A Happy New Year 2024 to Everyone! I recently watched a series on Netflix called ‘Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones’. It is a documentary on a set of zones in the world (called Blue Zones) which consist of the highest percentage of centenarians as compared to the rest of the world. The … Read more
When I started writing, I wrote because I loved writing. The simple act of creating something – a story, an article, a character, a novel – gave me pleasure, and, whether it was good or bad, pushed me to create writing. It was a good enough reason. It was a privilege to be able to … Read more
My friend who climbed Everest last month told me about the dangers of Khumbu Icefall. It is a treacherous section from base camp to Camp 1. What makes it dangerous is not just the technical difficulties of negotiating it but the fact that it is on a moving glacier. What that means is that it … Read more
When I first started writing, more than the actual writing, I spent a lot of time on reading about writing. Later, after reading a lot about writing, I realised that my time is best spent in the actual writing, going forward. But at that point in time, when I was new to writing, publishing and … Read more
As a writer, I met a lot of editors and some publishers, especially a few years back in the early days. Most of them asked me what genre do I write in? I had to actually go through a pre-defined list to choose as I didn’t know what to answer. But I settled on realistic … Read more
While writing a story idea, I generally do not know the exact end. But it is important to broadly know what happens next. At the idea level, I start the story with a particular character and the conflict that the character is facing, and a general sense of the setting. For example, it may sound … Read more
In the old world, when you went out grocery shopping, you told the shopkeeper what you wanted and then he would go and get it. He would stock everything he knew you are going to need, and wait for you to drop in when you need replenishment. In the old world, auto and taxi drivers … Read more
The morning sun reached the centre of the sky. Even in full brightness, Lakhinath Kaman looked like a ghost. He sat with a straight back on his second-hand two-wheeler. No beeps on his phone. Not a single phone call. No one thought of calling him. The only calls he received in the past week were … Read more
Stephen King rightly said that writing is a lonely job, so writers should primarily write for themselves. He also said that his writing is mainly for his wife, who is also his first reader and honest reviewer. I have learnt this too. I started writing mainly for myself as a form of expression. And my … Read more