In Pursuit of Love, Spirituality, and Happiness
1. What Inspired you to write this book?
When I was vacationing with my family we went to see Hilo, the big island in Hawaii. It was an extra-ordinary experience for me because I have never seen so much crusty charcoal solid black lava mile after mile which devastated the lands, island’s trees, animal lives and human lives. After traveling though most of the park we parked our SUV near to the gate and started to walk around. It was dark nearly 10’o clock at night and few people were still there with their flash lights. All on a sudden we spotted two volcanoes came alive few miles away from us. From one of the volcano the red radiant lava was flowing and the other volcano was shooting lava to the sky. I was stunned like everybody else as it was an astounding event. I realized how powerful those forces were. Mesmerized by these dazzle I closed my eyes for few second to grasp what was going on – as that time I was reading lots about Hawaiian ancient culture and their mythological Goddess, Pele, I stated to visualize that phenomena in front my eyes. Whole night I could not sleep as it was haunting me throughout the night. Next morning we went to Oahu and visited the Waikiki beach. There I saw a handsome young American man on a skate board, surfing. He seemed very happy as he was mingling freely with other Hawaiian surfers. Finally when I came back to mainland, USA there were lots of wrangling going on over corporate corruption as Tyco’s and Enron’s CEO were in trial. Media was over obsessed and reporting 24 hrs. about these events. I do not know what came over me as I thought maybe I could write a story blending all of these connections together. As I always wanted to write a one-of-a kind of book I started to gather lots of information through research and it became a main inspiration of my story.
2. Summarize your book in one to three sentences
Jonathan, a young American handsome man caught in an ethical quandary by his father’s corrupt nature had to make a choice between his love for the Hawaiian beauty Olina and his loyalty to his parents.
3. What is the overall theme of your book?
Through true love, sacrifice and spirituality happiness can be achieved.
4. Where does this book take place?
The story effortlessly transports the reader from the lush beauty and spirituality of Hawaii to the pipeline of Texas, USA and multi-faith India.
5. Who are the main characters and why are they important to the story?
There are three main characters, Jonathan, Oliana and OC.
Jonathan shows in this book how important the ethical value is in his life. He was born into a wealthy and politically connected family was tormented by his father’s corrupt nature and unethical family business. He flees to Hawaii with its sugar coated white beaches, soft breezes and trembling volcanoes searching for a simpler life style. He had to make a choice between the happiness he craves with his love of his life, Oliana and his rich family who demands his loyalty.
Oliana is a full-blooded Hawaiian beauty and a student in Hawaiian University who embodies the earthiness of ancient Hawaii and her unselfish eternal love forced Jonathan to realize that how important the real love is and the sacrifice was well worth.
OC is Jonathan’s best friend and a confidant. He provides valuable friendship what we all need in our life. In that context it takes a compelling look at multi-faith religion and draws inspiring conclusion about Hinduism, Christianity and Buddhism into the plotline.
INTERVIEW 2
6. Why do you think that this book will appeal to readers?
This book will appeal to the reader because it has plenty of romantic and overwhelming power of new love between handsome American man Jonathan and Hawaiian beauty, Oliana, the ancient Hawaiian believe and culture, the magical mythical imagination of Hawaiian Goddess, Pele, surrender to pure life, the complexity of different cultures and spirituality in India and USA and the obsession and greed for power into multi-dimensional story line.
7. How is your book relevant in today’s society?
It is a tale of epic and romantic love, set against true-to-life background of corporate greed, ethical quandary and spiritual and religious diversity.
8. What makes your book different from other books like it?
It is different from other book because spanning three countries, USA, Hawaii and India, and it combines ancient religion with modern capitalism to create an eternal love story. It shows inter-connectiveness of happiness through love and sacrifice when Jonathan left everything for Oliana. It also creates a magical imagination in reader’s mind when Oliana dance to please mythical Volcano Goddess, Pele. It also gives a peek into the world of big business and shady backdoor deals and how Jonathan kept his self-respect by ethical conviction.
9. What do you want readers to take away from your writing?
From my writing I showed how to weave together the complexity of different subjects like combination of ancient culture and religion with modern day capitalism and ethical value to create a magical epic love story.
10. How did you learn about topic?
I learned about the topic through lots of research about ancient Hawaiian culture, mythology and their believe, and reading about Hinduism and Christianity. From my own experience and self -analyzing I understood ethical belief as it is the only way to keep self-respect and through love anything including happiness could be achieved.
11. What other books have you written?
My next book is done and accepted by a traditional publisher. After the publication process is done I will start marketing the book. It is about a first generation American-Indian girl who was born and brought up in western culture had to go through pain, conflict and frustration in growing up. Though she had sensibilities and understanding about her mother’s culture and upbringing in traditional way in India, she could not totally agree with her mother in every aspect of her life but later when she went to India she fell in love with the people of India and their spirituality. Read the synopsis of my second book about the review, conflicts, love. Loss, tragedy and redemption. When rape happened everything changed. The horrified destiny they all faced and conclusion they had to draw in their lives are the center of this story.
