Author’s Background: Minali Sehdev– A Mother and is an award-winning author of many Anthologies like, Kintsugi-An Art of living, 2022-Rise of the new hope, Lockdown dairies, Kuch bheege Alfaaz. who is born and brought up in the beautiful scenic state of India, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). She has written Scripts for many TV shows, Radio Shows, and Anchored shows with the Government of India (GoI) and many Documentaries. She has been Selected to be featured in The Star Magazine –“The Magnate’s Mug”. And women dedication magazine, ” Tejasvini Sangam”. And Also She is nominated for the “Women writer of the year Literary award 2022.”
Currently, she is writing her 7th Book out of which 2 are ready to publish Solo Books.
She holds a degree of Master of Computer Applications(MCA) from Visvesvaraya Technological University Belagavi. After four and half years of a successful IT career, she switched to what she loved. she has been awarded many times for her poetry and writings.
It was her pain and her personal experience that made her write this book. With her pain, she realized that it’s important to put light on such topics which are the major cause of Depression in today’s married couples.
Questionnaires bob:
Neel Preet: Firstly, Congratulations on your book, “Shades of Pregnancy – Real Mothers Real Experiences with Doctor’s Insight” Well, can you please share your experience about making your work come into the form of book!
Minali Sehdev: Thank you so much! And to be honest, I used to write poems, songs and scripts for my TV and Radio Shows…but writing a “book” like this was not in my mind till the lockdown happened…definitely I wanted to help and create awareness but through the book? Never thought that. And also, I wanna highlight that I was a new mother who was already struggling to create a balance between taking care of my baby and dealing with my households… and of course WFH. so taking some time out for writing book was definitely a challenge but this corona time changed a lot in me…I started writing for the situation. And during that difficult time I wrote around 5 to 6 Anthologies… and many poetries…you can say I was a writer before but The Author in me was born during the Corona time. And that was the phase when I entered the world of books and realized that nothing is more powerful than the power of words…and there I started writing for “SHADES OF PREGNANCY”. I can proudly call this book my second baby because this also made me experience the sleepless nights… clueless moments… loads of questions…anxiety, Happiness, Satisfaction, everything that a baby can do (laughing). Its already a month that I have launched this book and I am so proud to tell that, this book is been nominated for “Literary Awards Q2 2022”. And because of this book I am being approached by many Magazines. People are loving my work…A lot of talking about the book and the author is happening……I am no doubt very happy today… but that day I will be on top of the world when someone will read this and use the wisdom and then will come to me only to say that “This book was a great help”
Neel Preet: After reading you book; one gets the feeling that it’s a “True Guide” for the women who are newly pregnant, planning to be pregnant. So what inspired you to write this book?
Minali Sehdev: It was the pain I went through…every step during my pregnancy taught me something…and All the experiences good/ bad forced me to write this book…like any other girl I would have just kept quiet and be in my own world…but then I thought why? Why should I keep quiet and not put light on the issues which are so important to discuss…And may be by doing so, I can save someone to go into depression…depression of losing the baby. Which is deadly…. Which only a couple can understand who lost the precious ever part of them. The whole idea was to create awareness that… ” Pregnancy is not the Start of your life and Miscarriage is not the end of the world”. So whatever comes your way face it like a Queen.
Neel Preet: Your book is written in a great manner and it covers some great information as well. So, what was the impetus behind this work of yours?
Minali Sehdev: Thank you so much for that. Well I would say, it was my Intension to help…. Because of which I continued even after so many obstacles…like with a baby 2.5 years old, who demands your complete 24/7…I used to be on his service the whole day and when he used to go to sleep I used to write this book…I have literally sacrificed my sleep just to make this happen…. And I believe your intention plays a great role…
Neel Preet: While writing this book what was your mind-set? How had you gathered information regarding the subject matters covered in your book?
Minali Sehdev: Honestly The time I faced miscarriage I was very depressed, and that time only I had decided that I am surely gonna do something on this…this depression is very very suffocating…and when the right time came I mean when I was already in world of books with 6 Anthologies and 1 solo book…I decided to choose Book as a medium to talk on this topic… And my mind-set was, to not to talk in medical language but the language of a mother… with which any mother can relate…. So I decided to write the real experience…. A Real story…I contacted many other ladies with their own experiences…And yes, I want to mention that, there were so many ladies who wanted to share their stories but unfortunately I had to choose a few, to follow the guidelines which I created for this book…By your medium I want to say thanks to each and every mommy for sharing their heart with me, and wanna say sorry too for not able to add all the experiences… But it’s not the end, you all can help by sharing your experiences and knowledge with your near ones…. And all the ladies who got selected to share their experiences, all I wanna say Thank you for being the part of my book. And very important The Doctors, Dr. Shaibya Saldanha (Gynaecologist & Obstetrician) and Dr. Rekha Saini (Gynaecologist & Obstetrician). Their words were like “Sone pe Suhaga” So the Information from the Doctors and the Real experience of a mother is a combination which makes this book a must read.
Neel Preet: Apart from the Health & Lifestyle category, from which other genre would you like to contribute in the literary world.
Minali Sehdev: Great Question Neel, well my answer to this is, I am an artist first and nothing in the world can restrict an artist to show his/her Art. And same goes to an Author… I was a poetess, who used to write poems… Then I started writing scripts…then small stories, Anthologies and then a complete Non Fiction book like this … and currently I am writing a fiction drama on “Kolkata“ so you never know, only the time can tell what is more gonna come from my pen…
Neel Preet: Studying the subject matter of this book, I’m greatly impressed & I want you to explain us, in your version that, how this book is relevant in the present day scenario!
Minali Sehdev: Neel, we are in 2020, where we think that anything is possible we have solution to almost everything but still we are suffering when it comes to mental health, yes we have started talking about it but just talking about mental health is not the only solution which I believe. Rather we need to discuss everything that induce this deadly thing… You must be thinking why am I calling it deadly…?
Because it makes the person dead… That person lives a completely different life… He is not the same when in depression. Out of so many reasons that cause depression, I chose Miscarriage / pregnancy issues/ pregnancy loss. Which is one of the biggest reason of depression in couples nowadays…. And this is the only issue I found Is very less talked about… We have seen couples not having babies for long and we assume so many things… but what the couple is going through, only that couple can understand. Our society needs to be more gentle… And I think and hope, with our generation a lot will change…
Neel Preet: Ma’am you were very straightforward with your writings in your book, which I really appreciate. So next, I want you to tell us about some of those writers or health advisors, who had inspired you!
Minali Sehdev: I appreciate every writer / Author because I believe everyone has some unique style and thoughts.…and everyone has something that you can learn and get inspired from… With that I wanna add, that the main inspiration for any writer is the situation. And if you ask me about this book “Shades if pregnancy” then I would say that though the whole idea / hard work / writing/ planning / execution was mine but you need a god father to guide you to walk on the right path… and my god father, rather mother was “Sweta Samota”
Neel Preet: Is there any message that you would like to convey to your readers? Or any piece of advice, which you would like to give to the readers out there!
Minali Sehdev: Books are very Powerful and at the same time they have the heart and soul of any writer… any book doesn’t just born, it takes an Honest, Powerful, Strong mind who cannot just talk but takes action to get something great and interesting only for you all…So give the writers that credit and a token of appreciation by buying and reading Their books….and if you ask advice then No! Everybody is intelligent enough to take any advice. But yes I can request you all to read “SHADES OF PREGNANCY” it will be the best ever gift to your friends and family.
Neel Preet: Are there any other books being worked by you? Please let us know about your future projects.
Minali Sehdev: Yes, I have Written poetry in many Anthologies which I have mentioned in this book…and currently I am working on my poetry book… “Mai aur mere papa”. Very soon it’s gonna be available for all my readers…its beautiful combination of 2 generations as my dad is also writing with me…and also I’m writing a fiction drama for book “Kolkata dairies” which is going to launch in July.
Neel Preet: Thank you so much for answering all my questions. All the very best to you for future and your book too!
Minali Sehdev: Thank you so much for all your questions hope I was able to answer everything up to your expectations.
