Greenwood High student Arnay Agarwal authors unique book ‘Happy Holiday Medley’on vacation experience for children

Bangalore: At a young age when children are busy playing, here is a young boy spending his time thinking, reading and writing books. Arnay Agarwal, a 7th Grade student of Greenwood High International School has set a high precedent by publishing his first paperback, Happy Holiday Medley, an exhilarating and myriad account of his experiences in Bangalore during a Dussehra vacation in 2018. This book has been published by Amazon and is available on its platform across the world. An avid reader, Arnay started reading books at an early age of 6 and published 3 books by the age of 12. He has also published his e-books Adventure of Juno and Ira on Juggernaut in 2018 and Most Amazing Dussehra Vacations Ever on Kindle in 2019. His fourth book Mrs Clark is expected to be published soon by Amazon.

In the book titled Happy Holiday Medley which is spread over ten chapters, 12-year-old Arnay talks about how he had a completely out-of-the-world experience during the vacation which was different from the times when he with his family would visit different cities for holidays. This time during nine days of vacation, Arnay explored his own city. He came much closer to his own culture and traditions which are on the verge of disappearing due to modernization and fast-paced life. He also got a chance to learn new skills and meet new people. One such person he met was the great-grandson of Dewan of Mysore in the court of the erstwhile King of Mysore. The great-grandson is in his nineties, yet is very active. Arnay, who visited his house, saw beautiful pictures on the walls of the house going back 110 years. Arnay learnt many facets of the times and was in awe of some wonderful facts.

Commenting on the book, Arnay Agarwal said: “When I start writing, I get completely lost in the story. My imagination goes far and beyond and I feel I am also playing a character in my own story. After two years of hard work and persistence, the book is finally in our hands. It’s an amazing feeling to have a physical book published and I am very happy that my dream of a paperback has been fulfilled. With this, I will try and reach greater heights in the future.”

On the launch of the book, Arnay Agarwal’s mother Eva Agarwal said: “Most families with school-going children use vacation time for long tourism or to visit grandparents in faraway lands. We too go on tours or to Arnay’s grandparents’ place in North India, but this time was an exception. While Arnay may not have been pampered by his grandparents nor spent time on luxurious tours like his friends, he came across a plethora of events and an amazing series of experiences that otherwise could not be possible. He has reflected his experiences in this book.”

Commenting on his achievement, Ms. Niru Agarwal, Trustee, Greenwood High International School said: “These days many e-books are written but having a physical book published is a real challenge. I commend his perseverance and patience to realize his vision. Typically children of his age would go on tours during vacation, but Arnay picked up new things to learn and came across new experiences and published them as a book. It’s a wonderful achievement and I urge all students to emulate him. I extend my heartiest support to Arnay and his initiative and wish him all the success ahead.”

Currently, Arnay is writing another fiction book which is about a small town teacher whose life which was otherwise very simple suddenly turns upside down as an unexpected sequence of events follow. The book will be out soon.

Arnay has also written around 75 fictions, articles, book reviews etc. His stories have been published in India, USA and UK with various renowned publishers. His fiction and non fiction articles and stories are regularly published in various prestigious books and magazine. A news report written by him, “The impact of Online schooling on Teachers and students” secured its place in the Indykids newspaper, a well-known paper in USA. This story is soon going to be published. He conducted various interviews of teachers and students to prepare this news report.

At a very young age, Arnay Agarwal is known for his contribution towards welfare of children. He is the founder of the campaign named Reading Rhino where he encouraged reading and storytelling among the children. The multi talented, Arnay has also started a mission for kids of India known as Read Children Read. In this mission, every week he conducts free online book reading session for kids. He reads the books to the kids from his own home library, explanations the difficult words and helps them read too. This helps young kids in cultivating reading habits. He asks the children the one by one to read a page of the book and together all the kids finish reading a book in each session. Arnay plans to soon start a non profit society for children of low income families.

He is the winner of Budding Star in spelling bee 2016 international competition. He is also a mathematics tutor. He loves history, math and physics books, apart from fictional books.

Now, with his latest book, join the author on his journey of exploration. Enjoy the holidays with him and see the world from his eyes as he opens a treasure chest of vivid experiences.