The Kaladham Diaries - Day 3

An early morning walk and then we hit breakfast. Then the 10 am trudge to Kaladham to find our spaces between words and words between spaces and write and compose. We found ourselves places all over the campus at Kaladham, ignoring the classroom like setting that Rajsekharan had organised for us on top of one of the spaces.

Entrance to Kaladham

The stone corridor that leads to the restaurant and store and other spaces

Sathya settled down at the restaurant,

The restaurant and store

Nimmi found a tree,

The amphitheatre's backside, Nimmi's tree on the left

George found a theatre,

This is another theatre for stand up performances

Chandrahas took the classroom,

Vishakha another high place,

Above the Board room - I can't believe I never climbed up

Sharon found the stream,

Sharon picked the stream

Shubra hit the restaurant,

Shubra in the restaurant, fully color coded

Piyush, Brandon and I hit the Board room with its comfortable chairs and air conditioning.

The Board Room where Piyush would play music - the noisiest place (well insulated)

The day spanned out this way - get to Kaladham at 10, work till 1, split for lunch, head back, work till 5 pm.  At 5 we would all congregate and read from what we wrote that day or perhaps read from earlier published works. There was no compulsion to write in Kaladham - we were free to go wherever and write, including our rooms.

Reading over tea and banana cake and samosa

The only structured part was to meet every evening to read which was an interesting experience because in some way it made us all conscious of ourselves and our work.

Writer Profile 4 - Shubra Krishan, Travel and Cook Book writer
Shubra is the editor of Travel Secrets magazine and has in the past worked with Femina, Cosmopolitan, Conde Nast Traveller, The Sunday Standard, Asian Age etc. She authored five books about fine living and fine cuisine - Essential Ayurveda, Radiant Body, Restful Mind, The 9 to 5 Yogi, Thinner Dinner and Top Secret!! Superhit Recipes from Delhi's Hottest Restaurants. She conducts writing workshops and mentors youngsters to help them get published.

Shubra is really cool. She just does things her own way - mostly in a hurry. Be it her walk or a drink (or even her writing) she gets done with it in a flash. Always good for a laugh and a lark, she is very approachable and a good sport. She speaks her mind - in a good and vulnerable way. She loves good writing and obviously knows her craft very well. I am looking forward to reading her stuff and finding out about how she approaches writing and editing. Currently, she is doing a workshop in March of Travel Writing Secrets in Mumbai. We did plan one in Hyderabad together - hopefully, it will happen soon.