Bitter truth with a sugar coating: Shashi S

It is not uncommon to find today’s youngsters distancing themselves from spiritual learning. Stating that the thought processes mentioned in our rich cultural heritage should be understood by the young generation, Shashi S, an engineer by profession, has debuted with the novel Songs of the Mist. The book, which is the first part of a trilingual series of ‘The Monk Key’, speaks about a young boy and a scientist, both of them seeking out the meaning of life.

The author will speak at an event in the Leela Palace today about what made him choose this topic. His reading will also be accompanied by a musical retreat performed by Swetha Sridhar (vocals), Vittal Rangan (violin) and Thanjavur Praveen (mridangam).

“I would like to say that for a very long time, we have denied our rich heritage, culture and ancient knowledge base their rightful place,” starts Shashi on an intellectual note. Speaking about what made him turn to writing despite being a successful engineer, he says, “I have always been passionate about writing. Though I have been actively writing for a long time, I was unsure if my passion served any purpose. But, once I zeroed in on this topic, I was more than happy to publish it.”

Discussing about how this novel would be influencing the youth, he says, “Whenever I start to discuss about the Bhagavat Gita or spiritual things with young chaps, they ask me, ‘What’s the point?’ Though our rich cultural heritage was way advanced, over the course of time, we’ve retained only the rituals but left out the thinking. I hope my work will urge them to wind back the clock and learn something essential.”

Shashi, who also has a spiritual blog Shadow Dancing with Mind, says that in order to make the tale more entertaining, it has a heartwarming love story in it. “This is my way of presenting the bitter truth with a sugar coating! This way, the story will not be monotonous,” he says in conclusion.