Weaving a motivational story

Anushree Painuly, who hails from Dehradun, is an actor and a healer and now she donned the hat of an author with her debut book titled 'Sunrise Beyond The Dead End'. The book highlights the major mental health issues of today's changing times - depression and loneliness. This motivational story deals with surviving the dark and difficult times of one's lives, embracing one's wounds and walking ahead with the strength their sufferings provide.

The book introduces a common man who sets on a journey when his life takes an unexpected negative turn. In his unplanned journey, he meets five different people who influence his life and change his perception. When asked Anushree about the kind of research she had to do for her book, she said, "All my six main characters of the book are inspired by real-life people whom I encountered somewhere. Even for other characters, like the peculiar person on the ghat, who appears just in a few paragraphs is inspired by a real-life person. So, I believe the real research goes in observing and getting into the mind of your characters."

Being the daughter of a writer, Anushree ventured into writing at a very early age, as writing came naturally to her. Anushree's passion towards travelling gets her opportunities to closely observe and understand people, religions, beliefs and cultures of different places. These encounters fuel her writing ideas. Being a spiritual healer Anushree believes that positivity, when combined with the right words, has the power of changing lives, and it is very well reflected in her book.

Excerpts from an interview:

What inspired you to write this book?

As a healer, I come in contact with deep emotions and sufferings of people. Every person carries their own problems and pains but there is one thing they all have in common. It's the feeling that they are alone and their suffering is the greatest in the world. Neither of these is entirely true. This fact itself inspired me to write this book.

Tell us about the book.

My book is about a man who is just like all of us. Busy, competitive, seemingly strong. But due to certain unpleasant turns of events, his life gets completely shattered and all he can see is darkness around.

He aimlessly sets on an unplanned journey where his destiny makes him meet five different people, who unknowingly affect his life. Their encounters change the way he looks at himself and the world around. I hope that encounters with these five people to some extent will affect the lives of my readers too.

What kind of research did you do for this book?

As it's a fiction so not much factual research was required for it except for details of places and works. But yes, a writer is always in search of inspiration. As for the place setting of the story, I belong to mountains so capturing its visuals in my words came quite effortlessly. It's like telling someone about your home; you can do it even with your eyes closed.

Tell us about the characters. And which character is close to your heart?

Characters are the lifeline of any book. Sharan is the protagonist of my novel. We all are Sharan and we all know several Sharans around us. Apart from him, there are five other important characters in the book, all of them have their own charm and strength to leave readers in awe. As for my favourite, it's the little mountain boy 'Nimbu', the one who shares happy candies with people who are sad.

How writing happened?

It won't be wrong if I say it runs in my blood. My father is a writer and I have been writing articles from an early age. However, as an author, this is my first published work.

Tell us about your future plans

What can a writer's future plan be but to write more and write even better than their previous one? I see writing as a very effective means for bringing change in the lives of readers and I plan to strive towards it, no matter how minute the change is.