Eastsideplus  Pune Friday 5^th October 2007

        He Loves what  he,s doing

Mohit Misra is a poet whose book Ponder Awhile has won him accolades from around the world.

Read on to discover why this unconventional poet took to writing

Varun Godinho : eastside

Some writers have an inborn talent. Others have a flair for writing.And there are still others who have begun writing books due to a rather unconventional reason-a sudden attainment of the state of Nirvana. For Mohit Misra a 37 year old poet and author of "Ponder Awhile' life has come a full circle.

Woking with the merchant navy since 1995 he was an absolute atheist .It was during one of his sails in 2003 that he went into a meditative transition and attained the state of Samadhi – a term which is used to describe an enlightened one It was then that he decided to give up his worldy attachments, his   job included  and domsomething that would ap into and rlease the immense knowledge and wisdom which is accompanied with this state.

The poems encapsulate the universal theme of mankind with a spiritual background to each of them.The process of writing the book was certainly not an easy one."There were times that writing jut one of the   poems could take me several weeks.I was constantly struggling to better each and every poem of mine " says Mohit.

Like all great minds, Mohit  was initially ridiculed by family and friends when he begun writing his book."I had a number of bitter critics who said this   was not my age and time to write such a book

And expressed serious reservations about me doing so" says a visible distressed Mohit while recalling those times.

However his perseverance and diligence eventually bore fruit and silenced his critics when he first published his book in 2005.The effort  and dedication that has been put in has won him several kudos.on an online portal –bestbookbuys, his book has been declated to number one book for 2006 in the Poetry,inspirational and religious section. Amazon has included his book among their top 100 bestsellers.

Since the book has not constricted itself to any one particular religion but spreads the message of a universal and One God for all the religions, Christain   priests have requested permission to include his poems as part of their sermons while holy men from the Hindu religion have openly spoken in praise of his work.

To date 1500 copies have been sold both in India and abroad. His book is available online and exclusively in Amazons retail outlets