Money makes all the difference—Rajya Singh learnt this at a very young age when circumstances pushed her family to a state of financial distress. So much so that the family could not even support the kids’ education at government schools that offer free education.
In any case, there was no private education available in her ancestral place Chhangapur, a nondescript village with less than 2,000 people, 24 km south of the district headquarter of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh.
Rajya, however, was born in Nallasopara, a small town within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, where her father—a diamond labourer—stays. Rajya spent her formative years in Mumbai where she studied till sixth standard. Unfortunately, she had to return to the village, Chhangapur, after her mother had fallen sick.
At that young age, Rajya’s world suddenly seemed like ‘upside down’—from the city that never sleeps to a sleepy village where life was restricted, especially for girls. “Back in the village, life was very different. My grandfather was very strict. Girls back here are barred from doing anything that exposes them to the outer world. So much so that girls are not allowed to use phones in our village,” says Rajya.
Having spent her initial years in Mumbai, Rajya was exposed to a world where girls are successful, and can do almost everything. She did not want to give up. She managed to sneak in her phone to explore. One day, she stumbled upon Secret Superstar and then Kashi – Ek Prem Kahani on Pocket FM which eventually changed her life. She decided to write.
“Some years of my life were very bad. There were so many financial problems that no one in our house could study,” says the 22-year old who has already made a name for herself as a writer on Pocket Novel, the online reading platform of audio series company Pocket FM. “Since then I have learned that no matter what happens in life, there should be money, I have seen my entire family getting worried every day,” adds Rajya, the daughter of a diamond labourer who she looks up to as her “role model”.
Not just her childhood, financial constraints continued to haunt her even years after. Rajya could not pursue her dream of studying media. But her determination and ‘never give up’ attitude overturned every hurdle. She started writing—something she believes takes her “away from all her troubles for a while”.
What started as an escape has ultimately established her as a writer who is read by millions of people today. Today Rajya has seven published fictions—Ishq Junoon Aur Yaariyan, Tere Ishq Ki Deewangi, My heartless Lover, Burn For You, Chahat Ka Nasha, Kis Mod Pe Layi Aashiqui and Tabahi Mohabbat Ki— on Pocket Novel. Of these, Burn For You has received the most readership (15.7 million), followed by My heartless Lover that has been read more than 14.6 million times on Pocket Novel.
Rajya’s success has not stopped there. Pocket FM has transformed one of her novels—My Heartless Lover—into an audio series spanning over 51 hours. With a 4.5 rating, the show has received more than 4.8 million plays on Pocket FM App.
“Pocket FM has supported me a lot financially. Today I am an independent person,” says Rajya who has shifted to Mumbai, the City of Dreams, a couple of years back.
“We are extremely happy to see our writers evolving and growing with us… Our vision has always been to empower the writers’ community across the world by giving them access to millions of audiences, and helping them to attain independence,” says Rohan Nayak, co-founder and CEO, Pocket FM.
Her next stop, Rajya says, should be Bollywood. She desires to see her stories being transformed into movies by directors like Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Karan Johar.
For Rajya, the journey has just started.
