18 Nov 2022

2022, Book, Book Review, Guest Post, WhatIReallyMeantToSay
Book Review: What I Really Meant to Say
A Guest Post by Vasudev Murthy All of us struggle with communication. We think we are fluent in a language and wonder why others don’t "get it". Convinced that we represent our thoughts precisely, and equally convinced that we fully grasp what another person has said, we proceed, constantly fumbling and stumbling and ultimately make a mess of practically everything. 'I thought y...
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25 Jul 2022

2022, Book, Book Review, ReadLikeAWriter
Book Title and Cover
Tiny Book. Huge Import. As part of the series for the #Indica1000ReviewersClub2022, one of the books that landed off the post one fine day was Shitala: How India Enabled Vaccination. The timing could not be better. Considering that we are just going through the tail-end of a pandemic, with vaccination (two doses, a booster and yet another booster) being a key topic, this becomes a...
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12 Jul 2022

2022, Book, WhatIReallyMeantToSay, Workshops, Writing 2 Comments
Blog post cover
So I get into the car that would take me from Dharamshala to Kasauli, early one chilled morning in June. I was moving from one workshop engagement to another. "Kasauli" I said cryptically to the driver. The car had been arranged the previous evening with me sending the requisite, or should I say, desired, destination address by text. Driver details shared... driver called... you ...
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07 Jun 2022

2022, communications, Workshops, Writing
Imagewithpendiaryandcoffee
Why do I write? Time and again, I come back to where I was when I was 13. (Yeah! That was a long time ago) That was how old I was when I decided that all I wanted to do was to read and write. I proclaimed proudly that I wanted to do my Masters in Literature. That's it. I remember I wavered along the way. But my Mother set me right, brought me back to reality and somehow I did ...
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10 Feb 2022

2022, WritingSprint
Pic of green tea in a cup
From time to time, I get together with the My Alchemy Graduates and we do a writing sprint. Although I am the one who furnishes the prompts, I usually don't have time to think about them. It's only in that 'space' across the zoom windows that the writerly atmosphere gets created. And together we write. Later we share. We exchange feedback. Most importantly, we have fun. The pencils get s...
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04 Nov 2021

2021 4 Comments
Lotus Flower
Everyone knows. It’s the season of gifting. As the days of Diwali come closer the pace gets frenetic. Inside. As well as outside the home. Gifting. What do I gift my near and dear ones? I am not much on the social circle. I hover on the outside periphery. With a small but merry band of close and intimate connections. Which means, the gifting is not necessarily difficult. It’s not a...
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23 Jun 2021

2021, Creativity, Training, Workshops 1 Comment
creative materials
Our creative workshop was facilitated by the three of us: my erstwhile colleagues and current network partners, Dinesh, Roopal and I. We conceptualized, created and co-facilitated it for members of a creative and content team of a large corporate. So, we worked on timings, on content, and on focusing on delivering the best we could do, given constraints. (Isn’t that what creativity i...
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09 Mar 2021

2021, MyAlchemy, Writing
Haikus
On the first of March, 2021, I started something that I had been planning for quite a while: the My Alchemy 30 day writing challenge. #MyAlchemy30DayWritingChallenge. #MyAlchemy30DayWritingChallenge Armed with nothing but a belief that everyone can and ‘should’ write, and the desire to encourage every pen to make contact with paper, I had painstakingly worked on my writing challeng...
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01 Mar 2021

2021, MyAlchemy, Training, Writing
"Okay, I don't think I can manage the politeness. We're friends right? I NEED, no, I WANT a book or a diary for my writing. One of those classy ones. "What do you mean another one? This is the only one you're getting me this week. "Oh oh... any colour. The brighter the better. Not fussy. "Oh yes, a Moleskin would be awesome. But as long as it's one of the better brands, it's ...
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22 Feb 2021

2021, MyAlchemy, Training, Writing
title
"The meeting has been shifted again". She looked up aghast. "No..." "Yes." He said. His face had no expression. His dark eyes revealed nothing. She started praying fervently. It really couldn't be on a Wednesday. Or could it? This hanging-by-the-thread feeling was a bit much. "It's shifted to... ". His phone beeped. Distracted he checked his phone, heartlessly not fin...
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