Spartan Nandal arrived in Australia with his family in 2005 from the state of Haryana in India. He currently attends year 9 in Westbourne Grammar in Melbourne.
At 14, Spartan has some amazing talents.
He has recently been offered scholarships and invited by some of the top schools in the state for his sporting, academic and leadership skills.
He told SBS that by publishing his debut 300-page novel, ‘Thoughts’, he not only became one of youngest self-published authors in Australian history, but also one of the youngest around the globe.
While talking about his novel ‘Thoughts’, he told SBS that it was his first project and he is quite passionate about it.
“From designing the cover of the novel to editing the manuscript, I single-handily created ‘Thoughts’.”
“I didn’t contact any big publishers. I wanted to prove that one doesn’t need big corporations and organisations to help achieve dreams.”
“All you need is simply courage and hard work. If you have those two, there’s nothing you can’t achieve.”
“My debut novel will be launched around the world and will be for sale on many formats including paperback, hardback and e-book.”
“It will be available on iBooks, Amazon, Kobo, Kindle and 7,000 other retailers around the world in the upcoming months of this year.”
“I wish to donate a large percentage of my book revenue to charity.”
“At an age of 10, I suffered immensely from bullying and harassment by other students which severely affected my performance at school.”
“I was scared to go to school. It took me four years to bounce back.”
“During years of school bullying, I was asking myself a question what it means to be human.”
“My answer is in the form of my debut fictional novel. A human is combined form of four elements ‘Love, Hope, Courage and Refuge’.”
“My novel ’Thoughts’ is a story from the perception of a young boy who gradually becomes a man in a world which has scorned him.”
“His life would have no meaning – were it not for the people around him.”
While talking about his personal life, Spartan told that he is very thankful for the support he has from his family and friends.
“I don’t think we appreciate our family and friends enough. We simply do not realise how fortunate we are. Who you are is not in your hands, but what you are certainly is.”
“It’s certainly been a roller-coaster ride but one thing is sure, when it comes to bullying I will never go down again.”
At such a young age, Spartan has his own perspective of very profound issues, such as discrimination and intolerance of difference and ethnic background.
Spartan Nandal at SBS Studio, Melbourne (Photo by Balwinder Lally) Source: Photo by Balwinder Lally
“Racial and ethnic discrimination is everywhere; however, not everyone is involved.”
“A person should have the freedom to believe and follow what they want; they should not be discriminated and harassed for that.”
“Having ideological groups is not the problem in our global society; the problem is how we treat these groups.”
“The day we accept each other for who we are, that’s the day everything changes –and that change starts with you.”
Spartan Nandal speaks about his book 'Thoughts' (in English)
Book cover 'Thoughts' Source: Supplied
Told by the perspective of two lovers, mostly by the main character Sergio, ‘Thoughts’ is a slow-paced fictional novel combining the elements of drama, suspense, mystery, romance and horror to provide thrilling experiences for the reader throughout the book.
Whilst lost between the perceived reality of the world and the dark void left in his life by the disappearance of his mother, Sergio is forced to swim in the tide waters of his past which he knows he must not.
Along his journey, Sergio meets four vital characters which help the orphan shape his life. The characters are Hope, Love, Refuge and Courage. Each brings a new meaning to Sergio’s life. However, Sergio chases one character more than the others and comes to the realization that he has lost all. But it isn’t too late for Sergio to turn his life around -if he truly seeks it.
After exhaustion and coming to the realization that he is fighting for something which he doesn’t know exists anymore, Sergio is faced with a decision –to figure or flee the questions regarding his supernatural and mysterious life.
'The passage of time can dull many things, allow the body to reinvest energy elsewhere and heal small wounds. But it can never replenish old scars –they remain forever.'
Spartan shared some of his achievements with SBS:
“I was selected to represent the Australian Junior Athletics team on their tour to Canada in 2016, being one of the youngest to have been chosen to represent the nation at the global event.”
“I am a state athletics medallist where he competed at the 2016 Victorian Junior Track and Field Championships winning a medal in the event of Triple Jump.”
“I was selected to represent the Victorian State Athletics team at the Australian Junior Track and Field Championships at the National competition held in Perth, Western Australia.”
“I won an elite award in the 2016 Language Perfect World Championships for securing a position in the top 0.2% of the students out of 325,000 students from around the globe.”
