AUTHORIGHT AND MY BOOK ADDICTION AND MORE PRESENTS!!
JULLIAN HASLAM ,”INDIAN.ENGLISH.A MEMOIR” !!!
WELCOME JULLIAN…
MBA&M: Tell our readers a few titbits about Jillian Haslam?
JILLIAN: Jillian’s life has been one of stark and remarkable contrasts. Today she is a self-assured and happy NLP Trainer, Life coach and motivational speaker and author having given up a successful banking career to pursue her interests in helping other people overcome problems and issues in life. What is remarkable about this is that she started life living in circumstances that most people in the western world would ,find hard to even imagine. Picture this, a mother and her children living in a country that was harsh and unforgiving, being forced to live under a partially sheltered stairwell amongst puddles vermin and dirt with all their worldly possessions held in an old tea chest thrown away by someone with no idea where their next meal was coming from. Jillian was one of those children a few years ago. Powered by nothing more than sheer determination and a steadfast belief that things could only get better, she has turned her life around to what it is today. She has told this story in a moving sometimes sad but incredibly heart-warming tale of her life and that of those around her in her book Indian.English. that is set in post-independence India and the United Kingdom.
MBA&M: What made you decide to write “Indian.English.”?
JILLIAN: I have always enjoyed helping people and talking to them to try and find solutions to life’s challenges. As I spoke to different people I came in contact with, I found that a very effective way to connect with them was to give them instances from my own life that related to what they were going through. Seeing that, on hearing about my experiences helped others harden their resolve to go on and overcome their own hurdles and challenges made me believe that I should share my story with as many people as possible, in the hope that somewhere, someday, it may encourage another soul to overcome their issues and improve their lives.
MBA&M: What were some of the challenges in writing “Indian.English.” and why a memoir?
JILLIAN: I never knew how hard it is to sit down and write about something – even when you’re most familiar with what’s happened in your own life. As I sat typing into my laptop, many recollections that were locked away as distant memories came flooding back bringing a lot of the pain and other emotions we went through at the time. Thoughts of why and how we lost four siblings to extreme poverty and malnutrition, how we came so close to losing our baby brother to floods and disease, how my siblings and myself were abused in the streets and pelted with water balloons on our chest and backs etc. and how we cried all the way home, how my little sister survived despite chocolate bombs being thrown at our home for hours on end and where were the twins that were buried (if they were buried), none of know, even till this day. I often found myself too overcome by emotion to carry on writing and was extremely grateful for the mind development trainings that helped me bounce back and continue writing. The other aspect of writing this book that was hard for me was that like several other new writers found, it is not easy to get a book published in today’s day and age and the market is full of people looking to take advantage of those relatively inexperienced in the world of authoring and publishing. However, I am grateful that my story is now out there available for anyone to read and sincerely hope that it helps people in some small way. As I’ve said before, my intention for writing about some of the experiences in my life was to demonstrate how any simple, ordinary person can go through the most difficult heart wrenching and torrid experiences in life but can still come through and find happiness at the other end, as I seem to have done in my life. Therefore, a memoir seemed to be the most appropriate form of autobiography to use, to achieve this goal.
MBA&M: Who would you say is your real life hero? Why?
JILLIAN: As with most people, I have several heroes but three that I have modelled myself on (a key NLP technique) are Mother Teresa, Princess Diana and my own mother. I admire Mother Teresa for her sheer selflessness and her unfathomable compassion for those around her and her desire to help those less fortunate than herself. In Princess Diana, I find the quality of being able to put one’s own troubles behind them and still care for what others are going through, a quality I would like to follow and in my own mother, I admire the quality of her being able to put a smile on her face despite extreme trauma and sadness in her world and meeting each tomorrow with renewed optimism leading her children and all around her to believe that it would be a better day than yesterday, this is “Hope” and something that got us through each day, each month, each year. People come in many forms and identifying their patterns of behaviour and modelling their strategies is key to one’s self development.
MBA&M: What was or is something you would like to accomplish in your writing career?
JILLIAN: I have written this book with the objective of helping many people who live below the poverty line as I can. There are many who can afford trainings, education, coaching and other self-help programs but there are also far too many who are unable to afford a single meal or a single shirt for their backs or medicines to safe their loved ones lives, leave alone any further education. My dream is to be able to set-up orphanages, education centres, shelters and smaller hospitals in order to help people to eat, learn and to inspire them by my story to be able to live life to their maximum potential. I truly believe that like myself “Everyone can be happy and happiness can only come by fulfilling their basic human needs first” which is what I intend to do.
MBA&M: What are some of your favorite books, authors, stories, etc.?
JILLIAN: I like to read about the lives and experiences of other people, as I find that thought provoking and interesting. I also enjoy reading motivational and self-development books. I recently came across the American pioneer story by Laura Ingalls Wilder and found that to be a truly remarkable and touching family story. Some of my favourite authors are Wayne Dyer for his books “The Shift” & “The Ego”; Virginia Satir for all her books on family therapy, Frank McCourt on Angela’s Ashes & Robert Winston for his books on the Human Brain, Human Instinct etc.
MBA&M: Can you give our readers a few titbits on your upcoming project(s)?
JILLIAN: I have recently launched a company with the objective of helping people be the best that they can be. I would like to extend this project in the future to be able to help those who are in dire need of help and support, like the poor, the aged, the unemployed and the children, to put a smile back on their faces in whatever way I can.
MBA&M: Tell our readers where you can be found and where “Indian.English.” is available?
JILLIAN: I am currently based in London in the UK but my services are targeted at a global audience. More details about me and my company are available online at www.helpyourselfassociates.com . The book is available on the kindle, online on amazon and at all leading book stores. More details on the book can be found at www.indianenglishthebook.com
Thank you for visiting with us today,what a fascinating story!!
Book Trailer for “INDIAN.ENGLISH.A MEMOIR”
INDIAN.ENGLISH.
A MEMOIR
JILLIAN HASLAM
ISBN-13: 9781908775016
Publisher: Legend Press Ltd
Publication date: 11/1/2011
Pages: 236
Indian.English. is Jillian Haslam’s memoir of growing up an English girl in post-colonial India. Her harrowing yet ultimately redemptive story of living in the dark squalid by-lanes of Calcutta, abused and misunderstood by many, recalls the darkest moments of Angela’s Ashes and the inner turmoil of The Glass Castle.
For every atrocity described in Indian.English., however, there is found a parallel kindness—a sacrifice, really—on the part of the poorest of the poor, who helped her family to survive. One cannot overlook those small, seemingly insignificant and mundane acts of human kindness. Within these humble people thrive a grace beyond description that literally saves lives every hour of every day.
Such was the case with Jillian and her family, which suffered through the death of children, abject starvation, trauma and humiliation.
In vivid detail, the author recounts how she learned to look for the positives embedded in the numerous challenges encountered on her path; and how to overcome adversity to be successful.
This rich story of her life, of finding the road to success, and how she utilizes her wisdom and vision to help others through her foundation, vividly illustrates how and why Jillian Haslam inspires everyone she meets.
*all descriptions and images from author’s website*
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HAPPY READING EVERYONE!!
Thanks for visiting today.
AprilR