Meet Arun Prakash Singh: The Peace Loving Writer of YourQuote

This man, who considers himself a wind, does not believe in having a pen name. He loves to see people smile and befriends everyone easily. Our writer Sourabh Acharya caught up with him and found out the unsaid story behind his writings, with ‘love’ as one of the top tags, on YourQuote.

Q. Hey Arun, let’s start this interview by your introduction. Tell us about yourself, imagining as if an autobiography is being made on your life.

A. My name is a combination of my father’s and mother’s. Arun is derived from mother’s name and Singh, obviously from father’s name.

My life is all about the people who came into my life. Almost all of them left some impacts on me, regardless of who or what they were. I learn things from everyone and it is in my nature to blend in with the person next to me. An astrologer once told me that I can easily befriend anyone but I knew this long ago.

My father is a government servant who gets transferred every 3 years. So, during my childhood, every time he got a transfer, I needed to change my school, leave all my friends behind and start a fresh life. As a child, this had a negative impact on me but in the later stages, this became helpful as I got to know people from different origins. I studied in Big Methodist High School of Kanpur and also in Little Flower High School in Maharajganj, a city close to Nepal borders. The latter was a very small school but gave me the best people I know today.

I love cooking, clicking pictures(in a serious need of a DSLR), creating and writing stories, watching anime(which has a great impact on my personality and way of thinking) and I really love listening to people and their stories.

I want to be an admiration to at least 100 people, that’s the goal of my life.

Q. Some great aspirations I see there. So how have your father’s job and shifting to different regions affected you and the character you dwell in now?

A. My first memory of my father’s transfer was when I was in class 4. I had so many friends back then in school. Friends have meant a lot to me from beginning. So, it was very painful to be separated from them. Making new friends every 3 years and losing everyone from past 3 years was something very hard. It was at a later stage, when I reached class 11th, that I got used to these changes.

I’ve lived in different areas of UP, be it the mainstream cities like Kanpur, Lucknow and Ghaziabad or the small cities like Maharajganj(near Gorakhpur in UP) and Budaun.

Living in different places and with different people at different ages gave me a lot of experience to write it down.

Q. Wow! Too much to be cherished there. I envy you!

So, being into different cities and finally falling into Engineering, when did you start writing as a fervid writer?

A. This is something even I can not recall clearly. When I was very young, about 7–8 years old, my parents used to point at any random scenery hanging on the walls of my house and ask me to tell a story based on it. I used to do it and they enjoyed. The feeling to form stories was so overwhelming that I wanted to always feel it. However, my desires succumbed. I was later revived, all thanks to a certain someone. I always wanted a platform where I could pen down my words and also wished to be read by others. Facebook never gave that feel. YourQuote was far better than what I always wanted. So, the credit for reviving my writing goes to that certain someone and YourQuote as well.

Q. Some early practice from the childhood! Kudos to the ‘certain someone’ as well for giving us this beautiful talent.

Moving on, what and who all have been your influences in life as well as writing as it looks?

A. My father and my brother influence whatever I write on life. My mother influences whatever I write on beauty. The way I want to see things, influences my fictional writings. Every writer who has written before, influences how deep I go with the words. My vast experience with different people influences how I form words.

Q. Woah! That answer was beautiful. I find a lot of you in your writings, I must say!

What do you think fulfils you the most, when it comes to writing?

A. Writing, in itself, is so fulfilling that I can not dig into things inside. I love to write than to speak. I usually stay very calm and when I’m calm, I stay quite and when I’m quite, I express through words. It’s so satisfying when I successfully compose a poem.

Q. It’s so relatable. I can feel that satisfaction you do while you write. You’re anyways a gem!

So, how seriously do you take your writing and how much does it mean to you? Do you think about it as your future project?

A. That’s not even the real question. The point is I don’t control my writing, it is as very natural as breathing is(not that I write that well). My elder brother always asks me if I have a way to shape my writing as a career option and that very exactly is what I ponder over, too. I don’t know whether I take my writing seriously or not, it just is an integral part of me that makes me feel alive.

Q. This was so honest of you! I applaud you for this.

So, how and when did you start a relation with YourQuote?

A. As I said, I always wanted a platform where I could share my words and other people could read it. So, I always looked for websites, apps and other platforms where I could do this but nothing gave me that level of satisfaction. One fine day, I was installing one of such apps when in suggestions I saw YourQuote. The name was catchy, so I installed it too and what happened later is in front of you.

Q. These accidental things sometimes throw you in those webs of beauty!

As we’re here now, what’s the one thing which hooks you to YourQuote?

A. Its sheer amazingness. This includes everything. The best part is people and interaction. I know so many people from the family and I can’t even begin to describe how wonderful they all are. When you choose a platform to share something, you only look at the technical aspects of it but what I’ve felt with YQ is that people never mind that part. Writing here gives me so much satisfaction that a lazy person like me, writes almost 1 quote a day.

Q. Haha! That’s so active of you! YQ family is always love though.

So, how do you think has your writing been impacted by your career and studies?

A. I am a true believer of the fact that people should give time to themselves. I am an engineer but I also used to organize cultural fests in my college. Side by side, I also worked as a mainstream volunteer for an NGO called GOONJ. This gave me a variety of experience to begin with and made me ready for various jobs. First, I tried my hands on a job at Lenskart, which I left after 4 months. Then I began a marketing and ad agency startup with one of my seniors, who is very dear to me. Worked with him for nearly 6–7 months and then left again due to certain reasons. After that, I tried joining an NGO but didn’t as I changed my mind. I sat idle for 2 months. Then I got selected in Axis Bank as an Assistant Manager through its exam. However, the mood never got high enough to join. After this, I stopped trying and relaxed my mind. I started preparing for civil and bank exams which I am doing till date. All these, in many ways, have given me a vast variety of experience like struggle, limits, love, life and various other aspects.

Q. Wow! I can see so much of perseverance there. Simply amazing!

Let’s move on with one of my favourite questions. Who are some of your favourite writers on YourQuote?

A. That is the best part. I have seen how well people write after joining YourQuote. As I have seen, almost 70% of the writers on YourQuote are damn serious and among those 70%, half of them are already perfect at writing and rest half are improving magically.

Saket Garg, Sandeep Vyas, Ayena Makkar Girdhar, Jhelum Anikhindi, Piyush Mishra, Saurabh Pratap Singh, Aishwarya, Abhinav Nair, Abhilekh Dwivedi, Ayushi Duneriya, Ramya Kumar, Supriya Mishra, Mayanka Dadu, Anuup Kamal Agarwal, Sourabh Acharya (not because you’re taking the interview but for the improvement you are achieving by the day).

I would give a special mention to Ayman Jamal. I first witnessed her poetry in the open mic held recently in Delhi and since that day I am just bound by the magic of her words.

Q. Hearing my name from one of my favourite writers is just my day being made. Thank you so much Sir!

Moving forward, you talk about admiration. In what way do you think people should look at you for some inspiration in the near future?

A. They should look at me with the intention of finding the true meaning of life. That is the very reason I want to live. I, myself, struggle to find the true essence of life. This is very well reflected in my writings.

I want people to admire me as a human who lived his life and died smiling.

Q. I already do this!

A quick one to go with. Poetry or prose? And why?

A. Poetry.

That is very simple. Poem is like the inner music. When you recite a poem, you dance inside and enjoy the rain. It goes so rhythmic, sometimes you so lose yourself that it takes bit of efforts to get back.

Q. Ahaan! This was a wow answer for me. This so happens with many of us.

Some storied questions now. Any special stories to share with the YQ family you cherish?

A. I have so many of them. My life is filled with stories like everyone else’s. I even remember all of them as stories. Let me tell you my personal selection from them.

It was the night of 9th September and the next day was my 11th birthday. We are a family of 4. Everyone was sleeping. There was main door, then hall, then my parents room and the guest room was by its side. My and my brother’s room was at the end of the hall. I heard someone knocking the door at around 1 AM. I thought my father will get up and open it but he didn’t. I called him saying there’s someone at the door. He never heard. I got out from my bed and went to the main gate. I was a kid devoid of any basic understanding. Without much thought, I opened the door only to find no one. I closed the door and came back. After few minutes, it started again. This time I waited a little longer but then eventually went to open the door again to see who was knocking. Finding no one again I came back. When this happened for the third time, I went ahead. We used to live on the 1st floor. I opened the door and went downstairs to check if anybody was there. Finding no one there as well I came back, locked the door and slept. After few minutes it started again. Without making a noise I went close and made sure they were knocks. That was the very first feeling of fear. I went back to sleep and covered myself from head to toe. I had pissed my pants when I woke up in the morning. My brother was making fun of me and my parents were laughing. I went to my father and told him that there were knocks on the main door last night. He said it must have been something, “you didn’t open the door though?” I denied and shivered again with fear with the mere thought of the various possibilities that could have happened.

Never again did I try to answer the knocks, specially the ones at night.

Q. Lol! I can’t stop laughing my nerves out. And I’m sure the ones reading it have the same condition out there. Wow! (Giggles)

What’s the one thing that you find in a story to be the most important aspect of it?

A. Stories in any story are the most important aspect for me. Every story I read, that binds me has various stories inside it.

Q. True that! Where do you get your ideas for a story or a poetry?

A. My life experience. All it takes is to refine them and turn them more interesting and that is where my writing comes from.

Q. Although you don’t have a pen name, but I still want to ask it. Why not?

A. I do not believe in pen names. I have a real name and that is my pen name. The idea of “being a writer and having a pen name” is so cool that it takes over the most of us. It’s not like it never took over me. I just never knew we can have a pen name but later on when I came to know, I was lazy enough to avoid it.

Q. That was so cool in itself! Loved it.

Had there been a novel on your life and its journey, what would you call it?

A. Everyone’s life is filled with everything. Mine is no different. So, I guess it would be simply “Just Another Human”.

Q. Would love to read “Just Another Human” as your autobiography some day sooner!

Which book do you wish you had written?

A. Shiva Trilogy.

Q. So many things to love about the book!

If there’s one thing you would want to alter about your writing, what would it be?

A. I want to achieve the most simple explanation of a writer — “A deep story in a nutshell of simple words”. That is exactly what I would want in my writing to be reflected and I am trying to achieve it.

Q. Great! And you’re doing it the right way. Trust me on this.

What do you find to be the most beautiful thing about Shiva Trilogy, as it grabs your attention?

A. I am an atheist. The scientific approach that is used by Amish Tripathi to explain the origin of the story and the whole narration is so captivating that it binds you until you finish it. I almost felt like watching a TV series through my eyes.

Q. Yeah, it’s indeed so captivating.

You’ve been through some real challenges as I see. What will you suggest to some of the budding writers (including me) out there?

A. Everyone finds their own way to life.

Life is all about living. If you think your life is not life, think again. It is, may be utterly of different kind, but yes it is. Live to fulfill your soul and not expectations.

One advise to everyone out there, never stop smiling. You just even can’t imagine the power it holds to revive you. Always find a reason to smile.

Q. Will cherish this advice for a lifetime. Thanks!

During this journey of life, what has been the greatest personal discovery for you?

A. Myself

Over this period of 2 years, I literally found things that make me happy and satisfy me to my content. I now know things about me that I never knew before just because I never had the time to give to myself.

Q. Just one word! Beautiful.

What’s the one favourite possession of yours you want to share a picture with the YQ family? Add a few lines with it.

A. Earliest picture of me with my brother. It is so very dear to me. I always keep this photo in my phone and it always makes me smile when I see it.

Sourabh : Thank you so much Arun bhai for giving me this opportunity to interview you. It was an honour to interview such a great soul. I’m gonna cherish this!

Arun Prakash Singh : In this time of fast pace and large friend circles it is very easy to forget people. I was once so well connected with so many folks and wanted to stay connected but things took turns otherwise. It was so unexpected when you said that you’re gonna interview me, that my mind was emotionless, not for the interview but that you still kept me in your memory.

Thank so much Sourabh Acharya, it’s a pleasure of a lifetime knowing someone like you.

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