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The Abandoned Goddess
Calcutta is full of symbols. Or at least that’s what I feel, when I look out of the window. I can’t tell whether it’s because I’m essentially still a foreigner trying to understand this place or whether I’m just trying to read too much into what the general population...
Valentine’s Day
Thought i would get a little mushy on this special day! Enjoy 😉
Doorway to the East
Loved it! Very evocative. Am re blogging on barelyherenorthere.
Made of Wishes and Clay-The Opening Chapter
My opening chapter from my 'completed novel' Made of Wishes and Clay...Enjoy
Ode to Rabindranath [Tagore] II
Works well with how I'm feeling at the moment. Works well with the setting of Kolkata, and the Bengal Tagore hailed from. Thank you.
Crashed Out and Crazed in Calcutta
To whomever it may concern,I am sitting here, typing away at something of an anticlimax. I am in Kolkata, the city of dreams and rubble. I have absorbed the sights, the sounds, the drama and poetry of the place and in return the city has given me a novel. It's caked...
st r u gg ling artist
Thank you, Opinionated Man for putting this out there, Thank you Holistic Wayfarer for the amazing lines, penned so beautifully. I suppose we are all more than...the sum of our day to day.
A poem composed by Vikram Seth in response to the Supreme Court’s Verdict on the 28th January 2014
Sadness, disappointment, loss.
Vikram Seth, Thank you for a great night!
http://missionsharingknowledge.com/kolkata-literary-meet-vikram-and-i/Vikram Seth, Thank you for a great night! A truly memorable evening! Vikram Seth...he is THE MAN!
My Evening with Jhumpa
We stood there, excitement coursing through our veins, too hyped up, even for the coffee being offered for a mere 10 Rupees (10 pence), by a vendor by the gate. We were going to meet our idol, our inspiration for turning to pen and paper in a bid to unravel and...
I Believe in Magic
http://barelyherenorthere.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/1343122454_fairies-are-real.jpg
I Believe in MagicI believe in magic. It's fundamental to who I am and how I perceive the world. How about you?
Much like that great god, Janus…
This passed year has been arguably one of the most significant in my life, so far. It has seen me grow and transform into something closer to what I should be. I’m calmer, kinder, softer, wiser. I appreciate my parents more, I appreciate my Britishness more, I...
Calcutta Christmas
It’s Christmas Night. This morning we opened our gifts and had breakfast at Flurys. It’s an Oldy Worldy bakery-tea-shop on Park Street. We had a wait of about half an hour in the cold Calcutta morning. Outside, were people in their jackets and shawls, designer shoes...
A photograph
A photograph,A look, a glance, that smile.So familiar, like memories of a dream,That echo in bubbles,Impossible to hold, I knew her once, I am sure of it.I know what she is thinking, at that very moment.How she licked her lips just before,How she worried about the-Oh,...
Basking in the after glow of “I DID IT!”
Well, I did it! I wrote a novel in the month of November and I’m still basking in the afterglow of success. This is huge for me, I’ve actually completed a task despite the odds. I’m going to brag and boast my heart out until everyone’s sick of listening and then I’ll...
Loss?
Thought I should share a little of what I have been writing, considering the wonderful support I have received from fellow bloggers. 🙂 Thank you again, for taking the time to comment, or read, or follow or like. It means a lot!
The humdrum and angst of mediocrity
This weekend I read a few more pages of The Lowlands by Jhumpa Lahiri and I watched the movie Brick Lane, based on the novel by Monica Ali. I was hit by a gloom, a darkness that rendered me paralysed from the eyes up. What was I doing, trying to write a novel? How...
Stand Back it’s a Party!
I've neglected Wordpress for a while and I've felt extremely guilty, but I've been busy or exhausted or a combination of both. You see, in India, it's festival season. I firmly believe it's a throwback to the shorter days and darker nights and basically an excuse to...
Possible Novel….
Calcutta is home to so many worlds. Through conversations, through hearsay, I was inspired. This is just a glimpse of what may happen. It's the beginning of a novel, but I'm not very good at finishing something. Let's see. But for now, I'm sharing what I've done,...
Durga Puja, Calcutta Style
This year I saw Durga Puja happen in Calcutta. I was daunted at the prospect of the noise and the music and everyone having fun except me. You see, I'm not a party person, I was for a short time, whilst at university, but then I learnt to embrace my...
Homecoming
As I write, drums are being beaten, conch shells are being blown. They are celebtrating the season of the Goddess. It is now that she is at her most powerful, her biggest, her most terrifying and beatific.Hoards of men and women in a frenzied procession,...
In search of “Swayam” (yourself)
Lately I've been thinking a lot about the injustices I'm surrounded by, especially in a city where they are so easy to see. They're there, unashamedly in stark technicolor, right in front of our eyes. But luckily there are people out there who are tackling that...
Domestic Help!
I’ve mentioned before, I’m relatively new to Kolkata, Calcutta. Before coming here, I’ve never had domestic help. Today, I have a cook, a cleaner and someone to look after the little ones. I’m a little spoilt, if truth be told. I’m living an easy life, free to do as I...
A Morning Walk!
A completely new short story. I'll be exploring this topic further. Feel free to comment. I want to know if anyone's been affected by these issues. if so, how did you deal with it? A Morning Walk!
The Philosophy of Teaching
Teachers’ Day, my interpretation.We are all teachers. We are all students.On this day where teachers are revered, I bow down to the ones who have given me thought. I don’t mean my brain or the random stream of consciousness we are all born with. I mean my capacity to...
Waiting
Waiting. Looking for a positive outcome, can anyone help me? At the moment, My writing has turned dark. I like dark...it's where I feel comfortable, yet I am aware that not everyone is the same as me. How can I turn this tale into something positive?
How do you create?
What fuels your creativity?I’m not talking about what inspires you, I’m asking, perhaps more accurately, what stokes the flames of your inspiration?Lately I have retreated into a shell of contentment and domesticity. You see, I have found a kitten and I have adopted...
Faith in Calcutta
Orange flavoured ball echoed by a silver plate. Honking giant metal geese, angry eyes of red. Zooming,wheeling, almost colliding. I clutch at anything I can but all I can reach is faith. A fat man, a god's man, clad in white, the mark of the holy, on his forehead...
Thoughts on Love on a Grey Calcutta Morning
“When love beckons to you follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you believe in him, Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the...
Wonderful Team Member Readership Award…Wow! Thanks!
Late last night, Calcutta time, I received the “Wonderful Team Member Readership Award” by a fellow blogger, Dhriti (http://bloggingvogging.wordpress.com). This is one of the reasons I love Wordpress. It's a lovely community of safety and appreciation. It's the...
Barely Here Nor There
This started off as a short story but ended up being more of a reflection of me. This is how I was feeling. Neha is a little of me. I don't take photographs but if I had my own camera, big and bulky enough to have it's own name, I would. As for the 'he' in the memory,...
Happy Belated Eid!
A couple of days ago was the Mulsim festival of Eid-Ul-Fitr. Today I tried to read up about it to find out why it is celebrated. To be honest, in my ignorance I could not find a very coherent answer. But this is what I have gathered:(and please, my Muslim brothers and...
The Dichotomy of Women
We’re the caregivers, right? We always will be until we learn to give birth like sea horses. It’s because we’ve carried the little thing inside us for ¾ of a year that we’re seen as the ones to nurture it when they’re finally out of us. We’ve got the milk after all! I...
On Being Freshly Pressed!
Well first of all, Thank you WordPress! What an unexpected surprise on a dull Hyderabadi morning.Secondly, HELLO!If you’ve found me on ‘freshly pressed,’ WELCOME! I’m looking forward to checking out your blogs as soon as I can get around to it.To all my early...
The Quality of a Raindrop
It was depressingly grey all day today, in Hyderabad, with a persistent rain that fell on and off with varying degrees of intensity throughout the daylight hours. At first I was joyful, almost jubilant, donning my long lost cardigan that I had left behind on my first...
The Fight!
It’s happened again! There’s another headline about a woman being attacked in Calcutta. This time she’s a TV anchor who grew up in the city but works in Mumbai. She had her 72 year old father with her. The crowds looked on and egged on the molester, according to the...
Fed Up!
I'm blogging, today, more for the sake of blogging, than to write anything useful or inspirational or even insightful. It's been an unsatisfactory kind of day. I don't seem to have achieved much, the furniture I was waiting for has not been delivered and I have a...
Colour my Life Another great cause. Calcutta is not just full of poverty. It's full of colour, laughter and joy. Take a look at this and be inspired. Just click on Colour my Life.
The Blue day
As I get to grips with Calcutta and life here, I find myself inspired and energised, constantly by the amazing people who work, quietly, diligently, without the need for applause. I stumbled upon the Starlink Foundation and the Charity, Apne Aap as I was floundering...