{"id":5941,"date":"2017-05-02T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-09-12T15:45:37","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T19:45:37","slug":"so-your-character-is-from-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/so-your-character-is-from-india\/","title":{"rendered":"So Your Character is From India … Featuring Shanti @ Virtually Read & Rachna @ Rachna’s Scriptorium"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It’s time for this week’s So Your Character is … Post! This is a weekly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I’m hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven’t checked out last week’s  So Your Character Has Autism … be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!<\/span><\/p>\n

Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts are as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.<\/span>
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Shanti is a blogger and high school student. She lives in India and never quite knows how to respond when people ask her where she\u2019s from. She loves reading and writing YA, and spends her spare time, editing her high school newspaper, cooking, running, and hanging out with her family. <\/span>
\nBlog<\/a>\/\/Twitter<\/a>\/\/\/Goodreads<\/a><\/span>
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My name is Rachna Chhabria. I live in Bangalore (India). I\u2019m a children\u2019s author (The Lion Who Wanted to Sing, Bunny in Search of a Name, Lazy Worm Goes on a Journey<\/i>). I\u2019ve published over fifty short stories in the children\u2019s supplement of two English newspapers. I taught creative writing in a college for several years. I freelance for four Indian newspapers, writing features and book reviews. I\u2019m a book monster. I need to read every day. I\u2019m also obsessed with writing and working-out. Food, namely ice-creams, cakes, cookies, and chocolates are my weakness.<\/span>
\nBlog<\/a>\/\/Facebook<\/a>\/\/Twitter<\/a>\/\/Linked In<\/a><\/span>
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\nWhat do you feel is unique to your country? Landmarks? Celebrations?<\/b><\/span>
\nShanti: <\/b>India is a country of over a billion people, and it\u2019s huge, so there are a lot of unique things. One I can mention is its religious diversity\u2014I live in a pretty small town, but within half an hour\u2019s walk I can find a Buddhist stupa, Hindu, and Jain temples, a mosque, and churches of a variety of denominations. <\/span>
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\nIn terms of landmarks: <\/span><\/p>\n