Yashodhana's Adventures in Life and Fiction
These first 20 years of Yashodhana Raj's life have been an adventurous journey – being born and growing up in India, then moving to Israel and now Italy to study at Università Bocconi. And now Yashodhana has transferred this sense of adventure onto the pages of her novel, Dragon in My Heart, which she has just self-published on the Internet.
The 331-page book begins, in fact, as a straightforward story of a teenage girl growing up in India, but quickly transforms into a vivacious tale of adventure and mystery as the girl discovers she in fact a fire dragon, a Vraishk, in human form.
"It is a story about a young girl's journey through love, choices, circumstances and adventure – which in the end is a voyage of change and self-discovery," explains Yashodhana, whose passion for literature began at an early age. She grew up reading the likes of R.K. Narayan, Charles Dickens, Roald Dahl and Jhumpa Lahiri and when she was 15 had a poem about the terrorist attacks, 'Carrying the Gun,' published in a Mumbai newspaper.
"I've been writing this book on and off for about 3 years and it is a great satisfaction to have completed it and to have received positive feedback about it. Rather than keep it for myself and my family and friends I preferred to render it public on the Internet for anyone to read. And I certainly plan to keep writing!" she says.
The book can be download here: www.dragoninmyheart.com
Yashodhana is currently in Milan studying in the second year of her Bachelor in International Economics, Management and Finance (BIEMF) at Bocconi. "I wanted to study in Europe, to experience a new culture and found the BIEMF a very interesting and comprehensive programm And the prospect of living in Milan was also fascinating," she explains.
Yashodhana is also an intern at the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) in Vienna – the association of research institutions and scholars active in the study of the role of the UN and in general of multilateral relations and international cooperation. "With this organization I am very active on gender-related themes and in particular raising awareness on the issue of femicide around the world. Last year we organized a symposium at the United Nations in New York to promote the ACUNS-initiated resolution on "Taking Action Against Gender-Related Killing of Women and Girls" which was then adopted by the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (Third Committee) of the UNGA. This was a great satisfaction and this international field is one that could interest me in the future for my professional career," says Yashodhana.