The Love Department - William Trevor

William Trevor (1928-2016) is an much awarded, celebrated Irish writer with many novels, short stories, plays to his name. I had not had the fortune of reading his work before this but when Vinod gave this book, I read it and discovered a wonderful writer who could make me laugh and create a world full of people with flaws and who are accepting of it (just like the real world) to the extent that it all seems make believe.

'The Love Department' is a department run by one Lady Dolores who has taken it upon herself to bring love back into marriages. According to her estimate  there were ten millions lonely women in England and most of them, married and unhappy. She runs a full department with typists and writers who receive letters from all over and who advise, encourage and empathise with these troubled women. She is a celebrated person with her own show on TV!

In walks Edward, fresh off a seminary where he was on the way to become a Brother, but for some reason, mostly the reason of wanting to grow up and be like an adult, he applies for and gets a job with the Love Department. Lady Dolores identifies him as the man who would find the biggest blackguard she has known. Septimus Tuam, who has a habit of seducing vulnerable married women by the way of running their stockings accidentally with his umbrella and then showing up at their house to do their dishes. They love him, plan to leave their husbands because he is a 'beautiful man'. Septimus is happy as long as they give him money and keeps them happy. He is not happy when they talk of leaving their husbands and their wealth and want to marry him.

One Mrs Fitzpatrick is on the verge of divorce and is away in the USA trying to figure between her husband or Septimus. One Mrs Bolsover is his latest conquest and she is willing to leave her husband and move in with him. In all this we have a supporting cast of a charwoman of Mrs Bolsover who is trying to get old Beach to sign his will in her favour because he is besotted with her, one Lake who is another blackguard seeking to topple his boss Mr Bolsover and take his place. Only he has used his Secretary Mrs Brown and she doe snot like it and knocks his teeth out! I loved that part when he runs all over for dentists in the middle of the night because he has to face the Board the next day.

Edward is hopeless at his job and messes up everything in his naive way, even disclosing to one ex-Septimus victim, Mrs Poache that he is on a mission to see the end of Mr Tuam. It all falls delightfully into place with Lake being caught by the police. Septimus run over and Edward going back to his seminary.

Loved it. It began a bit like how my first Wodehouse began, many characters coming in and nothing much happening until it slowly fell in place and then, I could not put it down. The characters are so delightfully loveable including Septimus and the bungling Edward, the scenes and situations impossibly funny and the way they all come together so organic. He's a master! Thanks is owed to Vinod bhai for expanding my lit horizons!      

AI is Making me Anxious - An Interesting Perspective on AI

AI is making a lot of people anxious. But this perspective comes from a friend of mine N, who's been a tech person all his life. As a senior executive, a promoter of a tech company, he uses AI, finds it a really efficient tool, but over time, has figured that it also makes him anxious. It is so efficient it makes you feel a little inadequate.

Let's look at what N says. 

....

AI Is Making Me More Productive.

And It’s Also Making Me More Anxious.

AI has dramatically increased my productivity. Tasks that used to take hours now take minutes. Things that required a team sometimes just require a well-written prompt. I can ship faster. Think faster. Experiment faster.

But something else has changed. My mental baseline.

The Ceiling Has Moved

AI doesn’t just make you faster. It expands what feels possible.

Suddenly:

You can explore 5 ideas instead of 1.

You can run experiments in parallel.

You can build things you previously wouldn’t even attempt.

You can compress a 1–2 year roadmap into months.

The ceiling has moved up. But my brain hasn’t. Now there are more tracks running in my head at once.

More unfinished threads.

More “we should try this.”

More “we could also build that.”

I’m not just moving faster. I’m juggling more.

The Pressure of Optionality

Before AI, constraints made decisions easier. Time was limited. Engineering bandwidth was limited. Resources were limited.

Now the limitation isn’t capability. It’s discipline. When almost anything feels buildable, every decision carries weight.

If I don’t pursue an idea, am I missing something big?

If this takes only 20 minutes with AI, why haven’t I done it already?

The pressure isn’t external. It’s internal.

A Different Kind of Burnout

This doesn’t feel like traditional burnout. It’s not necessarily longer hours. It’s mental saturation.

Constant context switching

Endless experimentation

Continuous optimization

Never feeling “caught up”

The feedback loops are tighter now. Which means expectations rise faster. And the bar keeps moving daily. There’s this subtle anxiety that if you slow down, you’re falling behind.

Velocity Without Structure Feels Like Chaos

When everything accelerates:

Roadmaps shift weekly

Priorities evolve mid-cycle

Experiments overlap

Documentation lags

Without intentional structure, speed becomes noise. AI makes the musicians play faster. But it doesn’t automatically create harmony. And fast, uncoordinated motion is stressful.

The Psychological Shift

What AI changed most for me isn’t just output.

It changed how work feels.

There’s more possibility.

More FOMO.

More comparison.

More “should.”

The old constraint was capability. The new constraint is clarity.

What I’m Trying to Learn

A few things I’m realizing:

Just because I can run 10 tracks doesn’t mean I should.

Killing ideas quickly is a mental health skill.

Deep focus matters more when choice increase.

Not every feasible idea deserves energy.

AI multiplies productivity. But without boundaries, it also multiplies pressure.

The Real Challenge

The next challenge isn’t just learning to use AI.

It’s learning to process speeding up.

To increase output without increasing anxiety.

To experiment without fragmenting focus.

To move faster without burning out.

AI didn’t just change work. It changed the psychological environment of work.

And we’re still adapting.

....

Very interesting isn't it. 

Hyderabad by Walk - Ramzan Walk at Charminar

I had been promising Anjali a Ramzan food walk so when the Deccan Archives announced a Ramzan walk I signed up. It was also the same day that Anjali was coming to Hyderabad for her semester break so it worked out fine. As food walks go it was not just about food but a nice dip into history and heritage interspersed by small stops for food (eating moderately as they said).

The mosque at Darul Shifa

The school

The entrance to Darul Shifa

So Vasu, Anjali, Vajra and me did the smart thing and took a cab to Darul Shifa, the 16th century healing place which stands near the Salar Jung Museum at 9 and joined a sizeable crowd. Sibgat began by telling us that the Darul Shifa football ground was where the Abbas Football Club played and it was one of the first football clubs in Hyderabad. Apparently this was where Syed Abdul Rahim, the Hyderabad player and football coach upon whose life the Ajay Devgan film Maidaan was made, also played. Also he gave us the rather disheartening news that the grounds would now be converted into a Metro station called Salar Jung Museum Metro station. Why can't we leave our grounds alone? Where will those kids play?

Khadeem Munshi Naan

Anyway to our left was the Darul Shifa and in front of us was a Sunni mosque. We walked into the Darul Shifa, which is no more a healing place but houses a school named after Mohammad Quli, and Ashoorkhanas within its premises with a 680 AD relic inside. We wound our way to the backside where we saw a container used to store water - a reminder to the martyrs of Karbala who were not provided water (or some such significance - I didn't pay much attention). Onwards to the lane behind where several small shops operate electrical windings, mechanic shops etc were busy at work despite the late hour and proceeded to view the effects of the Metro project.

Chatta Bazar Kamaan - the first foot overbridge

Entrance to the Dewan Deodi

One of the landmarks that got affected by the Metro demolition is the famed Munshi Naan store which was established in 1851 by Late Mohammed Hussain at the Purani Haveli (known as Haveli Khadeem those days). Since Mohammed Hussain worked as a Munshi with the IVth Nizam, the shop came to be known as Munshi Naan. Anyway, the shop has now moved just a 100 metres away on the road leading to Chatta Bazaar. We stopped for a brief while and tasted warm, soft naans (20 bucks apiece) while the shop owner gave us pamphlets about the shop. They sell Naan and that's it.

Badshahi Ashoorkhana

We walked on past the Chatta bazaar, the Chatta Bazaar Kamaan and ducked into what was probably the Dewan Deodi, the Salar Jung residence which was supposedly very opulent in its day and which completely disappeared and made way for a bunch of shops and stuff. 

Haleem at Shadab

Chai and Khajoor at Bismillah
(check out the last Nizam Mir Osman Ali's pic to the left)

We somehow made our way through the traffic, crossed the road leading to Charminar towards Badshahi Ashoorkhana, where we got some peace and quiet and some standing space. Sibgat explained stuff about the Badshahi Ashoorkhana and we headed off to our next food stop.

An interesting building - no idea what it is

At Hotel Shadab where there was no space to stand, we bought ourselves some haleem and tried it (pretty good) and we got a free coke with it. In all that crowd and mayhem the boy who took the money from me at the counter on the road, somehow remembered that I had paid more and called me back and gave it to me. I insisted that I had not and he kept telling me I had. Since I was so insistent, he gave up and said that "at some point, if you remember, anytime, please come back and take your change". I was amazed he could keep track of that little exchange in all that madness and by the time I was done with my haleem, I realised that he was right, I had paid twice while he returned change once. When I was walking out I tapped him on his shoulder, and he smiled and gave me the extra two hundred bucks. I don't think I will forget that ever. He was so good.

Old buildings in Mahboob ki Mehendi area 

Everyone tried a bit (or more, depending on their inclination) of haleem and then we walked past the mad crowd. The police were constantly warning the crowds over loud speakers that there were pick pockets (or rather pick pocketers) and that we should watch out for our mobiles and hand bags and wallets (and even people I feel). Anyway, we walked across and soon came to Bismillah hotel where we stopped for chai and where Vasu indulged us with some hard khajoor. 

Deewan - For Pathar ka Gosht and other kebabs

Off we went from there and turned off into one of the lanes to the left, which was running parallel to the Pathergatti road (that leads to Charminar). We stopped some place which was Mehboob ki Mehndi, the famous red light area of yesteryear. (Perhaps this was where Mandi the film was shot or at least was made believe to be shot.) I saw one beautiful building that appeared to be a Qutb Shahi structure. Didn't check what it was. We walked on, past the Govind Dosa, ran into crazy traffic jams near Mehboob Chowk and stopped there to try Pather ka Gosht and some chicken kebabs - delicious stuff - at a place called Deewan Chinese, right on the road behind Mehboob Chowk. Apparently he goes Chinese most of the year but serves delectable kebabs during Ramzan. Good stuff.

Charminar at 1159 - the lights on Charminar (behind) went off at 12 sharp

Then we walked around a bit towards a mosque close to Mehbook Chowk clock tower and tried a bit of the dahi bada which I had always been interested in trying but never did. It tastes different. And then we were told we should try to power our way through the crazy crowds in Laad bazaar and head towards Charminar, hope to get to Milan Fruit Juice and some dessert plans etc. 

Can never resist taking pics of Charminar

However all our major plans did not transpire and we ended up at Farasha Hotel which is next to Nimrah Restaurant and much quieter. So we could speak a little. But what was interesting was that the hotel's interior work, made of mirrors and stuff, was designed by the same person who designed the mirror work sets for Mughal-e-Azam. Another chai and we bid goodbye.

The Mughal-e-Azam work

Finding a cab needed us to walk a couple of kilometres down Laad Bazaar, away from the crowds and traffic. The crowds were still surging even at 1 am. Shops were open and doing brisk business. We finally made it back home by 2 am. Tired, but what an experience.     

Thought for the Day - Happiness is Making Art, Art is Slicing Vegetables Finely

An old experience came up and enabled an important connection. That happiness is about making art. And art is about slicing vegetables (and fruits) finely.

Art is a flower falling perfectly

Let me explain. When we think of art what we conjure up are images of great creativity. But they are borne out of an attitude of great care. And great care comes with great love. Anything in life becomes art if we approach it with great care and love.

And I experienced it when I was cutting up vegetables and realised that I could do it finely. Like the man who cut his pineapples (finely) many years ago. With all his heart. 

https://harimohanparuvu.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-old-man-and-his-pineapples.html

Could I just take any mundane job and make it art? I could. I could slice up my veggies finely. It instantly transported me into a focused space, into a world of purpose, into a world of creation, of me being my own, of me creating. For myself. But it will make an impact on those who experience it - who see it, who taste it.

Life is that to me then - making art out of everything I touch in my life. And it is about chopping veggies finely. Happiness.

Acts of Love - Sheer Joy

In the midst of teeming crowds, one could spot a few red, heart shaped balloons up in the air. For a moment I could not see them and thought that perhaps, there was a sale going on. 

A few hundred metres down the road, I could see the reason. Holding one of those balloons was a little kid, his heart full of joy at this aquisition, his parents joyful at seeing his joy. 

In little acts, we can fill our hearts.

Another Year of Arts Management - 2026

 And I completed another batch of Arts Management at the Department of Dance, University of Hyderabad. It was a group of six - and we discussed many ways of how an artist can manage their career. 

L to R - Jecy, Devananda, Anupama, me, Thrailokya, Srividya and Siri Chandana

From setting objectives such as being secure, taking 100% responsibility for their careers,  and being process oriented we discussed concepts such as Growth Mindset, the Golden Circle, Artistic Vision, How to develop skills and expertise, Setting long, medium and short term goals, Performance management, Feedback, Communication, People skills, Marketing and Financial Management. It has been as satisfying as ever and I hope the students achieve their stated goals and more and more importantly, enjoy the journey and the learning process. 

Acts of Love - Can We Play Together?

A note (from long ago). A request. A desire to spend time together. An act of love.