The blog
An assortment of thoughts, opinions and stories
Books I’ve enjoyed, notes from my workshops, and stories about writing, dance and travel
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:…
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,…
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…
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…
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!…
A Cup of Coffee
I was relishing a cup of coffee this morning and thinking about its history, both a personal history and the history of coffee itself. Personally, I disliked coffee. I did not like the smell…
Expectations
Theory of Knowledge challenges the way we know, and I wanted to show how we see what we expect to see. Of course, these are old, old ideas, but they were fun anyway! I…
Nehru Bal Sangh
One fine day in 1964, a group of fifth class students envisaged a forum where all of them could meet and spread the message of love, brotherhood and harmony to all the corners of…
Animal Farm
Animal Farm is the kind of book that I could read over and over again. It was written in just a few months and it’s less than a hundred pages long. I was revolted and…
Chalkline
I recently read Neil Gaiman’s views on escapism: I hear the term bandied about as if it’s a bad thing. As if “escapist” fiction is a cheap opiate used by the muddled and the…