About three years ago, I began working on an exciting project with the National Rail Museum in New Delhi. The idea was to create stories set in and around trains in India. It was challenging but fun. I dived into details of engines and their working in a way that I had never done before. Among other things, I needed to ensure that the story led naturally to the technical pages, while also being independent of them. In other words, a reader who was completely uninterested in technical details could still enjoy the story and cheerfully skip the technical pages.So, I launched into intensive research. What trains could I write about? What would my characters do? How would they go on an adventure while also discovering how an electric locomotive works?I set the first of the stories on the Duronto, a train with which I am very familiar. Among other things this is what I kept in my … [Read more...]
Malaysia Visa
Travelling is all about the stories you make, isn't it? Our Malaysia visas formed yet another story.We chose to go to Malaysia practically on a whim. Though the Scholastic Asian Book Award shortlist was released just a few weeks before the Asian Festival of Children’s Content, we were determined not to visit just Singapore this time round, so we began to look up places that did not require Indians to have a visa.Cambodia was on one of the lists we found, but it was practically as expensive to go to Cambodia from Singapore as it was from India.Indonesia. But we visited Bali just five months ago.Malaysia, just next door to Singapore, seemed a good option, even though we needed visas to go. It was an online process, and the visa, apparently, would take 48 hours to be processed. That seemed nice and safe.Yet, Singapore was our priority, and until I got an official … [Read more...]
The Contrasts of Kuala Lumpur
I come from India, a land of contrasts, I know. I might once have been presumptuous enough to say the land of contrasts. I see so many contradictions everywhere that I should be used to them.I remember shrugging at French friends who asked me who would go to South City Mall in Kolkata to drink tea for 150 rupees when it is 1.5 rupees across the road at the tea stall. How does one explain contradictions to a baffled tourist?Yet, in Kuala Lumpur, I was the baffled tourist. Glass-fronted MRT stations and a slightly dilapidated monorail. Huge screens with ads playing at road corners, and tramps asleep on the pavement in front of them. Hutong in Lot 10, where you get street food and street smells inside a mall. Where does one even begin?We landed in the posh airport of Kuala Lumpur determined to see as much as we could while also sticking to a budget. A monorail all the way to … [Read more...]
Travel Diaries: Malaysia
Part of the joy of travelling is writing about everything I see. My diary has pages and pages of random things that strike me. I remember something I wrote about in 2004 when I went to France on an exchange programme. When we were checking in, we were told at the counter to preserve our ticket counterfoils because we would not see tickets like that again. We did not quite believe that random prints would replace the 'proper' tickets issued by airline companies.That was, perhaps, the beginning of all the 'impossible' things in my travelling life. From e-tickets and web check-in to printing baggage tags and checking our suitcases in ourselves to automated immigration processes ... I cannot even imagine what lies ahead. This time, what made me stare was something so random that I feel that writing about it simply will not do it justice.At Changi airport, close to our departure … [Read more...]
Special Events: AFCC 2018
Pop-up readingThe pop-up reading at the Asian Festival of Children's Content is a fun event organised by Denise Tan of Closetful of Books. Authors who are willing to brave the chaos of the book fair read out a short excerpt of one of their books. Though I had not registered for this in advance, I jumped at the opportunity to read from Dragonflies, Jigsaws, and Seashells. It was a brand-new experience for me - reading from a book of mine that I was seeing for the first time!I read an excerpt from "A Drawing Lesson", the story of a colour-blind girl who triumphs in art class.Celebrating Our StarsAn evening event, this was where all the shortlisted contestants were given certificates. I loved it!When I was shortlisted for SABA in 2016, the award ceremony was held on the day before the festival. This meant that right through the festival, I was one of those who … [Read more...]
Reflections: Days Two and Three at AFCC 2018
On day two, I attended a session called 'Rhyming Round Reading', which touched upon ideas that I use all the time at workshops on reading: rhyme. Focussing on a book titled Rhyming Round Singapore, the session had a lot to offer even to non-Singaporeans like me, primarily because of the concepts behind the book.How many of us have found nursery rhymes morbid? Think about Three Blind Mice and Humpty-Dumpty.Yet, like so many morbid fairy-tales, they have stood the test of time. Easy to sing, supported by elaborate gestures, these nursery rhymes have been taught for so many years that they're part of the bedrock of the education of so many children. Rhyming Round Singapore puts together familiar tunes and familiar ideas, rather than obscure images of Miss Muffet sitting on a tuffet, when most people don't even know what a tuffet is. It uses ideas that are familiar to Singaporean … [Read more...]
Reflections: Day One of AFCC 2018
AFCC 2018 was a bit of a whirlwind experience for me. For one, with work commitments that I could not break, I got to Singapore only on the day that the festival was to begin. So, sleep-deprived but fuelled by adrenalin, I arrived at the National Library Board after the keynote had begun. Exhaustion took its toll on me, though, so on days two and three, I was barely able to attend any sessions. Despite that, AFCC 2018 was wonderful, full of new ideas, energy and the urge to create more.I began AFCC 2018 with a session conducted by Australian author Pamela Rushby on making the perfect pitch. I hear so many stories about authors meeting editors and publishers at lit fests and then signing contracts for books. Learning how to pitch would definitely be useful.For me, there were two big takeaways. One, I discovered again how essential the word count of your novel is. It helps … [Read more...]
Back from AFCC 2018
Four years ago, I had not heard of the Asian Festival of Children's Content. I did not know that Singapore's National Library had 16 floors of books. And then, I was shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award 2016, which was momentous enough for me to buy a festival pass and attend my first AFCC. I didn't win the award, but that was the beginning of a new journey - one that has led to my first Scholastic publication, Dragonflies, Jigsaws, and Seashells (originally Dragonflies, Jigsaws and a Rainbow).Then, in 2017, I answered a call for papers and was invited to speak at the AFCC. I spoke at a panel on writing about us, as Asians, something that I have started coming across much more frequently. At the AFCC 2017, I experienced the energy of the festival once more, as I went from session to session, making the most of an event that brought writers, illustrators, editors and … [Read more...]
Today I Am … A Writer!
The worst thing about being a writer is not writer's block. Not by a long stretch. The worst thing is all the waiting.Waiting for people to respond. Waiting for a book to be ready. Waiting for a book to hit the market. Every time I get an email - even a rejection - there is a little Varsha inside me that celebrates, simply because the waiting period is over.That's why this week has been particularly incredible. So incredible that I don't know what to write about first. So, not in any order of importance, here goes.I was shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award once more. In 2016, a collection of my short stories was shortlisted, and it will be published by Scholastic Asia later this year. This time, a novel titled Red Eyes is on the list!Mango Books published my book, The Prophecy of Rasphora, and you can now buy it easily at the Mango Books e-store or … [Read more...]
Dear Future Reader …
Imagine that you are writing to a reader who has not yet been born. Perhaps you're writing to your own grandchild or great-grandchild. Or maybe you're writing to someone whom you don't know at all. What would you say?Here are a few of my favourites from this year's Writers' Club. There are many, many more!I do believe that a good book can change a life. Perhaps even yours Read if you like, but I'm sure both my GOGGLERS know the whole story by reading it many times. If you really want to find out what GOGGLER means, find other mysteries. How exciting it is to have a dog, but how hard it is to name it (him)! You would probably have shifted to Mars by now. I truly love to read Harry Potter and would totally recommend them to you (if at all they are found in Mars) Think before you read this book. You can roll down the chair with laughter!Also, many made lists of … [Read more...]