Among treadmills humming like distant traffic and dumbbells clinking in tired rhythm, I have found a species at the gym that is endlessly fascinating: Couples Who Work Out Together. They come in many forms, each a bundle of motivation, negotiation, love, and compromise. Over the past many weeks of observing different packages, I’ve come to … Read more
When I write dialogue, I often catch myself doing too much. Explaining, clarifying, justifying — as if my characters would lose their way without me holding their hands. But over time, I’ve learned that what’s left unsaid often carries more meaning than all the words I can string together. It’s the silence between two sentences … Read more
My flight to Amritsar landed at 12:30 pm.With admirable optimism and accurate mathematics, I assumed I would reach the hotel by 1. And I did—as efficiently as a person with one backpack and no checked-in baggage can. What I hadn’t accounted for was the small but mighty detail printed clearly on my booking:Check-in: 3:00 pm. … Read more
There is this quintessential image of a writer trying to write at his desk but unable to. A pile of crumpled paper that he keeps throwing into the bin, every now and then, when his writing frustrates him. In today’s digital world, there is no such visible pile. But in my experience, there’s still a … Read more
When I feel as if I am under-appreciated and under-read or I am pining for whatever external validation I might be seeking today for the work that I do as a writer, I think of the Voyager. It was a NASA mission whose explicit objective was to photograph objects in the outer solar system. And … Read more
Most of our adult lives revolve around jobs and money. But ask two people what a job is for, and you’ll get two different answers. Ask them what money is for, and again the answers will vary. The truth is, our views on these two things reveal more about us than we realize. I spent … Read more
Have you ever heard of Engineer’s Block?An engineer saying, “I can’t think of what to code.” Or Doctor’s Block?A surgeon saying, “I’m stuck, I can’t decide what to tell my patient.” Or Plumber’s Block? Electrician’s Block? No one’s ever heard of them. And yet, “Writer’s Block” is spoken of as if it’s a real thing … Read more
When I turned writer, I never told anyone that I was just a writer. In my corporate years, the dreaded question — “What do you do?” — had a simple answer: “I work for …” The company name changed over two decades, but the conversation stopped there. No one asked more, no one expected more. … Read more
Once I decide to write a story based on a character, I have realised that I must see the world the way he or she sees it. I can’t see it from my viewpoint. I can’t come in the way. Otherwise, I run the risk of I and my worldview entering the character’s story. If … Read more