I went on a short trip to Meghalaya in March. It is a very beautiful state and abounds in natural beauty and a very unique way of life. It was carved out as a state out of two districts of Assam. Even as you cross over from Assam into Meghalaya on the way from Guwahati … Read more
Last year, over a few weeks, I watched this series on Netflix – Stories by Rabindranath Tagore. It is an adaptation of some of the best short stories by Tagore spread over 26 episodes and directed by Anurag Basu. It captures the ethos of Bengal during that time in its characters, settings and narration. The … Read more
I recently read a book titled ‘The War of Art’ by Steven Pressfield. It argues that the writers’ biggest enemy is Resistance, and advocates ways to identify and deal with it. Here are my notes – part 2 from the book: Now consider the amateur: the aspiring painter, the wannabe playwright. How does he pursue … Read more
“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
When you are in a rush to publish your first book, in some ways, it is a good thing. The good thing is that you finish what you start. Most authors find it difficult to finish what they started – especially when it comes to their first book. So I was very happy when I … Read more
In Douglas Adams’ “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” the number 42 is the answer to the “Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything,” calculated by the supercomputer Deep Thought after 7.5 million years. Unfortunately, the question itself is never revealed. It is a parody on the futility of asking such questions. It is … 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
My notes and excerpts from the book Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Set 3 reproduced in this blog post for your reading: Remember that as it is a shame to be surprised if the fig-tree produces figs, so it is to be surprised if the world produces such and such things of which it is productive. … Read more