by Have you ever thought of leaving a mark in the world? After such a long time, I saw something that really touched and intrigued me – Seagrams 100 Pipers‘ commercial. This made me introspect about what I should be remembered for? The inner voice echoed the sentiments conveyed in the commercial viz. ‘Be Remembered For Good’. The goodness you bring out in others, the goodness you want to spread through your writing, the smiles you can spread on the faces of others with your stories and characters. That motivated me to give wings to my new character Alfie (from my upcoming novel – Alfie The Elf) who is a 14-year-old midget and is one of the closest characters I have given life to.
To give you a heads up about the book and character of Alfie, let me tell you he does not have a great life. He is an orphan and he is a midget due to which he gets ridiculed and taunted every day by everyone around him, and after few failed attempts to increase his height, he writes to Santa to fulfill his wish. When his wish is not fulfilled by Santa on a Christmas Day, he goes out in search of Santa along with his two friends Bullet – a pug and Pedro – an Owl to demand a reason for not fulfilling his wish. On his journey, he meets a lot many mythical creatures like the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, a Snowman and an evil wizard hell-bent on becoming the master of the Universe. Through his innocence and lovely demeanor he is able to spread joy to everyone he meets in the journey.
It made me think if Alfie as a character brings joy to so many characters he meets in my story, why not extend that to real life kids too who are like him – orphan and underprivileged. Therefore, I decided to come up with a Trust named – Alfie For Kids where I will be donating the entire proceeds from the sale of Alfie series which could be used for the benefit of educating and upkeep of underprivileged kids.
When I look back and see, great authors like Enid Blyton, Jane Austin or near home Ruskin Bond and R K Narayan. These great legends are remembered for their characters viz. The Famous Five kids, Rusty, Swami, Elizabeth Bennet or Mr. Darcy, etc. Like them and every other author and storyteller in this world, even I want to be remembered for my stories and characters. However, now I want to go beyond and do something for the world. Something that my character Alfie and his friends in the story believes in doing. So this Christmas season when my new book gets released and Alfie comes knocking at your door, welcome him to your life and give him your love and appreciate him for the cause he stands for. As, with every sale of the book, he will get more power and magic to fulfill the wishes of any underprivileged kid in this world. This will not only help Alfie and the kids but will also give me a reason to smile as somewhere in time, I might be remembered for the good cause I was associated with through my character Alfie.
PS: Let me share the video that inspired me to ‘Be Remembered For Good’
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