Blood Sweat and Tears has been a novel that has won a lot of critical acclaim ever since its publication in 2013. The author of this charming novel, Arya Rajam, daughter of the legendary dancer, Anita Ratnam, was born in New York City. Having spent her childhood with her grandparents in her multi-generational home in Chennai, she has always been fascinated by books, dance, music, sports, mythology and fashion. Her busy career as an author has not deterred from taking up initiatives like #ReviveAndRestore that is actively involved in creating awareness about cleanliness and waste management. Ritz has a freewheeling chat with the young and spirited Arya, who talks about her career as an author, her environment friendly initiatives and her next book, Dual Dragoned Throne!
Text: Riya Sonny Datson
Costume Courtesy: That1too.com
Tell us about your first book, ‘Blood Sweat and Tears’.
It’s always been my passion to be an author. ‘Blood, sweat and tears’ is my first book about a Ballerina’s life.
We hear that your next project is a Trilogy, can you give us a sneak peek into the story?
Dual Dragoned throne is my upcoming fantasy novel. It is the first in a fantasy trilogy. The story is going to have a lot of magic, sword fights, dragons, adventure and many exciting characters in it.
What is Revive and Restore all about?
Revive and Restore is a cleanliness and waste management movement that was started by me and my friends. I am using the hashtag, #ReviveAndRestore on social media to make people conscious about how they can manage and recycle their waste, create compost from their food waste and basically, reduce waste to have a cleaner environment and city – the city that we all love, Chennai! A lot of people who are already recycling their wastes are a part of this movement. It’s an exciting group initiative that involves the people of the city.
You have been advocating the use of Eco-friendly Sanitary Napkins. Tell us about the initiative.
I have been using eco-friendly sanitary pads for many months now and I will never use plastic pads again. I am hoping that I can make more women aware about the benefits of using these biodegradable pads. There are brands like Saathi and Anandi that make these pads. They are completely biodegradable and it helps to reduce the landfill to a great extent, unlike the plastic pads that lead to mountains of waste!
Are these pads more expensive?
No, it’s not true that biodegradable pads are more expensive. A pack of 8 pads cost Rs.40 which I thinkis pretty much the same as plastic pads but its eco-friendly!
Where do you buy these pads from?
Saathipads.com is a nice website to shop from. The pads that are available are made from natural banana fibre.
Can you tell us five steps to make our environment a better place?
The first step would be to segregate your waste at home. Second would be to recycle paper, plastic and cardboard waste. The third thing we could do would be composting all food waste. We can easily buy a composting machine online from dailydump.org or similar websites and get started. We need to be conscious about the waste that we generate, try to reuse, reduce and recycle as much as possible. And the fifth would be to keep the environment and city clean. It’s really sad to see people litter and spit on the road. There is a need to spread the awareness.
