Brushstrokes of discovery
I have begun to paint. Well, this includes drawing, sketching, and using a wide selection of available mediums. If completing nearly 30 A4 watercolour sheets in a few months appears fine, then I am going on fine. For decades I have been fascinated with buying colours. Watercolours. Pastels. Blendable pencils. Watercolour pencils. Graphite pencils. Stencils....
It is time to binge-everything
Binge-watch TV shows is the last thing I mean. Though if you are the sort who sits in front of a TV and discovers that his personal universe is smiling, so be it. Go ahead. A happy person is what the Big Creator above loves. But then there is hardly any art involved in switching...
Writers and a fragile moon in a ruthless sky
There are a few quotes that are used often and have been attributed to several people. One of them is: ‘If it is truly yours, it will come back to you.’ There was one presenter who thought it was written by Ian Fleming for James Bond in some film. Many think it is Richard Bach...
Those who see something in what others never see
Art is in every heart. We are all artists, just as we are all poets and writers. Just as those who are not literate may have the heart of a poet, those without the means or time to paint or draw can live a life that is just as expressive. Pause and listen or see...
Spam calls and predatory deceivers
One of those catchy headlines in online news clips that caught my attention was one where a man mistakes an international recruitment call from Amazon as spam and does not receive it. This man missed an opportunity all because of the deep-seated fear and hatred that we have all begun to have for spammers. This...
Memorable interludes of Dev-vrat
We have ‘Pushpak di wedding’ in the family. This is when we get an opportunity to meet friends and relatives who we have not met for some time. Well, sometimes a lot longer than ‘some time’. Discussing the past years is a small part of all the other rituals and celebratory stuff. There are comparatively...
The monsters that surround us
What does one do with farts? One option is to let them announce their arrival and then let them disappear into nothingness. This could be disconcertingly dizzying when your fart makes a lot of noise during a meeting in office… or if that fart is determined to destroy expensive perfumes that people spray to impress...
It is time to say goodbye to rituals
Writing is a lot like conjuring. It is a ritual. You need to disallow any other activity that you may try to invite into the room as writers love to distract themselves for as long as it is possible. If you think writing isn’t a ritual, it runs the risk of being labelled a chore...
Crackdown on illegal immigration
Fate of illegal immigrants, perils of ‘dunki routes’, deportation waves, tightening of immigration laws, and the crackdown on travel agents strategizing illegal immigration are, of-course, all over the social media as well as hogging mainstream media headlines. Just as bothersome is the yet unclear intent of other nations all over the world who may adopt...
Books – My choice may not be your choice
We are all as different as readers as we are in life. Not one of us is a clone. Like us, books too differ by way of authors, genres, writing styles, covers, titles, typography, plots, themes, beginnings, endings, middles, characters, incidents, and some of these differences may be there even in books by the same...
The battle for clean water and clean air can no longer be postponed
Sanitation, building toilets, sewage in cities, urban water management systems, and river pollution exist together. For instance, sanitation is not just about the number of toilets constructed all over the country but more about the will to create an entire system that looks after both disposal and treatment. One may ask how water management is...
Leftovers turn everyday moments into masterpieces
We know what ‘leftovers time’ means. No, not ‘leftover time.’ Not even ‘left overtime’ nor ‘left over time.’ The one that I am going to talk about is where left and over come together and the ‘s’ determines the direction that life takes. ‘Obviously, nothing to do with left wing or right wing in politics,’...
