Mark Rocha.

Mark Rocha is an individual with multiple talents. Through the course of his career, he has donned various hats, including that of an RJ, an emcee, a communications coach, a corporate trainer, and a features writer for a Goan daily.

Apart from this, he has also worked as a content curator for ItsGoa and is currently working as a project manager at Kilowott. He is also a published author and has written 3 books. His third book, ‘Cross Connection-Author’s Edition’, was published recently and is available for purchase on various ecommerce sites.

In a brief conversation with ItsGoa, Mark shared insights into his life, his career, his love for writing, his book Cross Connection and lots more…

Tell us a bit about yourself. I am from Goa, but I was born and raised in Dubai. I returned to India after completing high school and started college in Goa at St Xavier’s College in Mapusa, where I majored in Mass Communication.

What were your hobbies when you were a kid? I was (and still am) obsessed with reading, writing, and making music. I play the guitar and sing, and have been a part of various bands since the age of 16. I started writing seriously at the age of 14 though, and have made a career out of it.

What was your childhood ambition?

As early as I can remember, I always wanted to become a teacher and an entertainer, which is why I got into music and even did a bit of theatre and comedy. But as time went by, I realized that if there was one thing I wanted to be remembered for, it was my writing which is why I took writing more seriously with the aim of becoming a published author. I even took up corporate training to fulfill my ambition of becoming a teacher. I regularly give guest lectures at colleges across Goa on topics that range from writing to mass communication, to digital marketing.

When did your interest in writing begin?

I wrote my first poem, ‘The Lamb’, sitting at my dining table when I was 7 years old. My parents thought it was really good, and their encouragement spurred

Mark Rocha

me to follow it up with more poems. When I was 14, I participated in a competition on poetry.com. To my surprise, my poem ‘My Anger Is Destruction’ was chosen to be published in their coffee table anthology of poetry. I was also awarded a medal for my work. That early success and recognition really motivated me to keep writing more poems.

Give us a detailed picture of your professional career after you completed your higher studies. Right after I graduated from college, I got into the media industry and worked as a radio presenter with Radio Indigo. I hosted a show called ‘Cruise Control' for 3 years before moving to Bangalore to work as a corporate trainer. After 4 years in training, I returned to Goa where I did a short stint in journalism before taking up emceeing and show-hosting full time. A couple of years later, I joined Hard Rock Hotel Goa as their Vibe Manager for three years, after which I moved into content creation and digital marketing at Kilowott.

We have heard that you were diagnosed with endstage renal failure in 2017. How shocking was it for you when you were told that you are suffering from this problem and that you will have to go for dialysis at regular intervals for life?

Like anyone receiving news like that at the age of 30, it definitely was a kick to the gut - or in my case, my kidneys! This is not something that I could have ever expected, since I had a fairly healthy lifestyle all my life. But it was the hand that I was dealt, and it took me some time to come to terms with the fact that this could either be a full stop, or a comma. I chose to make it the latter.

How did you deal with the emotional and mental trauma that you must have faced when you were told that you suffer from this problem? Also, who were the people who supported you morally and emotionally during that time? My writing helped me to cope with the problem emotionally. I wrote a lot during that time when I was told that I am suffering from this illness. Well, I didn’t specifically write about the problem, but I used my writing and music as a way to channel my emotions. A few years into it, I published my second book, ‘Resurrection’, as a summation of those emotions. The book dealt primarily with love and acceptance and became an outlet for me - something to divert my energies into. However, I never ever felt like I was alone on this journey. I’m so thankful to have an amazing family, close friends, and most importantly, my wife Sheraline who has been my support system throughout all of this. I definitely would not have had the strength to carry this heavy cross without their help and support.

What were the challenges that you faced after you were diagnosed with renal failure? And how did you overcome them?

I chose not to look at the disease I am suffering from as a challenge. I kind of accepted that I was meant to be on this journey. So with that in mind, I chose to push forward and made this a part of my life, just like anything else. I remember that in the early days of my illness, when I was still new to dialysis, I was talking to my friend Ophelia about how angry I was that this had to happen to me, and how difficult it was to stay positive about it. And she told me, “you were chosen to bear this cross. This is not something that you need to do for yourself because you were chosen to be an inspiration for others. When people look at you and see just how amazing and positive you are despite what you are going through, it gives them a lot of hope.” And I took that to heart and I believe that that is my purpose in life.

Even though I have to go for dialysis every other day, I’m so thankful to be working in a company like Kilowott that is so supportive of my illness and allows me to take the time I need to go for dialysis. I’m truly grateful for their love and positivity. Right from the start when my friend Aaron, (who runs the company) and his brothers Judah and Caleb offered me a position here, they told me that they would do

whatever they could to support me, and that meant a lot to me. I can’t thank them enough for being there for me when I needed them the most.

Give us a brief overview of your book ‘Cross Connection’?

My writing has always veered toward the darker side of human emotions - angst, depression, jealousy; but in it are moments of clarity and light. When I sat down to compile my first book, I had hundreds of poems in there, and it was extremely overwhelming and I thought no one is going to want to read so much! And so, I centered my first book ‘Fallen’(released in 2012), around those darker emotions. My second book, ‘Resurrection’ (published in 2019), deals with love, hatred, jealousy, and everything associated with that. What was left was all the spiritual stuff that I had written, and newer work which wasn’t around when I was compiling the first two books.

So ‘Cross Connection’ became something that deals with faith and doubt, and is more spiritual compared to my previous two books.

We have heard that there are two versions of your book ‘Cross Connection’- a Standard Edition and an Author’s Edition. What's the difference between the two versions of the book? Cross Connection (Standard Edition) is an anthology of poems that were written during a 21-day writing challenge organised by BookLeaf Publishing. In the challenge, writers were asked to write one poem for each of the 21 days of the challenge. Though the challenge produced the book ‘Cross Connection’, it also presented to me an opportunity to expand on it with this special Author's Edition.

Unlike the standard version that adheres to the basic 21 poem challenge, the Author's Edition goes even further, featuring 15 extra unreleased poems. The book inside has also been completely redesigned, featuring a unique typeset, and a pop of colour in the Kindle eBook version. Since Cross Connection is only available in paperback in India, the Author's Edition has been made available worldwide through the KDP platform.

Were there any incident/s that took place in your life which inspired you to write this book? No specific incident, but many experiences in my own personal spiritual journey. You’ll find a lot of references from Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’, Dante’s ‘Inferno’, and even The Bible in the book. I used to read a lot in my twenties, and so it’s hard to miss a lot of those literary references.

What's the story behind the book being titled 'Cross Connection ?

Cross Connection is the title of one of the poems which references the death of Christ. It closes with the observation that Jesus, the son of a carpenter and a carpenter himself, died at the hands of his own profession, on a wooden cross.

Finally, any message that you would like to share with our readers, especially the youth? Yes; please read and write - correctly. It’s an absolute and downright shame, that in this day and age, youth are still not able to use simple words like there/their, you’re/your, or it’s/its correctly. On top of that, they insist on using unnecessary contractions like ‘m’ for I’m/am or ‘d’ for the. With autocorrect and unlimited character messaging, I fail to comprehend why kids insist on communicating so shoddily. This unfortunately translates into not being able to write essays or answer examinations in correct syntax. This can easily be remedied by reading more and writing with purpose - even in the most mundane communications. There was a time when we had 140 character limits on text messages, and so had to get creative to communicate efficiently. But that is no longer the case - and so I urge the youth of today to please read more, and write better.