“I am fed up with Raichand,” Swami told us the other day over coffee. Jigneshbhai and I ignored it. That was nothing new. “So, I got onto LinkedIn to look for a new job.” That made us look up. It had been a while since Swami had done either. “It has changed a lot,” he … Read more
I recently took an online session on this topic ‘Travel (Inspired) Stories in association with Rustik Travel. I spoke about the different types of travel writing with popular examples in each category. These included Commercial Travel Writing (Guides, Destination Pieces, Blogs, Reference Books), Travel Narratives Nonfiction (Essays, Articles, Memoirs, Travelogues, Odysseys) and Travel Literature Fiction … Read more
I went to Loktak Lake near Imphal in Manipur in Dec 2021. It is a huge freshwater lake, that looks like an inland sea. It is like a living lake with fishermen and farmers living on various floating islands called ‘Phumdi’ locally. Loktak has a lot of history associated with it. When we took a … Read more
“The other day I was watching Kal Ho Na Ho with my family again,” Jigneshbhai said when we met for coffee last weekend. That was an old movie. But Swami and I looked up as we had watched that many times over. “Do you remember that charged up scene where SRK reads out a letter … Read more
Over coffee last weekend, Swami leaned forward with the earnestness of a man about to reveal a government scam. “You won’t believe what happened at our apartment association meeting,” he said. “It was all about stray dogs.” Jigneshbhai raised an eyebrow. “At least they found a subject where everyone can bark together.” Swami ignored him. … Read more
Here is my written interview that International Book Promotion published recently. You may also read it here: IBP Interview Where are you from? I am from Bangalore India Why do you write? I write to entertain and to provoke thought What do you write about? I write short stories and am the creator of the characters Jigneshbhai and … Read more
It was exactly five years back that I started writing my first novel – on this day. Since then, I have stuck to writing as one of my primary preoccupations, resulting in publishing many more books. That doesn’t necessarily qualify me for advising anyone on writing. But at the very least, it qualifies me on … Read more
“When a piece of music is good, it gets a lot of claps,” Jigneshbhai said last weekend. At the cafe, the instrumental music of Ustad Zakir Hussain was being played. Swami and I were engrossed in listening to it. “When a piece of music is great, it gets silence,” Jigneshbhai added, and that struck us. … Read more
“Raichand posted a message in our group over the weekend,” Swami reported over coffee, voice tight with irritation. “Urgent meeting. Monday morning. Subject: Annual Goalsetting.” One week into the new year, and his holiday glow had vanished. “So now you must be having complete clarity about your annual goals, presumably,” Jigneshbhai said calmly, stirring his … Read more