Ah! Kingfisher

It was just the sort of morning when the chill is an added disincentive to emerge from under the blanket. But the relentless dullness won't let one sleep in. So I slipped on my sneakers and stepped out onto the concrete driveway that circles our apartments. Enormous dust-bunny clouds smothered the morning sky.

Morning walkers huffed by trying to shrug off the weight of the breaking day. The first honks and rumbles of city traffic, cries of hawkers peddling fresh vegetables, another predictable day until something marvellous happened.

Perched on a wall bordering an open storm water drain, I saw a kingfisher. What was it doing there, in the middle of tall apartments and commercial buildings? Did the all but leafless, bent apology for a tree offer it a proper home? Would it find fish in the murky waters of the drain?

Perhaps the bird knew better than I. It flouted its brilliant blue feathers in a flash of eternal optimism and pursued its urge to thrive in the unlikeliest of places.

Refreshed by the morning breeze, I tried to learn more about this gorgeous bird. The numerous varieties thrive in the Americas, Africa and Asia. The bird I encountered bore a striking resemblance to his English cousins, and his Thai and Florida kins, too.

This lovely bird has inspired artworks, cartoons, and even stamps issued by countries like Congo and Guinea-Bissau. And this morning, my bird by the drain inspired me to look beyond the brick and glass of the cityscape.

Across the Pacific by Raft

It's been a spate of days when the sun plays truant behind dark clouds, when colds and allergies dampen one's spirits more than the drizzle outdoors. The best way to beat that 'under the weather ' feeling is to embark on an adventure. And a good book can be that ticket to a break from humdrum routines. I first read this book in school, and it continues to hold my interest.

KON-TIKI, Across the Pacific by Raft, is a true story of intrepid explorers. On April 28, 1947, scientist Thor Heyerdahl and five other adventurers sailed 4,300 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean on a small raft to prove a historical hypothesis behind Polynesian folklore. Legend had it that the South Sea Islands were settled by a mythical hero named Kon-Tiki. Heyerdahl and his team tested this theory by replicating the flimsy log raft used by Kon-tiki’s ancient race to cross the Pacific. After sailing from Peru and braving three months on the open sea, these bold adventurers sighted land – the Polynesian island of Puka-Puka.

The narrative can get slightly tedious at times, with somewhat repetitive accounts of how fish jumped into the raft and became a meal. The author could also dwell a little more upon the inner lives and thoughts of the men aboard the raft rather than describe the many whales and sharks they encountered on the way. But patiently read the opening chapters, and you will be rewarded with a gripping saga of adventure and courage of men against the wild and dangerous sea. This classic has been translated into sixty-five languages and enjoyed by generations of readers worldwide.

On cabbages, kings, and Mauryan art

How do teenaged students unwind between strenuous exams and perusing titanic tomes? Ask my son. He multi tasks by watching cartoons while munching a sandwich on the run. And when on the Net, he contributes to Wikipedia.
I knew little about Indian art in pre-Christian times before reading his Wikepedia piece on Mauryan Art The lion capital of Mauryan emperor Ashoka is a beautiful classic example of the sculpture of that era. Time has taken its toll and very few examples of such ancient Indian art survive. The carvings on the walls of the Sanchi Stupa, a Buddhist shrine, are another rare example.

He has written, among others, this entry on the Hindu Joint Family. If all this sounds off-beat, well, he's the son of an eccentric mother. He's calling me from the computer now for another heated debate about cabbages and kings.

Time well spent

During a phase when creativity plays truant, I decided to shrug off inertia and reorganise my cupboards. Among piles of crumbling letters, lonesome single socks, and absurdly out of style dresses, I found a book. It was H.G.Wells' 'The Time Machine', a gift from a friend with whom I had lost touch long ago.


Settling into a gap among heaps of unsorted junk, I met the Time Traveller and followed him into the future.

Written a century ago, this novel is as fresh today as the first time I read it. Wells' view of the distant future is anti-utopian. In a satirical take on the social class divisions of his time, Wells foresaw a world where the human race evolved (degenerated?) into two distinct species. The dainty and effete Eloi are descended from the refined, idle aristocracy. The Morlocks are a sinister race descended from the working class, people who spent most of their lives in dark, airless sweatshops and ultimately became cannibalistic animals in the dark underbelly of the earth.

Embarking from the horriffic world of the Eloi and the Morlocks, the Time Traveller enters an even more terrifying future. In the dull glare of a bloated, dying sun, humanity has vanished without a trace. Giant crablike creatures dumbly await the impending end of the world.

Along with Jules Verne, H.G. Wells established science fiction as a serious literary genre. H.G.Wells' 'The Time Machine', 'The War of the Worlds', 'The Invisible Man', and other works are vivid and exciting even today.

My friend Babar

While negotiating my way through Bangalore's busy Commercial Street some days ago, I overheard an exchange between a mother and her young son. To the mother's suggestion to visit a bookshop, the boy replied, "But all they have are the same old fairy tales and Harry Potter." The plump, pale boy typified today's urban children. He probably lived in an apartment and had no trees to climb or grassy nooks to explore. In all likelihood he spent his evenings doing homework and playing computer games.

I, too, grew up in cramped partments in urban sprawls. But my father filled the house with books. Not content with what he found on shop shelves, he ordered more. While my parents were away at work, I curled up in my favourite sofa with Babar, the Little Elephant. Dear, cuddly and muddle-headed Winnie the Pooh and his friends and 'raletions' kept me company through many a lonely day. I loved the delighful river rat, the pompous Toad and all the other creatures populating The Wind in the Willows.

Exploring my school library led me to more treasures. Call It Courage, books by James Thurber and E.B. White, The Jungle Book, Black Beauty, The wizard of Oz, The Swiss Family Robinson, Tom Sawyer, the memories overwhelm me.

My son grew up reading my well worn copies of Babar, Robinson Crusoe, Five Little Peppers, Little Women and other books. When he wanted more, I scoured local bookshops in vain for Winnie the Pooh and other old-time favourites only to find the shelves filled with activity books, encyclopedias, fairy tales and classics retold (my child was an advanced reader for his age and would have preferred the originals).And there were the usual bestsellers. Nothing wrong with such books, but I sensed something sadly amiss in the paucity of choices.

Why do commercial interests take precedence in the type of reading on offer to children? Books that 'sell' occupy prominent display space and parents buy them. The same parents later complain that their children do not want to read. When we foist certain books upon children hoping to advance their intellectual capabilities, do we also not stifle their creativity for lack of ample choices? Why not allow them the freedom to make friends with Babar or Curious George?

The Lady turns fifty

Yesterday, TV news channels aired clips of the Prime Minister parrying questions from bright young college girls. The session was part of the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of my alma mater, Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi.

I remembered my own college days; dear friends, teachers who encouraged us to delve deeper and ask questions.
I'll quote from the college's website;

"Years ago, while speaking at LSR's inaugural function on31stt July 1956, our founder Sir Shri Ram urged the students and teachers to "set for themselves a standard of behaviour and start good traditions". Faithfully so, the LSR community has not only fulfilled his desire, but has taken it up as a responsibility to promote these ideas to others as well.
Our students have always successfully imbibed in them a unique spirit of community, secular ideologies, a sense of democratic and institutional responsibility and above all the celebration of diversity. LSR has indeed helped all its students maintain a balance between excellence and social responsibility. Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung Sang Suu Kyi and many many more well known academics, civil servants, social workers, artists, film makers, authors, educationists and lawyers comprise our alumna hall of fame."

No wonder LSR is ranked among the very best colleges in India. LSR ladies, you'll find them everywhere. You'll even find one lurking right here in the blogosphere.

Addas in Oxford?

Yes, it's in. The word 'adda' in my own native Bengali, has been offcially inducted into the Queen's English. You'll find it listed in the updated Oxford Dictionary.

I love the dynamism of the English language. And I love addas, an untranslatable word meaning, well, you know, groups of like or unlike minded folks in freewheeling intellectual discussions about cabbages and kings. The sort of thing that happpens in writers' groups. I would say even Blogspot, with its galaxy of unique voices, is one gigantic adda.

Other Indian inclusions into English are;

bindaas (Hindi) = carefree

chamcha= toady, flatterer, yes-man

chaddi = underpants

yaar = buddy

A swell surprise

Something astonishing happened. I Googled my name and stumbled upon this

The post went on to say; "Monideepa Sahu (or Moni), always graceful, always kind, is featured at Pindeldyboz with the lovely Mother

Nicer things were in store. References to the San Francisco Bay Area and names of other writers offered no clue until I remembered. Yes, I 'met' Nadine Darling, a talented and accomplished writer, in Zoetrope . We reviewed each others short fiction, swapped friendly Z-mails, and then drifted out of touch. So nice of her to read my published story and remember me.

In a violent and selfish world where those upon whom we shower our affection often turn around to say, 'So what did you ever do for me?', this warmth from someone I have never personally met was amazing.

Sense in Nonsense

A friend sent me this picture and it reminded me of many people I've known. It also brought back memories of one of my favourite authors, Sukumar Ray, and his collection of nonsense poems in Bengali, 'Abol Tabol'.

Haven't we all met people who want everything? Well, all Sukumar Ray's Kimbhut Kimakar ever does is whine. Why can't he have wings and fly like a bird? Wow! Look at the elephant's imposing trunk. He must have one just like it. And if only he had the kangaroo's strong legs and could jump so high. On a cloudy monsoon day, he became everything that he wanted to be without even trying. Now he sits worrying. Can elephants jump up high? Can kangaroos live on banana leaves? What if people laugh at a fat old elephant that jumps and flies and sings like a cuckoo? What if someone asks him straight to his face? What can he call himself? "Oh god!", he groans. "I'm not a horse, elephant, snake or butterfly. I'm neither fish, nor plant, nor water, nor shoe nor umbrella. I am nothing then!"

Sukumar's greatest talent was his unique sense of humour. And it found it's best and most unforgettable expression in his Bengali book 'Abol Tabol' (Rhymes Without Reason). He saw the ordinary, boring world that we live in and found in it the absurd and the ridiculous. He turned the most common things upside-down to make his readers laugh. His humour was free from malice. But he did poke fun at the absurdities of human nature and draw from us a frank roar of laughter.


Meet Tansh Garu, sketched by Sukumar Ray himself to accompany his poems. He isn't a 'garu' or cow at all, but some sort of bird. Sukumar's drawings are as compelling as his words, convincing us that these creatures truly exist.

In Sukumar's topsy-turvy world, The absurd coexists with the commonplace and normal. Tansh Garu lives not in some exotic and distant jungle, but just across the street in friend Haru's office.


There are humans too, in the world of 'Abol Tabol'. Look at dear old Nanda Uncle, the jolly and adorable elder. Where's his endearing smile? He weeps recounting his visit to the astrologer. He has lived happily for sixty years unaware that he would die. But the astrologer predicted his impending death and ruined Nanda Uncle's peace of mind forever.

And here's Khudo with his miraculous invention, in another delightful sketch by Sukumar. Khudo's eco-friendly machine will solve the world's transport problems. Fit this machine on the laziest fellow, place his favourite snack where he can see and smell it but can't reach it, and you have the most efficient motivator. This machine will help a man run for miles without tiring or complaining.

In Sukumar Ray's works, the spirit of whimsical fun is masked by an apparent sophisticated seriousness. A hundred and nineteen years after his birth, his writing continues to evoke smiles and chuckles.

writer's quest continues

Zafar, Deepika and Atyllah, thanks for visiting. I'm making this as a post and not a reply to your comments for the benefit of anyone else who chances to drop by and discover that we are in soups of similar viscosity. I don't know why I posted that earlier one, perhaps for people who keep asking why I dont publish my stories etc as books. I know even members of the relatively serious Indian writers' groups think it's a cinch to get works of fiction published and become rich and famous. Perhaps the 'success' of writers like Kavya Vishwanathan fuel their high hopes.

Selling an article on say, mehendi parties and wedding dresses to a foreign magazine is much, much easier than selling a short story collection or novel. And it's very lucrative. Agents/publishers don't have time for anything but polite 'form rejctions' for works of fiction they they don't want to represent. Those of us who frequent writers' groups have a pretty good picture of what those bland little 'thanks, but no thanks' slips really mean.

But what really raises hope and then makes the writer's heart plummet into the ravines of the Himalayas, is that 'encouraging rejection'. It often happens that an agent or editor likes your work enough to meet you personally and spend her valuable time discussing other ideas. They offer detailed and positive comments on your work and suggestions for changes which you may not agree with. They also offer to see more work from you.

But such 'encouraging rejections', though fewer and perhaps more esoterically valuable for the poor wannabe seeking publication, also can result in nothing.

I keep these rare ones in separate files. works nearly as well chocolates to lift a dismal mood. Here's an exerpt from one I got from an agent in New York;

Dear Monideepa,

I just finished reading your manuscript, and while I like your characters and the story's premise (a spider and rat transform into humans to help a family fight off an evil moneylender), I felt the story was too complex for your audience (ages 9-12 or maybe younger?). I liked the worlds of the story, but I found the treasure hunt difficult to follow and unnecessary: even though the rats needed gold to pay off the moneylender, in the end they got rid of him another way. The most interesting moments in the story are the relationships between the insects, rats and kids and the secret animal/insect worlds (original and fun).

When you're ready to write a new novel, you might like to look up some of the animal/insect novels on BN.com. Here's one search. If the link doesn't work, I gave you steps on how to get there.

Here you'll find synopses of featured titles in the trade market, sorted by publisher. You should be able to get a sense of the types of books they publish and where your writing fits in the marketplace. A follow-up visit to publishers’ web sites will yield further insights and lead to a new kind of focus in your writing—more to a publisher’s way of thinking.

Monideepa, thanks again for giving me an opportunity to read your novel--I enjoyed it and hope to read more of your work in the future.

Sincerely,

Debbie
****
As the PenguinIndia editor told me, and as Debbie the agent stresses at the end of her note to me, market forces play a big role in selecting works for publication. I subsequently learnt from other children's fantasy writers that, since there are already a spate of successful books in this genre in the market, publishers/agents aren't keen on trying out works from new writers at the moment.

Right timing and good marketing strategies matter. Nearly as much as polishing your writing to make it the best it can be.

Independence Day and Janmashtami

August 15th was Independence Day, an independence which means different things to diverse people. As usual, I saw stories in news reports and in ordinary things happening around me.

An Englishman living in Bangalore wrote a letter to the editor. He felt that development and prosperity meant a lot more than an outcrop of swanky malls and high-rises. I totally agree. Everyone and their envious neighbours are buying bigger and more fuel guzzling and exhaust belching cars. People jostling for limited road space, everyone in a hurry to elbow others out of their way, road rage. They push unfortunate pedestrians into the spaces between gutters and construction material heaped on what used to be pavements. All, perhaps, for the freedom to acquire more, more, more.

On 16, we celebrated Janmashtami, the birth of Lord Krishna. A friend saw a stream of complicated and critical cases pouring into their hospital's labour wards; high risk cases which were beyond the capacity of smaller nursing homes and health centers. The friend returned home a bit past dinner time, exhausted but jubilant. In such difficult cases, it is not uncommon for the babies to die along with their mothers despite doctors' best efforts.

But on Janmashtami day, all of them survived and are on their way to complete recovery. For us this was the best celebration.

What writers want

Mountain ranges and canyons seem to divide what writers want from the priorities of an editor or publisher. Some years ago, one of the senior editors at Deccan Herald gave me an intro to a Penguin editor. I emailed her and sent a sample of my childrens writing as requested. And then she suggested we meet.

She was very polite and businesslike, particulalrly liked one of my ideas, and I went ahead and wrote a novel. She saw it, said nice things, and I felt on top of the world, dreaming BIG dreams.

but...It wasn't good enough fo them to buy the book. She explained privately that promoting new writers was extremely tricky. I got the distinct hint that especially if a writer wasn't into the arty party circuits and knew everyone who matters, people will wonder who the heck is this and not take interest in a nobody. If a writer is already well-known, it is that much easier to proftably sell his books. Bottom line: marketing and profits count. Unless a new writer can make a particular editor fall in love with his work, it won't get published. A very iffy business on the whole. Unknown writers like me are poor business propositions.

To me it seemed like the chicken or egg conundrum.

She did like my work enough to try to put me on to translating childrens stories, and I worked on some of her sugestions. But nothing came of it. Basically, all publishers look at the business side and after much writing and discussing, no deal may come through.
At this stage, I decided to stop writing things to 'fit in' to the needs of publishers. Now, I write about what I feel like, where my heart leads me. Not expecting to make megabucks or waiting for the biggies to come flying with gilt edged contracts to my doorstep. Not because I don't need money. We're simple middle class folks. But I feel I've slogged in the rat race long enough, so I deserve a bit of personal freedom. So if an editor/publisher likes it, fine. If he doesn't, I never expected anyone to.

I know many talented but unknown writers who are nothing of consequence. As yet.

I feel everyone starts at that point. Luck and hard work determine where they go from there

This is where I am right now, refining my writing to make it the best it can be and searching for an audience. The story continues.

A Gandhian Passes

A couple of days ago, the newspapers announced the passing of Mahadevi Tayi, a veteran freedom fighter. This venerable nonagenarian was a child widow and a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi. I had the opportunity to interact with her some years ago. Here's an account.

Tucked away in a quiet, tree-lined lane in Bangalore's Kumara Park, is a spacious compound with many large trees. Inside, there are some simple cottages recreating a typical a village setting. This is a home for the aged and orphans. Upon entering, I was greeted by a fair, aged lady wearing a white sari, conversing with a younger lady in saffron. "Was this ashram really blessed by Acharya Vinobha Bhave?" I asked, pointing to a plaque.

"Oh yes. I was his sevika, and a freedom fighter", said Mahadevi Tayi, the lady in white. "See, there's my photograph on the wall, along with Acharya Vinobhaji, and Pandit Nehru."
"It's all like a story now. I was young and full of energy. Now I'm ninety-four,"Mahadevi Tayi continued. "Those were heady days. Every heart was filled with idealism and patriotic feelings. Gandhiji was a great leader, who called everyone to do non-violent satyagraha against oppressive British rule. I grew up in Wardha under his influence. The young and old, women and children all enthusiastically joined the Freedom Movement.

"At first, the women were shy, but they gained confidence to do satyagraha. Many women were imprisoned along with their husbands. Their property was confiscated by the British, leaving the children destitute. I ran an ashram for three hundred such children, hiding my work from the British government. I was jailed for this, and on three other occasions as well. I even underwent rigorous imprisonment with criminals, and solitary confinement. But we had the courage to withstand hardship, and sacrifice our personal comfort for the sake of our country.
During the Razakar Andolan in the princely state of Hyderabad, Vinobhaji was called. Vinobhaji went on a padyatra in rural areas for fourteen years. Many men and women from all parts of the country followed him. I was constantly by his side. Vinobhaji saw wide disparities among the rich, landed people, and the poor, landless peasants. Vinobhaji asked the rich to donate land for distribution among the poor. This was the Bhoodan Movement."

Channamma Hallikere, the lady in saffron, had her own story to tell. "As freedom fighters, my parents were imprisoned many times. As a one-year old baby, I stayed in Dhulia jail with my mother. When my parents were jailed, the British confiscated our property. I now live in Vinobhaji's ashram in Wardha. He started this ashram for uniting women workers. It is a community of women, including foreigners, living together in cooperation and harmony as brahmacharis. I conduct three-day camps for people in rural areas, helping them and spreading the teachings of Gandhiji and Vinobhaji in Kannada. I have been doing social work for fifty years."

"Helping and encouraging the people in the ashram keeps me busy", said Mahadevi Tayi. "Nobody is destitute or anath. God is everyone's nath."

Burichang and Kudutai

Long ago and far away, my forefathers had a homeland; a sylvan paradise which they left forever after India was partitioned. My elders told dreamy stories about a lost Arcadia of milk, honey and communal amity. That home was a village called Burichang.

Burichang has grown into a sub-divisional town in Comilla District now, in a foriegn country named Bangladesh. My uncle visited there recently and told us how the family home now houses governement offices and a school.

Born in free India, growing up in capital cities like New Delhi and Washington D.C., I listened with incredulity to what seemed like fairy tales of a lost Eden. I never lived in a real Indian village, never visited one until I did my rural and agricultural banking postings as a probationary officer with the State Bank of India group.

I finally inherited a genuine rural address by marriage, village Kudutai, dist Ganjam, Orissa. The emerald paddy fields and groves of cashew trees with luscious red cashew apples, the undulating hills, yes, this is a paradise on earth.

The now crumbling ancestral mansion still displays signs of old grandeur in the massive decorated pillars and ornamental doorways. These were once scenes of community festivities, of village panchayats and dispensation of justice.

The old mansion now lies abandoned, like the beached body of a magnificent whale. Descendants of the clan live in featureless matchbox quarters with modern amenities huddled behind the grand facade of the original house.

Seeing the beauty of Kudutai, I now understand what my own parents and elders still mourn. I also see that it is no unspoilt paradise. Kudutai is an ordinary village in a remote corner of a less developed state of India. Electricity came here only at the fag end of the twentieth century. A few months ago, a young cousin died of cerebral malaria. There are no doctors or hospitals in the village.

The younger generation of the family are now entering into service oriented professions. Idealism can also motivate.

Exchanging critiques and Igniting friendships

I've learnt a lot over the years workshopping my stories in Zoetrope Studios and the IWW. In the course of exchanging critiques and writing tips, I've found a few special friends . We've never met in person, but that has never been a barrier. Some of them are like family now, and I'm fortunate to have them around. Announce a new publication, and workshop members cheer you on. Air your frustrations when those rejection notes pile up, and friends motivate you to never give up.

Sometimes friends return after a long absence to share disconcerting news. I felt so sad when Deepa wrote in to say;
"our home along with all other buildings in our area for a 20 km stretch -- homes, shops, hospital, schools, temples, bank, industries, etc. is going to be demolished in 2007 as the govt. has decided they want to expand the highway! This would displace over 100,000 people and render at least another 100, 000 unemployed apart from breaking up families as some have to stay on in the area due to the jobs while others have to move.

And there are moments of pure fun like when Beth returned up after years, now as the happy mother of a baby girl. We plunged into a critique exchange and a heated discussion on a shared passion for hot chilies. We use a lot of the stuff , call them chilies or mirchi in Hindi. In my own mother tongue, Bengali, they're called 'lanka', not as in Sri Lanka, but well...A Chili by any other name is just as fiery.
Beth tells me about her home, New Mexico, "where chile is not just a food, it's a way of life... When Green Chile Season rolls around (September usually), everyone buys their big bushel sacks full of chile and spends an afternoon roasting them on the grill, drinking beer, and eating bits of roasted green chile rolled in tortillas. The smell is amazing and the whole harvesting season is something everyone looks forward to all year long.
In New Mexico, "chili" refers to the stew-like concoction of beef, beans, onions, spices, etc.
More than you ever wanted to know about New Mexico chile! Can you tell I'm passionate about it? "

This is how we share stories, and discover newer ones.

Prince and reality TV

When we turned on our TV last Sunday morning, breathless newscasters greeted us with yet another thrilling scoop on every channel. Days after thrilling minute-by-minute coverage of the Mumbai blasts and then the tsunami in Indonesia, the weekend news pulsated with never-seen-before images. Blurred pictures of a tiny, skinny, crumpled figure, and then a pair of eyes glinted in the eerie blue light of the closed circuit TV relaying images from the almost bottomless pit. Tiny Prince, who saw his sixth birthday trapped inside a deep and narrow well shaft, looked barely human in those distorted images. A sad metaphor for his terrible predicament.The media then drew our attention to prayer meetings all over the country. Crowds gathered everywhere, sometimes with the trappings of a carnival.

As we watched Prince emerge from the pit in the arms of brave army men, I couldn’t help but wonder. Were we, the TV viewing public, like spectators at a circus watching the action from the ringside? It seemed as though competition caused the numerous TV channels to seek out and create yet more spectacular news. After all, the audience could take only so much non-stop excitement over yesterday’s bomb blasts and tsunamis, and ratings would plummet unless fresh headlines dazzled. Were the news channels showing adequate sensitivity when they intruded into the personal trauma and ultimate victory of a brave little child? Were we voyeurs who, sated with the plethora of entertainment shows, craved the thrills of prying into the personal tragedies of others offered by ‘reality TV’?

My son says such media exposure has positive results. Financial and other help is pouring in for Prince. In fact, rescue efforts might have been abandoned after initial setbacks, if the whole world and their cousins were not watching and praying. Media attention will hopefully prevent the recurrence of official negligence, which led to this awful incident.

So Prince had his moments of tragedy and glory. May he enjoy many long and fruitful years of life. Let us praise the Divine, the Army and the media, and then grab bowls of popcorn and surf channels. Don’t want to miss the next breaking news of a plane crash or serial bombings.

Malls as literary outlets

Malls are cropping up all over Bangalore. Huge crowds gawking at window displays, teenagers hanging out, hardly places to reflect in calm solitude. But it can be done. Well, not exactly in tranquil surroundings and certainly not in a totally reflective mood.

Some years ago, several of us women writers from Bangalore got to know each other through our published articles. Friendship blossomed and we decided to call ourselves 'Inklinks'. We come from different religious and linguistic communities. There are teachers, professional counselors, a doctor and a painter among us.

Cubbon Park was a great place to club an outing with literary criticism, until the ants took a fancy to Dr. Eva Bell's yummy cakes. They bit poor Eva, perhaps hoping she would bring bigger helpings for them next time. There we are in Cubbon Park. From left to right, Nalini, Dr. Eva Bell, Vathsala, Malathi, and Prema. I took the pic so you see my bag in the foreground. Other members, Lakshmi, Anuradha, Khurshid, and Kamini Williams aren't in the picture, but are very much part of the group.

We disappointed the fire ants of Cubbon Park by supporting Dr. Eva and seeking a safer place. We were pretty skeptical when Nalini and Malathi proposed a centrally located mall. But the rooftop food court proved to be a calm place during slack hours.

We met yesterday, shopped, caught up on gossip, ate waffles and sandwiches, downed strong filter coffee and... Yes, we discussed writing and stuff also.
We have many short stories ready and are serious about bringing out a joint collection. We've received much encouragement from the Times of India folks, who aired a short clip of one of our meetings on their national news channel and published an article about us in their pages.

pic

Verbal aggression and 'strong' language

People have always used expletives and foul language in certain situations. I see a a rising trend among people in Western societies to use such words anywhere and everywhere. The editor of a literary journal is compling an international dictionary of verbal abuse. When he sent his list of words and phrases to me, I was first amused, then uncomfortable.

Overuse of strong expletives tends to annoy and upset me. It may be 'cool' or 'fun' upto a point. But foul language tends to lose its impact if used indiscriminately and frequently. They become just a lot of words used, IMHO, by people who lack imagination and frankly dont care about expressing themselves more appropriately and effectively. They don't make much sense and seem to me like so much jargon or gibberish.

If certain individuals choose to pepper their speech with dirty words, we as writers do not need to emulate them blindly. We can and should use our discretiton and explore more creative avenues for expressing ourselves. A writer can use gutter language when it fits a fictional character or situation. We need not avoid real issues and be coy. But I don't see much point in using vulgar words and phrases everywhere, certainly not as a statement of literary style. That purpose would be better served by the immense power of the understatement, by imaginative and innovative use of metaphors etc. That is the way we can show our creativity, not just by repeating a stream of hackneyed, overused bad words.

I also see that I could write a (hopefully) sensible post without using a single 'cuss' and I also see that I had to think harder instead of blindly using words that, by overuse, have become trite and banal.

The Well of Snakes

I've spent my entire life in the congestion of urban clusters. So I'm drawn to fresh air rustling through trees, the calls of birds, and wide open spaces. There's such a sprawling forest area just seven kilometers from our apartment in Bangalore. On holidays, we sometimes drive down and take a morning stroll through the wooded area, which is home to the Bangalore University campus. This area is called 'Nagarbhavi' in Kannada. It means, 'the well of snakes'.

Often, things I encounter in ordinary daily life form the kernels of stories. This forest campus too, has led to a story (link in right sidebar). The hundreds of acres of forest land is gradually giving way to buildings for more university departments and institutes. But there's still long stretches of trees and scrub, through which the roads wind to and from the city.

They've cut away some of the indigenous vegetation and replaced them with groves of eucalyptus now. But the babools, date palms, mango trees and the butterflies still thrive. Among the sweet chirps, coos, and twitters, I can recognize the cuckoo and sparrow.


By the roadside in the middle of the forest, a man sells juices of herbs and fruits to morning walkers. I ask for a mix of everything he has; margosa, mint, cucumber, bitter gourd, black grape, tomato, radish, other green liquids he chooses not to describe, but which smell refreshing anyway. He seasons my glass with a drop of garlic juice, and I quaff the slightly bitter, leafy smelling drink. All for a princely six rupees.

This gentle Eden has hidden dangers. I halt abruptly before a huge black scorpion flattened by some speeding vehicle on the tarmac. It still looks vicious, its black body at least eight or nine inches long. There are snakes too, some harmless but others not.

I stop by an anthill on the top of a slope for a view of the city. The rising columns and spires of the anthill teems with busy creatures who build yet higher. I stare at the expanse of buildings below me, boxlike independent houses, clusters of apartment buildings like ours, and farther off on the horizon, the towering high rises of the city's business district. So many cars and buses carrying busy people everywhere.

But the day's work awaits. I don't have time to wonder.