Interview of Jayantibhai Patel, founder of Pustakalay.com

Jayantibhai Patel

Jayantibhai D. Patel, runs pustakalay.com an online Public Gujarati Library which gives full novels for reading for free. The site has Jokes, cartoons, poems and various articles for the readers. He is a retired and lives in USA for last 19 years.

Speakbindas, had online conversation with him, where he shares his thoughts on Pustakalay.com

Speakbindas

• Jayantibhai, welcome to Speakbindas.com. Tell us about you, your roots, your profession etc.

Jayantibhai Patel

• I am native of Bakrol (Anand). Was born in July 1935. Was raised and studied in Bakrol and Vallabh Vidyanagar.

• Worked as youth social worker in Bakrol for as many as fifteen years.

• I started to write novels in 1968. Today I have ten novels to my credit. Some have three and some have two editions published.

• Married to Sushila Patel in 1960.  We have two daughters and two sons all living in different states of USA.

• I came to USA in 1990. Worked three years in motel and run own motel for more than six years and retired in 2001. I am living with my younger son Chintan in South Carolina, USA

• I started to understand computer from beginning in 2001.

Speakbindas

• You run a very popular site, pustakalay.com. What it is all about? What topics you cover in the site?

Jayantibhai Patel

• Pustakalay.com is a public library. I am trying to post Novels, Short Stories, Poems, Cartoons, Jokes, Books on other topics. As other writers have started to give their books to post on pustakalay it is growing every day.

• Last year ETV, ZTV, Divya bhaskar Gujarati daily and Chitralekha honoured pustakalay by giving good coverage.

Speakbindas

• What inspired you to start the initiative of pustakalay.com. What were the driving forces that helped the site receive visitors?

Jayantibhai Patel

• There was no Gujarati Sahitya online then. I was writing and practicing on computer mean while two novels were written. Then I as getting familiar with computer and Internet and was in America where Internet was quite handy, I thought that it would be better idea to start public library online. My younger son Chintan is computer programmer and I was living with him after retirement. He helped me lot in starting the web site.

Speakbindas

• Being a senior citizen, how can you cop up with the latest internet technologies such as your website?

Jayantibhai Patel

• There are lot plus points in it.
• My son is computer programmer and is always ready to help me.
• As I was retired, I had ample time to spare.
• As I was in America where lot teenagers knew more than me about computer and I was not ashamed to ask them if I want some trouble.
• And my elder son Dr. Yatin was ready to buy me new laptop when I broke the old one. (Until now he has bought three laptops and believe me I have broken all of them in last six years.)
• So I was free to learn new at the risk of my laptops. So I learnt by trial and error method about web, tricks and lots of other tricks and short cuts.

Speakbindas

• What are the geographical status of pustakalay.com? In other words, from which countries people visit the site most?

Jayantibhai Patel

• It should be widely read from India but as Internet is not so handy in India my pustakalay is widely read in America, then from England then India and Australia.

Speakbindas

• Apart from you, anyone else is a part of pustakalay.com team?

Jayantibhai Patel

• Right now there is no one in it but at the age of 75 I wish some one should take responsibility.

Speakbindas

• Do you yourself write too? If yes, share with us the journey of your writing.

Jayantibhai Patel

• Yes I write a lot. I have ten Gujarati novels and some short stories and some poems and shayries to my credit right now like: (1. બેગમ, 2. મેલા મનનું માણસ, 3. મનેખ માટીનાં, 4. ધરતીનો બીજો છેડો, 5. ગોમતીગઢનો ખજાનો, 6. વરણાગીલાલ, 7. જો થઈ છે, 8. વસમા ઓરતા, 9. અંતાણી નિવાસ. 10. સમણાં) આ બધી નવલકથાઓ પુસ્તકાલય.કોમ પર મૂકેલી છે અને પુસ્તકરૂપે પ્રસિધ્ધ પણ થઈ છે.

Speakbindas

• What really motivates you to keep adding new articles, books etc. to website? We see that, the website has no advertisements whatsoever. Do not you wish to have an earning revenue system through the site?

Jayantibhai Patel

• If you see my two guest books in pustakalay you may know how my readers love pustakalay and always asking for new addition in it. That encourages me to post some thing in pustakalay. I have not thought about earning from pustakalay yet.

Speakbindas

• Does pustakalay.com accept articles for the writers and authors? Is there any terms for submitting articles to pustakalay.com?

Jayantibhai Patel

• Yes there are terms and conditions for writers which I have posted in pustakalay page.

Speakbindas

• Apart from pustakalay.com, what fills the list of your ‘passions’?

Jayantibhai Patel

• Surfing the web, learning web tricks and implement them on my web. and watching Gujarati natak and Hindi movies online.

Speakbindas

• What message you would like to give to those senior citizens, who are retired and feel that time is killing them?

Jayantibhai Patel

• Retirement is short way to death. all retiree should be active in the activity they love. I can’t advise them to follow me. I became coach potato with laptop on my lap 10 hours a day and had injured my health. Please spare some time for exercise if want to follow me.

Speakbindas

• What’s your take on today’s Gujarati youth?

Jayantibhai Patel

• They should know that books and computers are more important in their lives than cell phone and TV.

Speakbindas

• Any special message you would like to share with pustakalay.com’s fans and readers?

Jayantibhai Patel

• As they love pustakalay I love them the same way. They asks for books from famous writers to be posted in pustakalay but it is hard to get their permission for that. I am trying and some day I will get some of them on pustakalay. Please tell others about pustakalay.