Authors Suma Varughese, Harvinder Kaur Elucidate On Spirituality, Code To Happiness

We are in a day and age where we now seek refuge and peace of mind as we are caught amidst a paced life in the jungles of concrete and a technologically driven society. There's no dearth of our efforts to seek happiness but struggle to find it. Why? Where is the right place to look for happiness?

Suma Varughese, the author of 50 Life Lessons opines that others' happiness brings an individual more joy and corroborates it with her experience. While speaking at the latest edition of SheThePeople TV's Women Writers Fest, Varughese, said, "It is the design of our lives to derive happiness from others' joy. We spend our entire lifetime pursuing personal happiness; that is no place to find it."

While speaking on the panel segment moderated by Archana Pai Kulkarni for the Women Writers Fest 2022, Suma opened up further about her epiphany that changed the course of her life, reinitiated her to God and focuses on spirituality. She speaks alongside another coveted author Harvinder Kaur, who wrote the book Songs of Deep, elaborates on her tryst with words, her insights into the world and what has enhanced her understanding of life.

Suma's book is rooted in her personal experience; writing something so personal requires a level of vulnerability and self-esteem to bare it all. When quizzed about how'd she manage to do it, she observed, "A couple of years after my awakening, I decided to confront myself and as soon as I ventured into it, I realised I had zeroes in everything - self-respect, self-esteem, etc. My inner voice told me I had to share this and not keep locked within me."

Thenceforward Varughese, who retired as Editor-in-chief of Life Positive, began writing her story in her columns, the story of her epiphany and the life after it.

Harvinder's books Fire To Ash and Songs Of Deep notably delve deeper into the mechanisms of the world around and within us; the in-depth observation hints that she is alert about her surroundings at all times. When quizzed about it, she observes that most people are aware and alert about the sensations they experience but very few choose to express them in words.

Kaur, who is also an educator, says that spending time around children has helped her perceive the world at a much deeper level. But are all the nuances she felt captured within words? No. The author and photographer said, "All writings are dilution. As the most fortunate writer as well, you can only point toward the space. You cannot put it in the platter of words. You cannot give a whole on a platter."

Suggested Reading: Why Do We Need A Women Writers Festival?

The discussion steered further towards understanding happiness and how can one be happy despite the catastrophes that have struck humankind in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic, war, surge of mental illnesses and etc.

When Kaur was quizzed about whether others can also, by becoming aware of their being, can find happiness; she replies, "The 'how' is the trap."  She adds that one does not need something exquisite, life, she says, is about moving from one wonder to another. "Our silence merging with life in front of you creates a sense of happiness," she added.

Meanwhile, Suma says that we are depending on circumstances to be happy. "If we were to settle for conditional happiness, it's no challenge. We all face conditional happiness. We are up against something uncertain if we base our happiness on circumstances." She adds that we already have happiness deeply concealed within us and it's a journey of learning to let go.

The two authors' distinct approaches to their insights are amusing. While Suma says that she's missed out on a lot of insights because she's not noted them down; Harvinder says that writing for her is a very intense process. She says that poems, in her opinion, are a separate entity that she converses with.

As they converse about their literary influences, the significant excerpts from their writings and how aspirants who want to get initiated into non-fiction writing.

Suma writes an illustrious line in her book which says that women are the caretakers of life but they need healing too. Elaborating on it, she says, "So many centuries of the patriarchal rule have depleted our self-esteem . I have had to work very hard on my own self-esteem and I understand the whole area. It's important we need to learn to take control, learn to lead, we need to balance ourselves out. Spiritual sages strongly believe and say that women will show the way and that is why she needs to heal."

While Harvinder describes the beauty of darkness. She opines that darkness is not negative. "We are, as a society, obsessed with the light of rationality. Darkness is as really; it is a mystery. When I say we need darkness, I mean we submit to the mystery. Darkness is acceptance, it's a mystery and not negativity. There is so much more ," she adds.

The two authors when asked about their advice to aspiring authors' had quirky responses. Harvinder promptly says, "Just Write. Everything else is an excuse, you just need to write." While Suma says that one must keep their ego aside. "When you keep your readers' welfare at the core, it is a lot more powerful and also helps a reader," she concludes.

Watch the video of Women Writers Fest 2022: The Happiness Project