The impeccable smile hides the romantic soul within. L. Aruna Dhir, the Marketing Communications Manager at The Oberoi, is a picture of contradiction, which is apparent from her name. Very few know that the very dignified sounding `L' stands for Lucky. ``Sometimes I feel quite like a duck,'' she admits, ``peacefully floating on the surface but madly paddling underneath.''These days, Dhir is quite excited, with good reason. Two volumes of her `popular literature' poetry - Love Never Changes and Friendship is Forever - were launched by Archies yesterday. The compilation of 40-odd poems on love and friendship are the work of over six years. ``I wrote my first poem when I was about eight,'' remembers this 31-year-old, who grew up in Dehra Dun after her father passed away, ``I had no siblings and my imagination was my only companion.''While doing her post-graduation in psychology from Dehra Dun University, Dhir began writing for the local papers. When she moved to Delhi for her M Phil at Jawaharlal Nehru University, she freelanced for some national dailies. ``I wrote on everything from the conditions of Jaunsar tribals to what teenagers' ideas on life were,'' she says. It was when she began working on her PhD at JNU that she realised she wasn't cut out to be just an academic.That's why when she got a job as Copy and Design Coordinator with Archies, Dhir grabbed it. ``I had no idea what the job entailed but I began to compose original messages for their cards, something that had been never done before,'' she says. Her Ehsaas collection 18 cards with a mushy message in each did so well that it has gone into reprints and is marketed in over seven countries.``Though I was doing very well, I felt I didn't have enough work,'' says this workaholic, who's mastered the act of juggling her time. Next Dhir took up the job of Media Relations Officer at the Australian High Commission but it didn't end there. Apart from freelance writing, she also moonlighted as a radio jockey on FM and an anchorperson with Doordarshan. ``The first time round, my knees turned to jelly, but I soon learnt the ropes,'' she smiles, ``I dealt with everything from dial-in shows to travel programmes to social issues.''But through it all, she knew her first love was writing. ``When I am alone with my thoughts, there are no masks and I can be what I really am,'' explains Dhir. And this is just the beginning for this optimist. ``I know my poems won't appeal to the litterateur, they are very much for the masses,'' she says. ``My poems deal with people, relationships, Nature and God. It appeals to the emotions all of us feel but hesitate to express.''While her own idea of romance has ``matured'' over the years, Dhir is by no means a cynic. ``I dream with my eyes open all the time,'' she says, ``Of writing a highly successful novel, of living in a cottage by the sea, of being perfectly happy with my loved one''.
