It takes more than just talent to change the world; and it takes a lot more to change mindsets. That is precisely what author Rachita Ramya attempts to do with her book, Radical Politics Of Indian Love.
Dr. Rachita Ramya is a healthcare researcher working in the department of environmental health at the City University Of New York in NYC. She comes from a political family, where her grandfather (Dr. Shankar Dayal Singh) was a parliamentarian as well as a literary figure himself.
In her own words, “Radical Politics of Indian Love’ is a collection of 7 short stories of love set against an Indian landscape. India is a land of unity in diversity, organized chaos, but most importantly, India is a land of love. However, Love in India is a multidimensional concept, which is influenced by social, political and cultural factors. These bitter-sweet stories on how love co-exists in a backdrop of cultural differences, age-old traditions, honor-killings, and political dynamics can be inspirational and relevant. ‘Treesome’, ‘Modern Indian Widow’, ‘The writer, the lover and the doctor’ are stories of love that thrive in an era of conflict. ‘No Man’s Refuge’ is a science-fiction story that touches on the future of the South Asian war zones. ‘The Bollywood Hero’ and ‘The Royal Bengal Tigress’ are stories of romance and friendship that need to be told.”
Armed with a Bachelors in Dental Surgery (BDS) & a Masters degree in Public health from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York and with a passion for creativity, the lady is combining her technical abilities & creative skills and is a budding filmmaker today, fully adept at film shooting, editing and content developing.
Residing in New York now, Rachita has worked at the grass root level to bring about changes in field of Mental Health in India.
Rachita Ramya oozes creativity and has been passionate about inflicting change from an early age. As the editor in chief of her college magazine, the lady worked on topics that really mattered; anti-tobacco & oral cancer awareness campaigns. Her anti-tobacco awareness campaign was awarded the third prize by the Indian Dental Association (IDA).
Rachita’s short film, titled “heART” was awarded the first prize at At&T Creatathon. Delving further into the field of film making on socially relevant topics, Rachita also made a short movie on mental health for ‘ART with Impact’.
Radical Politics Of Indian Love has garnered much appreciation. The story, Treesome, was also awarded the first prize by a California based writer’s website, ‘Join Our Story’. Another story, ‘The writer, lover, and doctor’ was considered as a finalist for the online magazine, ‘Philadelphia Stories.’ The book was also rated highly by the onlinebookclub.org.
Rachita’s future goals include introducing taboo topics like mental health, widow remarriage, casteism, and honour killings into creative writing and everyday dialogue. Her book is contemporary women’s fiction but can be read and enjoyed by readers of all ages and backgrounds. Primarily because it talks about issues that matter.
Says the author, “Being associated with my fellow Indians at such a grass root level helped me develop a keen understanding of how we function in India, how we think & how we act. The book draws a lot from what I have experienced & understood of our society over the years that I worked here. It’s an amalgamation of what I learnt, what I saw, what I realised & finally what I unlearnt. It was a whole process of deconstructing & building it back up again; very much like India on her path of evolution.”
It is no wonder then that Dr. Rachita Ramya enjoys the art of writing & story telling against the backdrop of the Great Indian Landscape.