Techie wins Disney writing contest
By Suneetha

It was much more than a ‘Gayathri in Disneyland’ moment for NRI and Network Consultant Gayathri Ponvannan. She was recently declared the joint winner of a Disney Publishing Worldwide (India) Pitchkiaow literary competition where writers pitched an original idea for a children’s story. Ms. Gayathri won a purse of Rs 50,000 and Disney is currently helping her develop the story.

To participate, writers had to submit a 500-600 word synopsis and 800-1000 words of the first chapter. Gayathri shares some moments about her win with Techgoss.

Techgoss (TG): Let's start with some history and geography about you... 
Gayathri Ponvannan (GP): I’m currently working as a network consultant in Dubai, a job I landed through the usual MCSE-CCNA-CCNP route. Right now, my focus is more on network management and security, and I’ve been working on quite a few projects as a penetration tester.

My city of origin is Chennai, and I’ve never quite got over my affection for the place, in spite of all my years in exile! All my education was completed there (I’m an electronics and communications engineer). Marriage to an oil-field professional has brought me to Dubai - I’ve been living here for years now, and, despite my love for Chennai, I’m enjoying myself hugely!

TG: What’s your connection with the Muse? Have you written before? What do you like to write basically? What have you published so far?
GP: I love to write about child development, psychology, philosophy, fiction......basically anything with catches my fancy! Technical writing is of course, my domain, given my educational background - I’ve published a good number of white papers on network management, backup technologies, cloud computing, virtual environments etc. My non-fiction articles have been published in The Gulf News, The Hindu, various Technical / HR websites and in a number of Chicken Soup of the Indian Soul books.

TG: How did you get to the Disney stage? Tell us about how the participation, short-listing and winning stages
GP: I got to know of the contest through Chillibreeze – a website for Indian writers, and a media partner for the event. It simply seemed right, and I proceeded without further ado to submit an initial story synopsis and sample chapter. It was a huge surprise when my story was short-listed – I’d sent in the documents, and simply forgotten about them!

TG: What was the finale like? Would you elaborate on the processes that lead you to the win?
GP: Well, the short-listed contestants were invited to present our stories to an elite panel of judges in Mumbai. I’d opted out of the narratives / Audio-Video options, and settled for a Ppt presentation (figured all those presentations I’d made over the years would stand in good stead!). I didn’t expect to win though.....I was informed by Disney through mail - the instant between seeing that mail in my inbox, and actually reading it was simply heart-stopping!

TG: What do you feel about the win? How does your family see it?
GP: I’m ecstatic! I’ve always dreamed of writing a book- possibly many books, and this is a huge first step. My family – husband, kids, parents, are all thrilled..... My 10 year old, Pranav, is the very first one to read the chapters, and I since usually proceed with his approval, he considers the win an especial credit to him!

TG: What happens next with Disney?
GP: I’m currently working with their editors on completing the book.

TG: Does being a techie full time hold your Muse in anyway?
GP: Not much – in fact, I find writing extremely therapeutic....I simply pour out anything that annoys me, and consequently feel much better!