writer as well.
- The corporate-life might just have me too.
- In conclusion...
I truly believe that its very difficult to separate the art from the artist, the story from the story-teller. Now that you know me this much, I hope you will have a great experience reading my stories.
We're all to this world like the stars to the sky.
