The day got flooded with news on election results and breathless debates on the outcomes. As it looks, election outcomes and political futures are more important than miscellaneous matters of a pandemic raging through the county. Switched to reading all day. Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes on Vaccine Darwinism - India has always been a tough … Continue reading Pandemic, politics and realities
Category: Writing
Day 92: In defense of sameness
24/06/2020 Day 92 The usual 20 km cycle ride in the morning happened. It has been setting a calm and easy pace to the days. Later in the day, I read a short piece by Bill Morris with a rather loud title - Please! Hold Off on That Novel Coronavirus Novel! He wrote about coronavirus … Continue reading Day 92: In defense of sameness
Day 52: The sum
15/05/2020 Day 52 It has been hard to wrap my head around the news of an attack in Afghanistan. Three gunmen entered a hospital in Kabul and opened fire on women, infants, doctors and nurses. What kind of anger and rage can make men do this? Among the dead are sixteen women and an infant. … Continue reading Day 52: The sum
Day 43: A room full of authors
06/05/2020 Day 43 These days my room is crowded with authors. There is Shreelal Shukla sitting on the couch, Olga Tokarczuk on the chair, Paul Theroux pretending interested, few others overlooking my computer screen nodding in disdain . There are a few poets infiltrating with a collective laugh at the array of anthologies they see … Continue reading Day 43: A room full of authors
Day 39: On writing, workers & Arjun Sengupta
Day 39 For a fluff writer like me the only way learning happens is through iterations. I am in the seventh week of writing everyday. Writing, exercise and reading have filled up the hours of these lockdown days. There was boredom kicking in, on some days, even in doing these. I didn’t hit saturation, but … Continue reading Day 39: On writing, workers & Arjun Sengupta
Day 25: Searching for mot juste
18/04/2020 Day 25 I spent the evening reading digital copies of newspapers of the previous two days. I have access to NYT and FT. I look forward to their weekend supplements, which have a diversity of reviews and recommendations on books, podcasts, movies and travel. Covid-19 related news and pandemic reportage seems to have moved … Continue reading Day 25: Searching for mot juste
Hate Cleaning? I love it! – Scraping through in Oslo
The city is cold. This is not a statement on weather here. Even on weather’s count, cold season of cities in lower latitudes is Oslo’s summer. It manages to keep an attractive and highly refined façade of affluence and lifestyle that unfurls into layers of nuances only on repeat visits. Parts of the city that … Continue reading Hate Cleaning? I love it! – Scraping through in Oslo
There is nothing straight about desire at all
Late night read. Madhavi Menon’s interview. This one’s quite interesting in the way Menon frames it - Q: You write, “A far cry from the dominant history of sexuality that would assign one identity to one person, dargahs provide us with a window onto a world of desirous possibilities, none of which are spelled out … Continue reading There is nothing straight about desire at all
The art of preface: Woman, Body, Desire in Post-colonial India
For two days a week that I spend working at a university, I spend a part of my time reading preface of books and digging archives. If a preface gets my attention and is compelling enough, the book gets read for sure. Jyoti Puri's Woman, Body, Desire in Post-colonial India (Routledge) is one such. The … Continue reading The art of preface: Woman, Body, Desire in Post-colonial India
Preface from Women, Body, Desire in Post-Colonial India
Some books are encounters, as this one by Jyoti Puri. The idea of women, body and desire isn’t as appealing as the context in which Puri sets it. The author’s preface reads a very fine piece in a researcher’s personal ethics, honesty and humility with which the material is presented. She writes, Despite the personal … Continue reading Preface from Women, Body, Desire in Post-Colonial India
Contested Realities 