Humiliated for speaking in Hindi to authoring 6 English bestsellers: Satyapal Chandra's story

Coming from a small village named Malhari, Gaya district, Bihar, Satyapal Chandra is well acquainted with poverty, helplessness, and violence. His parents struggled to make ends meet and providing Satyapal with an education was consequently difficult for them. Naxalite violence was also rampant at that time. However, against all odds, they decided to send Satyapal to Jharkhand for high school where he could not even buy a samosa outside the school premises. Satyapal finished his school education from SS High School, a government school in Chatra town, Jharkhand. He was aware of his family's financial condition; he did his part to not add any extra burden for his parents and compromised wherever he could.

Satyapal joined Anugrah Narayan College, Patna, for higher education with the belief that he could fight poverty only through education. Having studied in Hindi-medium institutions all his life, Satyapal had difficulty speaking in English. There was an instance wherein he walked into a fancy restaurant in Delhi and was insulted by the staff for speaking in Hindi. He immediately resolved to act on this incident which had impacted him deeply. He gave himself the time of six months to learn the language completely.

Satyapal was shifting from one odd job to another in Delhi when he realised he needed to quit working altogether. After gaining proficiency in the language, he started working on his first novel The Most Eligible Bachelor in 2011. Soon enough, the book got traction and Satyapal became a popular name in book stores. He even went on to publish six more novels in the next year itself. With a few friends, he founded OnlyLoudest, an online edutainment and infotainment portal.

Satyapal is also a lyricist, a screenwriter, a creative director. He never thought of his violence-ridden background and the lack of English-medium education as an encumbrance. He chose to move forward with a passion to learn English and employ that expertise in practice.

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