Meet Shalini Guchait, who has bewitched minds in the YourQuote community with her unconventional ways…
Our writer Pooja Arora interviews the quirky and enigmatic writer, a woman of few yet eloquent words, who urges her readers to be limitless.
Tell me something about yourself. Imagine that you are writing a brief autobiography.
Defining oneself is overwhelming in itself, isn’t it? All these words and they still don’t fit you like a tailored suit! I’ll try with borrowed ones for now, trying on each word and see how they fit.
When I got asked for this interview, it felt á la Cinderella. Is this for real? Thanks for being my godmother!
Currently, I am studying and interning. I go through dictionaries in free time to know the words as they are, bare and objective. I love vegetable gardening and if time permits, spraying each leaf with water to see them sparkle. I like peeling oranges, meticulously picking out the white strands and its transparent veil and stocking up the peeled ones in a design. It’s meditation in its own small way. Midnight blue is the color of my soul; infinite, a clear night sky and yet you can’t see beyond a certain point until you try to look into it closer.
I am INTP- one of the MBTI personalities, mostly known for their aloofness and social awkwardness. For me, it’s resting bitch face on the outside and aloofness on the inside. Also, I am an ENFP magnet.
Visual arts is my second love and business, first. Talk to me about derivatives and you will see my eyes sparkle thinking about all these strategies that can capitalize on inefficiencies. I love reading and writing in the next order. A close friend introduced me to YourQuote and life has never been the same. That’s how I became a scribbler.
That was one intriguing bio. Also, thank you for calling me your godmother, although I am not that old. So, your other passion is visual arts. Tell me something more about it.
A godmother doesn’t have to be old. It’s easy to paint thoughts than writing them. A stroke, heavy or light, conveys emotion far effectively than words can. Of late, I haven’t been painting at all. So, most of them would be like three year old pieces. I don’t paint everything. I am more into comic art than anything else. I love inking. It’s love because of all these emotions in black and white. It’s simply engrossing.
It looks wonderful. I’m also taken by surprise by how you compared peeling the strands of an orange to meditation. So, what is mediation according to you? Do you think that mediation comes that easy or you have to sit at a proper place and hour for it?
I have never found a mundane activity so engrossing, as if it’s demanding every sense of mine to focus on it. And I love the color too. It’s peaceful and feels like everything else in the world has gone mute. And if I have to do this a thousand hours more, I don’t think I’ll get tired. Also, I don’t think in terms of meditation as being a part of the schedule. It’s natural, I suppose?
Now coming to my favorite part of your bio, “The midnight blue color of your soul.” How did you come to that conclusion? I’m intrigued about the thought process.
It’s because a very few people take out time to see things as they are. I am not exactly a social butterfly nor do I share info about myself easily. Knowing me would definitely take time. Hence, the night!
Do you draw your inspiration for writing in nights as well? If not, then what is your favorite time to write?
Not really! I usually write if something is bothering me. People communicate through various outlets. Since I don’t paint/draw/sketch anymore, I write.
Also, December is my favorite month of the year. It has a strange charm to let the shackles free. I have no idea really. It has a feel of running wild without a destination, as if even if the world ends you die happy. It makes me feel invincible.
So, what you write is mostly fiction or inspired from your life?
I think there is a trend. Most of my black templates are me, i.e. what I think or I love, even if they are fictional. Only a few of the white backgrounds represent what is me. But fiction is where I reign.
Also, you only use one specific font. You wrote a quote about it as well. How and why did you choose only this particular font?
I love the font and its name “Fragment.” It’s simple, clean and neat. The dotted ‘i’ has a slight vertical line, it looks like a diya which I find cute.
Fragment! I love this word. It’s my thought process. As in, I jump to pieces that seem alluring, different perceptions for the same thing. It sounds scattered on the floor like broken glass but reflecting as a diamond. It has a brilliant feel.
That’s poetic! You do have a knack of observing little things.
That’s what we all thrive on, don’t we? A little love and a little thought changes us all.
I’m impressed. Throughout your writing, you have flirted with diverse themes and ideas. What is your most favorite piece till date?
Inspired by one of my favorite characters, Stan Uris from IT by Stephen King. His death or rather suicide marks the death of innocence lost, like him being an adult, he stopped believing in a world of make-believe that he could do so easily as a child.
I also see nature and universe as recurring themes in your pieces. Do you consciously take inspiration from them or is it effortless?
I don’t think I have ever taken special efforts to write. I write on what could have been if it were alive, if they come alive in the roles we human are restricted to.
But universe and I go way back. I personally believe world is a wish granting factory. Trust me, ‘Augustus Waters’ from ‘The Fault in our Stars’ is so wrong on this. The universe believes in abundance. A perennial flow of stardust and faith is all we need.
Coming to ‘The Fault in our Stars’, what are your favorite books and authors?
Haruki Murakami and Stephen King. No other author can make me keep coming back to them. I like what King says, writing is your daily quota of work because an art needs more than just a whim of emotions, it needs dedication. It needs all of what you have, I suppose, to be what you are but amplified in your work.
So, how did you start your journey with YourQuote?
So, this close friend made me believe that I can write. And that I should try out this platform to do something creative. And then, there was no going back.
Keeps me going? It’s akin to a sugar rush. I am hooked, they should probably open up a rehab soon for this addiction.
I feel you on that! Do you have any writers whose work you enjoy on YourQuote?
Plenty! My favourite writers is a long list. I would love if all these names are mentioned:
Pooja Arora, Rohit Panjwani, Vidhyaa, Runjhun Noopur, Sneha Nag, Ayushi Kainthola, Faiz Ahmad, Harsh Snehanshu, Daipayan Nair, Vinayak, Mehak Mirza Prabhu, Vidhi Bomb, Mariyam Saigal, Sourabh Suryavanshi (makes me look up a dictionary more than a newspaper), Jeswin Varghese, Anubhav Das, Aditi B, Coral Jain.
That definitely is a huge list. Also, thank you for the mention. So, what’s the most fulfilling thing about writing for you?
The fact that I create is a rush. It’s godlike, almost, dictating the fate of these words and characters, sometimes the other way round too. It’s as if you are out of control and the characters take charge.
Is that how you are in real life too, assertive in dictating situations?
Assertive? Yes. Dictating? No. I hardly interact much. It’s more like I am a sleepy bear, territorial about things I work on or my stuff or my people. Forced conversations are not my thing and I don’t think I can fake politeness even if I have to.
I see, INTP! So, who is your biggest inspiration in your life?
I look up to Elon Musk. It’s amazing how invested he was in making his dreams come true. His work ethic is what I want to adapt into. Insanely work towards what you believe in! I follow him on Instagram and the sole reason I have a Reddit account is because he has live AMAs.
Do you have any personal incident that has been the turning point of your life?
No. Plain Jane life.
What has been the biggest personal discovery for you?
That we are unstoppable. There are no boundaries, provided that you know the loopholes. It’s liberating to walk with pocket full of belief, that past is a fiction and stories change.
That truly is inspiring! If your life was to be made into a novel, what would it be called and why?
“An easy guide to know your human cat.” That’s because either I am born in a wrong era, meaning, I need to go live where Egyptians ruled and the cats ruled them or secretly I am a cat. And it’s safer for people to know what I like and how to please.
I don’t think I’ll pursue writing professionally as of now. I have other priorities that need complete devotion. Maybe, someday, sometime I will. I might surprise someone.
It’d surely make your readers ecstatic! What is your favorite possession?
Shells! I love picking up shells and currently, I have them from Goa, Gujarat and Mumbai. They are pretty because how can a fossil look so beautiful?! Also, how soft the creature within was to have such a thick exterior! Vulnerability leaves shells as a sign.
What is the legacy you would like to leave behind for your readers? How do you want them to remember you as?
The crazy cat lady who’s got no cats yet.
Death is here. Live with it!
Well, I am not old enough to be a gyaani naani yet. So, I’ll pass along a few tidbits that my parents said and a few trusted words on internet. To be limitless is what my parents taught me. I believe it wholeheartedly. And letting go and having control of a situation needs to be finely balanced. I’ll tell you what not to do: Do not jump into the rabbit hole even if it’s too tempting to lose control entirely. The consequences aren’t as pleasing as the fall.
Wow, it was certainly one of a kind interview and I’m sure those who will read it will think so too. It was fun and inspiring all the same. As we come to the end of it, do you have any parting words or advice for your readers?
Final words: be limitless.
Can I quote what I had already written on YQ on this?
Read more of Shalini’s work here: https://www.yourquote.in/summerloveshalini
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