It's time for some more of those gems -... he just wants to say that they are too nervous to make good but is describing by writing so many words for it.The poem has very shocking connotative and also short story plot used.The priest was just chilling out. (Commentary on The Eve of St. Agnes)The sound is attach as well as detach.They all were behaving very badly everyday and then at night all of them just some their problems and the make each other cry and laugh and when they have to apologize, they are forgiven.The setting of this essay was done to show the enthusiam between the people and it made it too creative and contractive.When Nay Cathy died they did'nt even knew this would happen and they started shouting and without thinking Joseph ran through the wind and storm and fetched the doctor and brought him, by the doctors response they could'nt realise how, when all … [Read more...]
Radha and Krishna – the eternal romance
Radha and Krishna sit together in the forest, making sweet small talk. The trees, creepers and deer are all around. It's beautiful.A dancer and I sat together on a small wooden table, getting into the mood of the moment. Dancers surrounded us, creating the atmosphere of trees, creepers and deer. A peacock was supposed to enter the scene and my teacher was choreographing that sequence. 'Radha' and I, sitting together, continued what we were supposed to do. A tree and creeper decided to take a break and watch us instead.I didn't notice them looking.'Radha' lowered her eyes, smiling shyly. "My lens is blurred," she muttered.I smiled back, watching her face. "I know. Mine too. Been wearing lenses all day."We became conscious of the others looking at us."Y'all look so good together!" exclaimed the 'Creeper'.'Radha' and I revealed the romantic conversation that we had just shared … [Read more...]
The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club fits so perfectly under the heading 'unusual'. It's unusual in every way. The language is unusual. The structure is unusual. The name is unusual.I love the idea of stories of motherhood, and I love stories that do not have a simplistic conclusion. Each story in this collection is the story of a mother and her daughter against a Chinese-American socio-cultural backdrop. Mother and daughter struggle to fit in, while retaining a Chinese identity. Mother and daughter speak a foreign tongue. Mother tries to curl her tongue around ideas that do not have their equivalent in the new language. Daughter tries to achieve, tries to over-achieve, tries to find a place. Mother wants the best for her daughter and tries to find the balance between two nations separated by an ocean.Going back home to China means travelling westwards to reach the east. Of course the novel … [Read more...]
On Two Feet and Wings
I'm a slow reader. Despite the fact that I love reading, I take my time over books. Sometimes, I take weeks to finish a book, even one I enjoy.On Two Feet and Wings was not like that. I would never have expected a book based on a true story to have transported me into a world I do not know at all. Powerful, moving, pacy - what cliched words these are! But each of them is apt.I started reading Abbas Kazerooni's story only because someone gave me On Two Feet and Wings for my birthday. When I started reading it, I didn't know what to expect.But I loved every moment and every page - I'm tempted to say that I loved every word.The innocence and pathos in the story reached out to me - I haven't been touched like that in a long time.I saw the dirty alleys of Istanbul, smelled the dank sheets, drank the tea and cringed at the cockroaches in the bathroom. I saw a precocious nine-year-old … [Read more...]
Responses to Ethics
Delighted with the response!In addition to many, many mails, this is on the "Ethics" on worldcitystories.com.Waiting for reviews like this on The Story-Catcher! … [Read more...]
On the long list again!
Yes, it's a grand year!Toto Funds the Arts Creative Writing (English) long list for 2014 is here!Twenty-two applicants are on the long list for the Creative Writing (English) Toto Awards 2014. They are:1. Shalini Jagadish, Bangalore. 2. Dion D’Souza, Mumbai. 3. Mihir Vatsa, Delhi. 4. Rohan Chhetri, Gurgaon. 5. Ronaan Roy, Mumbai. 6. Kaushik Viswanath, Chennai. 7. Urvashi Bahuguna, Gurgaon. 8. Dani Kumaramangalam, Chennai. 9. Pervin Saket, Pune. 10. Varsha Seshan, Pune. 11. Neha Mathrani, Pune. 12. Neeraj Sebastian, Bangalore. 13. Aditya Jha, Noida. 14. Vaswar Mitra, Bangalore. 15. M.V. Sita, New Delhi. 16. Ritwik Deshpande, Pune. 17. Mohit Parikh, Jaipur. 18. Anirudh Karnik, Kanpur. 19. Rihan Najib, Bangalore. 20. Amrita Nair, Trivandrum. 21. Aalooran Bora, Bangalore. 22. Neil Balthazar, Pune. The shortlist for these awards will be announced before December 15. … [Read more...]
Indian Summer
As I read Indian Summer by Pratima Mitchell, I kept oscillating between approval and disgust.There were parts that were so real that they reached out to me and made me think, "That's exactly, perfectly captured!" And there were parts that were so real that they made me curl my lip and think, "Why do people write about things that are so mundane?"I rolled my eyes at parts of the book because I found them utterly inane. I found myself enjoying parts of the story and its telling so much that I wondered to whom I could recommend it because it was so good.It's a strange experience reading a novel like Indian Summer. When you finish it, all you feel is, "Hmm. Okay. But it's not perfect." … [Read more...]
Vierge Noire
The Vierge Noire - the Black Virgin - how little I know of her, but how enthralling it is!When I visited Chambéry for the first time in 2004, I am sure we visited the chapel with the Vierge Noire, a black statue of the Virgin Mary, but then, I did not quite understand its import. I had no idea about the significance of a black Vierge (Virgin/Madonna), nor about the complexity involved in keeping the statue of the Vierge Noire underground, with a golden Virgin dominating the chapel and even a wooden statue of Jesus and Mary above the Vierge Noire.Yet, legend says that it was the Vierge Noire who protected the people of the region.Visiting the same chapel again eight years later, I was more sensitive to the ideas that govern a black depiction of Mary. More importantly, I was with someone who drew these ideas to my attention. There are Vierges Noires all over France and they are … [Read more...]
A Conversation in Paris
A few years ago, I was alone at Paris airport. Shortly after I landed, I went to use the washroom. Sitting on a wheelchair was an old, old lady with wrinkles all over her face.As I stood there, managing my hand-luggage, coat and all the other hundreds of miscellaneous things I was carrying, she dropped her face in her hands. I looked at her uncomfortably. I did not know if I spoke a language she knew. I did not know whether she was crying. I did not know whether I was expected to do anything, whether it would be intrusive.Thankfully, another old lady emerged from a washroom cubicle just then and came quickly to the lady in the wheelchair."What happened?" she asked, a little worried. "What is the matter?"The lady in the wheelchair looked up. I remember the tears glistening in her eyes, but I could not help eavesdropping on the conversation. "I can't believe it," she said.The … [Read more...]
Scrappy and Trashy
At the sixth annual TAISI Sports Meet, I think what made me happiest was the mascot! Broken bats, punctured footballs and basketballs, and other disused sports equipment came together to create Scrappy and Trashy!But more endearing than the mascot itself, were two bored young boys. Fed up of waiting around, they began, of course, to kick the punctured balls around. After all, who cares if the ball they want to kick around is part of the artwork that goes into making the mascot? It is, before anything else, a ball! … [Read more...]