“I couldn’t find my place in a society that only accepts conventional love. Am I going to be accepted as I am? “, this is not just a question but a situation of life and death for Tina who is really asking this out. Tina is the lead character of the novel ” THE PURPLE COUCH ” penned by a brilliant writer Mrs. Sunaina Sindhwani. This novel is written on the real-life experiences of this BISEXUAL woman Tina, whose heart-trenching story inspired Mrs. Sunaina to write for the LGBTQ COMMUNITY. Although the publication of a novel on such sensitive issues was one of the biggest tasks, Mrs. Sindhwani fought for it successfully, and finally ” The Holistic Publishing house” which also hosts “The Great India Book Tour, TGIBT” published it in December 2022. A grand launch of the same novel “THE PURPLE COUCH” was done by Mr. Ram Dass Athawale, Minister of Justice and Women Empowerment, at a grand premium award show “MSME Star Awards,2022?, at Hotel Holiday Inn, Delhi. Sunaina was awarded as the best Social Author for her unmatchable contribution to society through her work of literature.
Later on, the Purple Couch got featured by many news channels; Aaj Tak, News 24/7, Bharat News, MH 1, News 18, News24, and many YOUTUBE channels as well. This novel loudly speaks about the fear of the LGBTQ community to get acceptance by our society. Through this novel, Sunaina has tried to put forward the pain and agony of a bisexual woman and dedicated this novel to LGBTQS. She shows how this community fight for even basic human rights throughout their lives. Although Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) have gained little tolerance and acceptance in India over the past few years, most of them are still remaining in the closet, fearing discrimination from their families, who might see homosexuality as shameful. Except for a few big cities, discrimination is widely prevalent in rural areas, where LGBT people often face high rejection from their families and are forced into opposite-sex marriages.
EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION
Sunaina Sindhwani was born in a middle-class family in Rohtak, Haryana. She has been very ambitious and hard-working since her childhood which was the reason why she was a topper in her academics. Along with academics, she excelled in sports and other extra-curricular activities too. Sunaina has a passion for singing and she has performed in various State Level Singing competitions too. After her graduation from the Govt College of Girls, she received a Gold Medal for her best academic performance all over the state of Haryana. Her phenomenal journey of academics landed her at Chandigarh Home Science College, where she bagged the only seat available in the field of Nutrition in the entire state. She passed her Masters in Food and Nutrition and then joined PGIMER, Chandigarh as a Diet Consultant. However, not everything went smoothly for her. She experienced a major mishap in her life, which caused her to suffer a mental breakdown and brain trauma. This led to her seeking treatment in Canada for 3 years, during which she was bedridden. The situation became so dire that she suffered from a small memory loss and was unable to recognize her children and husband. But her family supported her throughout this difficult time and acted as a strong pillar for her. Due to staying at home for 3 years, she lost her confidence. But gradually, she began to recover. Unfortunately, she received another devastating piece of news, that her close friend, Sakshi had committed suicide in Delhi. So, she returned to India in 2017.
INSPIRATION FOR HER DEBUT BOOK
A close friend of Sunaina, Sakshi, had committed suicide and when she talked to her friend’s husband, he gave her a diary that was maintained by the demised friend herself. He informed her that she committed suicide due to the exploitation taking place in the work culture. He pleaded with her to write about it and save other women facing the same issues. Although it was very hard for Sunaina to write at this time as she was still recovering herself, she didn’t want to let the topic remain untouched and unspoken. In 2017, Sunaina wrote her first book based on the real experience of her friend, Sakshi as mentioned in her diary and titled it “I BREATHE LAST FOR YOU”. The originality of this book shook the readers and they could feel the pain through each word of this novel. She received many accolades from authors and poets from Canada and UK. She also won Glorious India Award 2022 as the debut author in the Romance category. This is how her writing career started. She also got her degree as a clinical skin specialist and took on writing online assignments. Later she was also appointed as a content writer at the Times of Canada, where she worked for magnificent 5 years. She also participated in the Mrs. Punjab Pride Of Nation Contest in 2017. It was the time when Sunaina was doing every possible thing to get back her strength and positive attitude after beating up three long and dark years of depression. She claimed back her power in this contest and won the title of “Mrs. Catwalk”. A brilliant writer with a magnetic personality Mrs. Sunaina is a perfect example of beauty with a brain.
MESSAGE TO READERS
While Sunaina Sindhwani considers writing as her power, she also requests people to go through these books in order to understand the pain of others. While talking about her book “The purple couch”, she pointed out how being different is not a problem but being treated differently is the problem. ” Not just the individual needs to accept themselves, but family and society need to change their mindset and accept them fully as a dignified human, no less no more.” Sunaina Sindhwani strongly believes in helping and serving our society in the best possible ways. She says that Life is meant to be grateful and we have no right to judge someone else. We all are born with a purpose in our lives and we all should focus all our energies and efforts to fulfill that purpose. In the end, Sunaina gives one strong message to everyone, Be Grateful for what you have. Accept yourself the way you are. Everything starts with us and so is the change. Each Breath Counts and everyone has an equal right to live in whatever way they want to live.