How much is a teacher responsible for shaping a student and how much of it is the student’s own making? How much does external training shape someone and how much is driven by internal traits and talent? How much of a student’s success and failure can a teacher be held accountable for? These are questions … Read more
After my first draft, my first round of editing is about getting the story right and sharp. In that round, I focus on getting the character, its conflict and the resolution of that conflict correct and smooth. My second (and usually last) round of editing is more technical and focused on finishing. Here is my … Read more
“Every time I am unhappy with the work scene, Raichand calls me and gives me some pep talk,” Swami told me and Jigneshbhai over his coffee the other day. We thought maybe he was telling us how he felt like a wanted employee due to that. But it turned out that he was not happy … Read more
It is instrumental to understand Dronacharya the teacher, his loyalties to Hastinapur and the throne, and his treatment of various students to understand the character and its motivations. Dakshina There was no doubt that Dronacharya had a favourable attitude towards two students, Ashwatthama and Arjuna. Out of them, Arjuna was probably his favourite student if … Read more
“You need to meet Varun, Swami. After all, isn’t he family for you? I heard that he is sad because his parrot in no more,” Raji Periamma interrupted Swami’s coffee the other day when she called him. Swami’s maternal aunt ordered him to do many things. Jigneshbhai and I knew that for the past twenty-five … Read more
50 isn’t very different from 49, I discovered the day after my 50th birthday. Did the above line catch your attention? I just wrote it as an experiment. When I started writing, a lot of courses told me that the first line of a story is very important. So, I cultivated this habit of noting … Read more
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
Birth The story of why the best teacher of Vedic culture was named Drona is a fantastic one. Legend has it that Bharadwaja, the great seer, while having bath, once saw an Apsara, a celestial beauty named Gritachi, having a bath at the same spot. It was one of the rare occasions when even a … Read more
One of the striking features of Bheeshma’s life was that he had the benediction to choose his time of death. One might feel that this was a blessing, which in fact it was. But the other side of it also meant that unlike others who have to wait for death irrespective of what happens in … Read more