Exclusive Interview With Bernard D’sa

Bernard D’sa is a young, promising writer and head of Beautiful Inspirations. He is also a student of Philosophy, Religion and Social Sciences, graduated from De Sales University, Allentown USA. He owns a degree in Masters in English Literature too.

Bernard D’sa, a literary consultant, conducts social events and camps, works for NGO projects and love teaching them music and games. He has been a freelance writer for various magazines and newspapers including Times of India and The Hindu. His articles have been published regularly in renowned magazines like Renewal Voice, Prison Voice and Philosophical magazines. He has also written love sonnets named Collector’s Guide. His latest book Symphonies Of Love has been published recently and started getting rave reviews.   

Here we present Bernard D’sa in an illuminating conversation with Susmita Bose.

Could you tell me something about your schooling and your collegiate years? How did your parents and your collegiate education influence you in shaping your attitudes and ambitions and in making career choices?

My School and college played a vital role in my early days. I began writing for school magazine and local news bulletin. My works were very often discarded and made fun of my poems.

As I was a very naughty student of my class, as the years went by I gave up the habit of writing and never bothered to look back…. Years later there was an inter-college poetry competition in which I participated and of course I won the prize.

Still there was nothing that inspired me, my mom one day encouraged me to continue writing and I began writing and sending it to the publication house and eventually very magazine we read had an article from Bernard be it Inspirational Quote, Renewal Voice, Prison Voice and many more. And I felt I became famous until I came to the real world of Media , books, publications and then I felt I was all alone and in my deepest prayer I remembered the divine for I drew inspirations from him.

The day my mom encouraged me, the day of the inter college competition may be how small the encouragement was the output was massive. I had the opportunity to meet my very old school teacher and as I handed my book to her, she was so homely touched that there were tears in her eyes hugging me she said you are the one who will inspire many people and years later here I am with Beautiful Inspirations  

What is your hobby besides writing?

Besides writing I listen to music, I play the guitar. I love watching movies and reading books and yes Facebook as well.

What has drawn you towards social service?

When I was a student of class 8^th along with my Church friends we had visited an Old Aged home we  met lot of old people and we were in tears when they narrated their stories of how their children left them over there and never returned back to meet them again. The very story of their loneliness and been sent away into exile by their own children made me feel very unpleasant… so once in a month I used to visit this home and after 3to 4 visits my friends also joined me, we used to collect some money from friends and parents and buy some tooth brushed, tooth paste and soaps for them.

It went on and eventually we started celebrating our birthdays with them, our festivals and so and later on  we moved our attention towards the orphan children and started supporting them.

We then started looking on this same aspect but on a larger scale taking help from the corporate companies and public schools to provide food clothing and shelter. Today we are supporting 700 street children and 2 old aged homes.  

Tell us about Symphonies of Love…

Life is a precious gift from God which is to be celebrated. To celebrate life is to live your life being mindful of every moment. It means to accept you as you are and embrace joyfully all that life offers you. It means to bring out your potentials and make your presence felt. It means to thank God for each and every moment in your life. Celebrating your life is a daily experience, and not an occasional big event. You celebrate your life as you live, and your experience becomes another occasion to celebrate. The key to celebration is not what you are feeling but rather what you are experiencing in solidarity with others. The book consists of fifty one poems, though the book might better be considered a single long poem, since all the poems share a theme of Friendship, Love, Romance, Hope, Trust and Belief in God.

It has 53poems on God, Friendship, relationship, love marriage and the list goes on.

What kind of response have you been receiving so far?

Yes, I have been getting a lot of response from my friends and colleagues, being my third book my friends are eagerly waiting for it.

Over the time I have received a good response from literary lovers.  

How did Beautiful Inspirations happen to you?

Beautiful Inspirations is something that has been derived from a long period of experimentation with and Life and all its struggles in the process of achieving the ultimate goal.

In 2009 he introduced a newsletter called Inspirational Times which had inspirational stories inspiring quotes and then he introduced a small booklet called Bernard Poems which had poems written by him…later on he started writing love sonnets into a book called Collector’s Guide.    Soon it became very well known among his friends and they began demanding for copies was difficult to manage all three at the same time so he merged both together into one giving a complete new platform to Beautiful Inspirations

And then from newsletters to books, emails to blog, orkut to facebook….. Beautiful Inspirations has been a name to be remembered….

The tag line goes very well stating “One Source, Many Inspirations”…. Keeping God as the mail source of all inspiration.  

How will you rate your publisher?

10/10

What is your opinion about the future of poetry in India?

Poem uses metaphor for hope. Hope is in our soul and sings continuously. Hope lives in our soul and is eternal. With hope we can sing in the harshest conditions. Hope is always there no matter how difficult our situation is. Hope is free. So also all of us have the art of writing poems as all are searching for love, freedom, peace and hope. But we are afraid to write what is in our hearts.

Poetry has a future….. for we all have hidden desire.

Poetry has a bright future…. Don’t believe me then here is the copy of Symphonies of Love.

Which other books and authors do you like? Is there any single book which has particularly influenced you?  

It but really wrong on my part to judge few authors… but then the list is very long… One book that has inspired me a lot is The Holy Bible, I read it regularly and each new day it keeps of inspiring me. I get the inspirations from God and I use words to pen it down.  

Can you share a little of your current work with us?

Symphonies of Love were a mere dream and now a sweetest reality. I will be working on my next Novel along with Authors Empire and then I have another book on inspirations as well.

Apart of this I will be a part of a NGO project and busy with reading books. This 2014 will be the year of change, my next novel will be a love story of a guy in search of a corporate bride and the number of jobs he changes just to meet the perfect girl and the search lands him financial loss and a bad career but then he gets what was in store for him. This will be an entry into comedy along with twist and trills.

Beautiful Inspirations YEARBOOK 2 will release this year, the part one was widely celebrated and acknowledge and the part two is just bigger and beautiful.

Any message to the readers…

Any author or a poet when they write a book or poem they convey the message of love which has a huge impact on the world and that’s what they have to give from their very own experience. Each author or poet has an unique idea and the inspirations they received from the divine have been put into words and by the style of writing they make a wonderful masterpiece.

Thank you very much, Bernard! That is an interesting conversation we have had. I Wish you all the very best for your future and do hope to get in touch with you soon for another lively conversation. Have a nice day!

Buy ‘Symphonies of Love‘ from Infibeam.com

http://bit.ly/SymphoniesOfLoveInfibeam

• About the Author

About Sprightly Spirit

“I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares more is none”. And all, may be. It may be the vigor. Or the spirit. Or the courage to avoid being “politically correct” or bent. And, ban all averse with immaculate overture of graciously fathomable words firm in views. Subtle. Justifying the undying conscience. Values. Knowledge. And, dares to stay true. True to own. True to the world. And, to the words. With a dream in eyes it exists. In you. In me. In all. The sprite that never shies away. The spirit that never dies!