Jimmy Arujo
Author-Poet Jimmy Arujo, is a businessman based in Dubai, dealing in the production and printing of posters, banners, leaflets, brochures, gift articles and such other collateral brand communication support items. Born in Bangalore, India in 1965, the author grew up in Bombay (a.k.a. Mumbai) where he lived a life filled with adventure, wild escapades, much romance and romantic mischief, gorgeous girlfriends, delightful friends, pets of many kinds, several motorcycles, and with keen interests in wildlife, photography, books, theatre, music and poetry.
Neel Preet: Firstly, Congratulations on your book, “Sleeping Without The Maid!” What responses are you getting from this book of yours? Please share your experience about this book.
Jimmy Arujo:
Thank you. I am honestly humbled by your critical appreciation of my book and your good wishes for it. The responses to this book have been highly positive and very encouraging.
The most frequently received response has been happy appreciation for the format of the book. Having 365 stories, with one story on each page, makes the book very reader friendly.
Readers invariably reiterate that it is a delight to be able to open this book to any page and enjoy a good read, at any time, wherever they may be; on their porch or on a flight, in a train or somewhere out of sight, on their couch or while switching off out of touch.
Using the wonderfully expressive medium of poetry for sharing each story, has added a magical touch of exoticism, and this is resonating beautifully with readers from all over the world.
Writing this book has been a thoroughly exciting experience and a source of great personal joy for me, especially the thrill of revisiting so many memories. While working on this book, I reconnected with many precious old friends and cherished loved ones, reminiscing over happy reveries, and thereby connecting to even more memories.
That is why the stories in this book make up a well-stirred mixture of facts and fiction, of actual incidents given a touch of wonderment, through poetic licence and creative liberty.
Neel Preet: Your book isa wonderful collection of “Humorous & Witty Poems.” So, what inspired you to write these poems?
Jimmy Arujo:
There have been many sources of inspiration for all the exciting and unusual stories in this book which are in the form of poems. Many of these inspirations have their origins in incidents from my own life, including happy and naughty memories, good times spent with friends of all ages, working closely with interesting people, travelling to amazing places, letting my mind wander through happy daydreams, intense and insightful conversations that ranged from flippant to profound, happy interactions with colleagues and clients, laughing cheerfully in the convivial company of some very extraordinary persons, my own harmless yet wildly flirtatious nature, long and lazy walks by myself while being lost in vagrant thoughts, and much more.
These formed the basis of the inspirations for the stories, anecdotes, fantasies, facts and fiction that are contained in my book Sleeping Without The Maid.
Neel Preet: You’ve given a very interesting title to your book, which is very catchy too. So, what made you go for this title for your book?
Jimmy Arujo:
‘Sleeping WITH the maid’ is a rather risqué idiomatic phrase in English, which hints at mischievous undercurrents of straying outside the comfortable marital or betrothal playground, to engage in a mischievous and entertaining dalliance within or around the domestic fold; please pardon my pun.
My book’s title ‘Sleeping WITHOUT The Maid’ upturns that premise on its head, and gives love and lovers an entirely different dimension of underhand mischief that explores liberties far beyond the ordinary, while still being so real. That is because many of its stories are inspired by real-life situations and everyday drama, evoked emphatically by the infinite and immortal beauty of romance, whether socially acceptable or otherwise.
Interestingly, there is a very naughty story with exactly that same title, that readers are delighted to discover in my book. When they read that story, they easily understand – and cheerfully connect with – the humorous underlying mischief that inspired me to use this title for the book itself. Many of my readers have connected with me to share laughter and bandy banter over this particular story, apart from asking me about many other stories in this book.
Many readers easily relate to, and identify with, the characters in the stories and experiences that have been included in this book.
Neel Preet: What was your mind-set, while working on this book? What was the impetus behind this work of yours?
Jimmy Arujo:
My mindset has always been, just as while working on this book, pleasantly rooted in a happy-go-lucky simplicity in my approach to life and all my activities. I prefer to keep all options comfortably open to wild possibilities that can easily be given free rein with something as simple as a second glance, a stolen look, a quick whisper, a well-deserved compliment, a shared treat, a harmless smile, a coy caress, a dreamy look in someone’s eye, an adventurous suggestion, a crazy hint, turning up the volume at a certain phrase in a song, an open challenge, a wild dare, a heated argument, and just about anything that offers the chance to stray into forbidden undercurrents of human interaction, especially where many much-misunderstood dimensions of love, romance, dalliance, affairs, stolen moments and daring escapades are concerned.
If these memories, incidents, fantasies and adventures could bring so much joy to my life, I am sure that having expressed them interestingly in my book will bring the same joy to my readers. I have written each story in a lively and lucid manner that is easy to read, without taxing the mind or the clock. Each story takes up only one page. There are 365 unusual stories in this book that will brighten up any reader’s day or night, in seconds.
The reader can open the book to any page and read any story, and find themselves happily immersed in a fascinating world of fantasy, romance, intrigue, fun, mischief, suspense and much more. One of my friends who has read my book says that it has opened up 365 new worlds for her to explore and enjoy, again and again, because each story can be revisited as often as she chooses, and enjoyed all over again, just like the first time. I am sure that many readers will feel the same about the stories in this book; that they are amazing mood elevators of very unusual kinds.
Neel Preet: Well, after reading your amazing poems, my next question to you is that what keeps you fuelled to carry on your writing journey?
Jimmy Arujo:
The tight intensity of emotions of all kinds, and a keen interest in the way conventional human values are beautifully and intriguingly compromised by emotional extremes, continue to inspire my passion to examine emotions and relations from a variety of perspectives. They add new insights to memories, exciting angles to reveries, and fascinating colours to fantasies.
These accelerate many trains of thoughts to race on tracks leading off in many different directions, unchecked by preconceived notions that I keep at bay long enough for those thoughts to stray into deep valleys of playful misadventure or romantic adventure.
That allows my thoughts to spontaneously become romantic, racy, insightful, exciting, unusual, dreamy, playful, adventurous, revealing, shameless, shameful, immortal, immoral, or anything they choose to be. Each thought then serves as a spark for even more thoughts, or as fuel for more stories, or as tinder to kindle more creative fires in my mind.
Neel Preet: While reading your book, I found that your poems had some really strong emotions and stories inside them, which had greatly impressed me and thus I would like you to explain the overall theme of your book!
Jimmy Arujo:
The overall theme of the book is one of openly examining the possibility of liberation from deeply indoctrinated dogmatic notions. All of us grow up with a set of given rules and values that supposedly dictate correctitude in the direction to be taken when relating to discipline, fidelity, chastity, purity, eternal rewards, faith, hope, academic pressures, professional struggles, business ethics, and several other facts and factors of life.
These rules often hold us at ransom against our free will, while denying us the freedom to choose to live our life in whichever way we might want to – and have the right to – live it.
The amazing and beautiful truth is that life can be lived to its bountiful fullness, in whichever way we want to live it, so long as we don’t hurt others or ourselves, and so long as feelings, freedom and mutual respect are not compromised.
That is a liberty that is so easily and abundantly available to each one of us, yet so many of us either miss seeing it or refuse to accept that liberty, for whatever reasons. The fact is that to enjoy that liberty, all that we need to do is seek it, take it, own it, and live life to its fullest potential.
Through its 365 wild and unusual story-poems, this book aims to open the senses, spirit, heart, mind and soul of the reader to endless possibilities, while liberating the mind to explore thoughts, possibilities, extremes and life dimensions that may not have been visited or experienced before.
Neel Preet: Your writing seemed to be impeccable and you were bold with your poems in your book, which I really appreciate. Therefore, I want you to tell us about some of those writers, who have inspired you and whom you follow!
Jimmy Arujo:
To answer your question as accurately as possible, I will need to explain a bit about my school life.
Growing up, I was a rather sickly child, suffering from chronic bronchitis. That kept me out of school at least one or two days every week. To make matters worse, I was terribly bad at my studies.
My mother would often joke that the only thing that has more red lines (failing in any subject got its marks underlined in red) than my report card, is probably the US national flag. I was consistently ranked last in my class.
Surprisingly, there was another thing I was consistent at: I always topped my class in English. That really flummoxed all my teachers and both my parents, till I explained why.
Spending long hours in the waiting room of our family doctor’s clinic at least once or twice every week, surrounded by patients, coughs, sneezes, and the perpetual smell of antiseptics, there seemed to be only one thing really worth living for. It was a tiny magazine that was always there in that waiting room, the Reader’s Digest.
The stories and articles in the Reader’s Digest kept me enthralled to the point of mystique, admiration, hero worship and what else have you; even making me forget the fear of the dreaded but imminent injection needle.
For that priceless gift of reading that cheered me through my sickly childhood years, I will forever be indebted to DeWitt Wallace and Lila Acheson Wallace who co-founded this priceless treasury of stories and much more. They brought together the works of a multitude of fine writers in the Reader’s Digest, in an easy to read format that I could easily read, understand and enjoy, even as a child.
Furthermore, the Reader’s Digest inspired my life in yet another manner; with the wonderful advertisements in it. Those ads made me decide that I had to somehow get into the world of advertising. That is how I became a copywriter, and then a creative director, before I started my own business and my own advertising agency.
Neel Preet: Is there any message which you would like to convey to your readers? Or any piece of advice, which you would like to give to the readers out there!
Jimmy Arujo:
I would just beg, plead and sincerely implore people to read. Not necessarily my book or any book in particular, but to read. And to read with your heart. When you have read a bit, pause. Let your mind and heart wander.
Dream. Your dreams will take you to places and bring you joys that you never even thought could be possible.
Aim high. Do good. Challenge yourself. Be kind. Be polite. And read, read, read. When you watch a movie, you are merely seeing someone else’s interpretation of the imagination of an idea, or maybe even the dramatic, theatrical or visual interpretation of a book.
That interpretation has several limitations. The most important and obvious limitation is that it is not YOUR imagination. Very often, you wish that some other actor or actress should have been cast for a certain role in a movie; or that they could have greatly improved upon the location, the set, the placement of the props, the lighting, the camera angles, the background music score, the colours and style of the furnishings, and even the dialogues. That is your hidden creative talent begging you to start being actively creative.
However, with a book, your creative mind is not limited at all. You can imagine the story in your mind and heart in any manner that delights you.
When you read, you spin wheels inside your mind and heart and spirit and soul and body and being, to transport you into a world beyond your wildest imagination. Reading is the soul-fuel of future creativity for any generation.
For those who do not read, there will always be tools like AI to help them to write by hobbling on the crutches of someone else’s words. It will only help them to write for stunted artificial minds that are as moribund and dead as their own. But those who read can always write far better than any AI tool can ever hope to.
The measure of your success in life is directly proportional to the amount of reading that you do, to a far greater extent than all other factors put together. So, read as much as you can read in your lifetime. Create beautiful imaginations in your heart and mind. That will definitely help you in wonderful ways, to live your life to its best potential.
Another very important thing for all of us to do is to QUESTION. Never accept any rule or doctrine or teaching or anything without questioning and cross-questioning its purpose, reason, intent, relevance, reverence, rationale, meaning and importance in your life.
Blind faith and unquestioning belief are things of the distant past, and they often led to war, hatred, suspicion and worse. The future is being written by those who question what exists, are dissatisfied with the status quo, and dare to explore beyond known boundaries. Question everything and never be satisfied till the answers make complete sense to you.
Neel Preet: Are there any other books being worked by you? Please let us know about your future projects.
Jimmy Arujo:
I am working on two books, one of which is a prose version of Sleeping Without The Maid. It is written in the narrative story format for those who are not too keen about – or appreciative of – the poetry format that I have employed in Sleeping Without The Maid. It is a book that will also make the narrative language easier, for people who enjoy reading easy prose more than having to cope with the intelligent art of poetry. Of course, this book with the prose format has a different title that will be revealed when the book is published.
The other book that I am working on is an extensive collection of stories in the same poetry format as Sleeping Without The Maid. However, I must warn my readers that it is a whole lot more racy and naughtier than Sleeping Without The Maid. It is distinctly more multidimensional, and with an entire universe of new writing styles that I have created for my readers to enjoy.
Apart from that, I am working on a series of lectures and training programmes in creative writing for students, as part of intense, insightful and interactive courses in advertising, creative writing, and a new communication tool called Persuasive Intuitional Branding.
Neel Preet: Thank you so much for answering all my questions. All the very best to you for the future and for your book, too!
Jimmy Arujo:
I must be the one to thank you, for inviting me to this interview. The pleasure has been entirely mine, and I thank you for the well-structured questions that enabled me to explain more about my book Sleeping Without The Maid, and how it came to being published, to delight readers in a genuinely different and immersive manner that will hold their interest and entertain them cheerfully for years.
I would also like to express my gratitude to you for the wholesome encouragement that you have given me through the positive review of my book. It is highly appreciated and I am greatly indebted to you for this honest favour from the avid reader and well-qualified and experienced book critic that you are.
Order Jimmy Arujo’s book Sleeping Without The Maid
