07 Jun 2022

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 ...

10 Feb 2022

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...

04 Nov 2021

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...

09 Mar 2021

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.#MyAlchemy30DayWritingChallengeArmed 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...

01 Mar 2021

"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 ...

22 Feb 2021

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...

12 Feb 2021

potatoes
She hated the way he scraped the spoon on his plate.The sound was loud in her mind as they ate in silence. Over the last decade of her marriage it seemed to be getting louder. She made a mental note of looking online for scrape-free or scrape-resistant crockery or cutlery-that-didn't-make-a-sound. Was there even something like that?She had wandered into the territory of no-thought-is-unw...

31 Dec 2020

No I am not going to bemoan 2020. Or celebrate its end.I am not going to shower you with flowery wishes for 2021.Nor am I going to encourage you with pithy proverbs, wise advice or motivational mouthfuls.2020 is over (at least in the next few hours) 2021 will pretty much slip in with one turn of the-page-a-day-desk calendar(remember those?), unobtrusively, continuing in th...

17 Sep 2020

Birthday gift
“Happy Birthday!”“Thanks for the gift. But it’s not for another 3 weeks!”“I know. I know.”“I presume you’ve marked it in your calendar.”“Haan, haan. Of course.”“As usual, you’re preoccupied with something. It’s something to do with your writing. Or thinking of writing. Right?”“Er… okay… well…”“Admit it. Okay… wait, wait. I know this. Let me say my piece before...

16 Sep 2020

MyAlchemy
Introducing My AlchemyI just finished yet another batch of my writing workshop. A workshop that runs across 16 hours, 4 weekend, 2 hours each session. Plus time every week for individual feedback for each assignment. And then there's the time I spend one-on-one with each participant. 24 hours. Not to mention the time I take to create the modules. But don't count that time!Intro...