Pratik

Hello! I am Pratik Mukherjee from Calcutta, India - the city of Mother Teresa and the famous poet Tagore.
My pen name is Aaran, a variant of the word 'Aran' and derived from the Aran Islands, a group of islands located in the Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland. As these tiny group of islands had attracted travelers and writers all over the world and provided the inspiration for many of their creations, I too dream of making it big as a writer one day having started with a humble beginning. So here is my story.

MY WRITING HISTORY : I am a software engineer by profession. But I have always been in love with literature! My writing ventures started when I was a child! I started with a childish habit of copying word by word of the Indian epic Mahabharata and pretending all the time that I was writing it afresh! But I hope my writerscafe fellows will not judge me by this! I was only 7 or 8 as far as I remember!
The first English author I started reading was Enid Blyton! Her writing had a HUGE effect on me as a child! I loved her Secret Sevens, Malory Towers, BedTime Stories! I even started writing something along the lines of Famous Five! But I gave up shortly! But to this day she remains my favorite author! She made me fall in love with English and literature!
My first serious attempt at writing was at the fifth standard when I started writing Bengali poems! (Bengali is my native language) My first English poem was in the seventh standard. It was called 'Freedom' I wrote it after I had written my Annual Exams! ( I hope people can relate, especially people who like me suffer from exam phobia!! :/ ) Unfortunately I don't have that poem with me anymore! I lost it! I took up writing exclusively in English during the high school years! But I gave it up shortly due to academic pressure! My college-entrance exams and engineering study really bogged me down! It was only in the last year, my final college year, when after getting landed with a job from a top information technology firm, i had a loads of spare time and took up writing once again! I eventually joined writerscafe and ever since have never looked back! I think this is one of the best writing sites ever that cater to all your needs as a writer! I have met some of the best writing minds on this site and it has truly been a learning experience!

AS A WRITER: I am a pretty on-n-off kind of writer! I don't post anything unless I have been able to make something really substantive of the bizarre ideas I have! I love perfection! (or should I say my idea of perfection) So you will read from me only if I have been able to convince myself about the quality of my piece! I am a nature lover and love traveling! So you will find many of the associated elements in my poem! I love abstract writing and I believe poetry is about saying things the different away!

AS A REVIEWER: Well... I love having reviews and I return the favor! I think it's fair to ask for reviews only if you do the same! I may not review every read request I get but I review as much as I can, considering time is a big issue for me (as well as for others too!) There have been times when I have been away from the site for days due to constraints and the read requests received during those moments have gone unattended! A big sorry for that! ( This might also happen more than once! So apologies in advance!)
As a reviewer I am quite easy-going! I am not bothered with the technicalities of the language- like spelling or grammatical errors! I believe in free usage of the language as far as writing is concerned... I try and give constructive reviews. I don't believe in lambasting someone in the name of criticism! I think people are here because they have the love for their craft and they are here to share their thoughts! There are many beginners in this site, all of whom are trying to learn and all of whose writing will eventually evolve! I think its only fair to respect everyone's ideas, to try and interpret things from different points of view and to present your own views without hurting others' feelings!
I don't review stories generally, unless I have got ample amount of time or I am in a mood to read one! But please send in your requests! i will try and get to them eventually!
I don't like half-hearten, open-ended, unspecific reviews.. ( e.g single line reviews like "Nice! Good work!" ) If you have the intention of reviewing then do so by taking your time at least to read and grasp the entire writing! I would REALLY appreciate for making the effort to give your honest and sincere reviews and will try to do the same in the best possible way!

ME AS A PERSON : well.. I am a bit shy, moody kind of person. i love traveling, long drives, secluded getaways & quaint vacations. i indulge in sunbathing on lazy autumn afternoons and flicking through the pages of a novel, splashing colors on a canvas on rain washed evenings, daydreaming, weaving my emotions in words and trying a hand at experimental poetry or proses when i m at my melancholic best. my idea of life: closed, self-contained, sombre and uni-dimensional. Bit old fashioned i guess... :)

I know perhaps this was quite long an introduction...but its close to one year I have been on this site and I think it's only fair on my part to make my likes and dislikes known to my friends of writescafe!