Paterson is a bus driver by day and a closet poet. The Japanese gentleman says it all in the end when he gives a dejected Paterson an empty notebook and says 'Sometimes empty page presents more possibilities.'
I liked it.
I liked it.
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Times Lit fest, Bangalore - Day 2
Day 2
I went early to catch George's session. Nisha sent me a pic. Yesterday's session got some press.
I happened to chance upon the Om Swami session for a bit. Appupen's session was very entertaining and interesting. It was titled Graphic Narratives and he had Arjun Gaind and Ramya Ramakrishnan for company.
George was quite happy to see his graphic novel 'The Snake and the Lotus' being displayed at the Festival. We took a picture. I bought a copy to support the tough world of graphic novelists. Amazing work.
We went and attended the session about Anita's new novel 'Eating Wasps' with Prayag Akbar. Anita spoke honestly and gave some detailed inputs about her writing process. For any aspiring writers there were plenty of tips.
At 3 pm, I went with George to Koshy's for a spot of lunch. For old times sake. Dropped George and returned to meet Nisha who had come to the festival.
Packed up at end of day and headed home. Flight is at 1010. Feeling the lag.
I went early to catch George's session. Nisha sent me a pic. Yesterday's session got some press.
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| For the love of the game! |
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| Ramya, Arjun and Appupen (George) |
We went and attended the session about Anita's new novel 'Eating Wasps' with Prayag Akbar. Anita spoke honestly and gave some detailed inputs about her writing process. For any aspiring writers there were plenty of tips.
 |
| Anita's session |
 |
| Prayag Akbar and Anita Nair |
At 3 pm, I went with George to Koshy's for a spot of lunch. For old times sake. Dropped George and returned to meet Nisha who had come to the festival.
 |
| Private launching of George's 'The Snake and the Lotus' |
Packed up at end of day and headed home. Flight is at 1010. Feeling the lag.
Bali - A Play by Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Arts Research
George and I went to watch Nimmi's play at Rangasharada. The hall was pretty full. We were joined by his friend Nandita, who is in the business of saving the environment. We ate a bit at the canteen which had a lovely assortment of food - kheema pav and some coffee. And some cake of sorts. Rangasharada is very particular that we all be seated before the show starts and with good reason. We were honored to have the director sit with us while we watched the play. A rather nervous director.
Adishakti is based in Pondicherry now. It started as a theatre company in Mumbai in 1981 and thereon went into research. It conducts its own plays and also conducts workshops. Its journey is fascinating and the work it does is equally amazing.
'Bali' retells the part of Ramayana where Rama kills Bali hiding behind a tree. The viewpoints of all the players are presented along with how it plays out in everyday life - sibling rivalry, right and wrong. The play shows both - the episode in Ramayana and a take on everyday life.
Bali, older brother of Sugriva, and ruler of Kishkindha, is challenged to a fight by the demon Mayavi. He enters a cave for the fight and tells Sugriva that if he sees blood coming out of the cave he should assume that Bali is dead and should seal the cave with a rock.
Blood comes out after a few days and Sugriva assumes that Bali is dead. He seals the cave and goes to Kishkindha, assumes the role of the king. Bali's queen now is his queen and his son is now his son. However Bali does not die - Mayavi does and he returns and banishes Sugriva. The dejected Sugriva asks Rama, who is in pursuit of Ravana, to help him kill Bali. Rama kills Bali hiding behind a tree.
The play was directed by Nimmi, our friend from the Unfestival. It's an interesting take on that incident in Bali's life - he is almost invincible with his power of drawing his opponent's strength, Sugriva only does what he is told so feels he has been shortchanged, Rama does what he does by hiding behind a tree and killing Bali. I had not much of a clue about Tara and Angad's role in the story but they had major roles in the play.
The performers were Vinay Kumar, Arvind Rane, Ashiqa Salvan, Kiyomi Mehta and Rijul Ray. Vinay Kumar as Bali was outstanding. Not to say that the others were not - they were all very good. I totally enjoyed the play. It was intense, funny. The effects were interesting. The changeover between the actual story and everyday life, seamless.
I asked Nimmi if she was happy with the way it turned out. Nimmi was not too happy with how it turned out but that's ok. I liked it. Always room for improvement. They have more shows for the next couple of days and then they are on the road for a long time - Shimoga, Macleadgunj, Nepal. The hall was pretty packed. George and I got another cup of coffee and after bidding farewell to Nimmi, walked all the way to a Metro station. I got off at Cubbon Park.
Good work Nimmi and Adishakti. I am very impressed. Do check out the Adishakti website. It's stunning.
Adishakti is based in Pondicherry now. It started as a theatre company in Mumbai in 1981 and thereon went into research. It conducts its own plays and also conducts workshops. Its journey is fascinating and the work it does is equally amazing.
'Bali' retells the part of Ramayana where Rama kills Bali hiding behind a tree. The viewpoints of all the players are presented along with how it plays out in everyday life - sibling rivalry, right and wrong. The play shows both - the episode in Ramayana and a take on everyday life.
Bali, older brother of Sugriva, and ruler of Kishkindha, is challenged to a fight by the demon Mayavi. He enters a cave for the fight and tells Sugriva that if he sees blood coming out of the cave he should assume that Bali is dead and should seal the cave with a rock.
Blood comes out after a few days and Sugriva assumes that Bali is dead. He seals the cave and goes to Kishkindha, assumes the role of the king. Bali's queen now is his queen and his son is now his son. However Bali does not die - Mayavi does and he returns and banishes Sugriva. The dejected Sugriva asks Rama, who is in pursuit of Ravana, to help him kill Bali. Rama kills Bali hiding behind a tree.
The play was directed by Nimmi, our friend from the Unfestival. It's an interesting take on that incident in Bali's life - he is almost invincible with his power of drawing his opponent's strength, Sugriva only does what he is told so feels he has been shortchanged, Rama does what he does by hiding behind a tree and killing Bali. I had not much of a clue about Tara and Angad's role in the story but they had major roles in the play.
The performers were Vinay Kumar, Arvind Rane, Ashiqa Salvan, Kiyomi Mehta and Rijul Ray. Vinay Kumar as Bali was outstanding. Not to say that the others were not - they were all very good. I totally enjoyed the play. It was intense, funny. The effects were interesting. The changeover between the actual story and everyday life, seamless.
I asked Nimmi if she was happy with the way it turned out. Nimmi was not too happy with how it turned out but that's ok. I liked it. Always room for improvement. They have more shows for the next couple of days and then they are on the road for a long time - Shimoga, Macleadgunj, Nepal. The hall was pretty packed. George and I got another cup of coffee and after bidding farewell to Nimmi, walked all the way to a Metro station. I got off at Cubbon Park.
Good work Nimmi and Adishakti. I am very impressed. Do check out the Adishakti website. It's stunning.
Monday, March 4, 2019
Times Lit Fest, Bangalore - Day 1
Attended the Times Lit Fest at Bangalore - 23rd and 24th February put together by Vinita Dawra Nangia. Spread across four venues at the Jayamahal Palace, it was packed with events. Speakers included Devdutt Pattanaik, Nayantara Sehgal, Vivek Shanbhag, Shobhaa De, Andaleeb Wajid, Deepa Narayan, Kishwar Desai, Rakshanda Jalil, Shabana Azmi, Anand Neelkantan, Sanjay Khan, Annup Sonii, Ravinder Singh, Ashwin Sanghi, Ravi Subramaniam, Anita Nair, Manu Pillai, Vikram Sampath, Gurcharan Das, Radhakrishnan Pillai, Meghna Pant, Githa Hariharan, Om Swami, Rijutha Diwekar, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Prayaag Akbar, Chetan Bhagat, Arjun Gaind, Appupen, Ramya Ramakrishnan, Shipra Khanna, Shashi Deshpande, Tony Joseph, Roshan Abbas, Amitabha Bagchi, Wendell Rodricks and others.
Apart from the sessions there was 'The Garage' which had literary crafts and workshops, exquisite art forms by Art Mantram and other stuff. ID Fresh Food gave away free coffee at its stall.
Day 1
I had a session at 1130 in the morning moderated by Prajwal Hegde who had just written a book 'What's good about falling?'. Prajwal is a sports reporter and mainly covers Wimbledon. Others on the panel were Olympian swimmers Rehan Poncha, Nisha Millet and IPL and Karnataka player K. Gowtham.
The festival started late for some reason. I attended the keynote speech by Devdutt Pattanaik on Astitva, identity, being and much more which he covered in 30 minutes.
Minati's book of poems which sounded quite nice. Prajwal came and met me there and we figured we should meet at the author's lounge.
Amazing. I could not make much sense of it except that he said he did not exist if the audience was not there. I met Saroj and Minati there and browsed through
The lounge was guarded like a fortress and I wondered why. Just some authors after all. But I could see some known faces, names.
Since not many people had come in yet, I got a lovely caricature drawn by the talented Jinoy. Loved it.
In the author's lounge I met Satya and Vestin whom I had met at Anita's attic. Satya had written a fun book and it really looked interesting. She also told me that her daughters loved 'The Men Within'. I met Dr. Radhakrishnan Pillai, Anita Nair, Kuljeet Yadav. Prajwal introduced me to many sports reporters - Manuja Veerappa being one of them. Anita introduced me to many people she knew - Ashwin Sanghi was one - as the fast bowler who was a first-class cricketer turned writer.
The session went well. Topics included how one copes with success and failure, how it affects relationships, what it takes to be a champion, when do you know you have reached your potential, how does one conduct oneself in public. Rehan and Nisha spoke about the dedication one needs to be a champion, about giving back to the sport and so on. I found Lalith in the audience, someone who had read 'The Men Within' years ago and I was thrilled. He asked me a question about vanishing grounds and what the answer was. I felt that it's for schools to believe that sports develops character and if it does, they can find ways to hire grounds etc and expose children to sports. We took a picture. George came sometime in between and we were on for Nimmi's play that afternoon.
After the session, we hung about the place for a bit. Turns out that Anita and George are great pals too. We chatted a bit and then left to Rangasharada. Show is at 430 but we needed to get a bite. We decided to go to Rangasharada and eat at its famed canteen.
Apart from the sessions there was 'The Garage' which had literary crafts and workshops, exquisite art forms by Art Mantram and other stuff. ID Fresh Food gave away free coffee at its stall.
Day 1
I had a session at 1130 in the morning moderated by Prajwal Hegde who had just written a book 'What's good about falling?'. Prajwal is a sports reporter and mainly covers Wimbledon. Others on the panel were Olympian swimmers Rehan Poncha, Nisha Millet and IPL and Karnataka player K. Gowtham.
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| Times Lit Fest |
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| Nice tents, bookshelves, books |
The festival started late for some reason. I attended the keynote speech by Devdutt Pattanaik on Astitva, identity, being and much more which he covered in 30 minutes.
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| Lovely open area |
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| The roof of the shamiana, the blue is the sky |
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| Our session in progress (Pic. George) |
The lounge was guarded like a fortress and I wondered why. Just some authors after all. But I could see some known faces, names.
 |
| Prajwal, Rehan, Gowtham, Nisha and me |
In the author's lounge I met Satya and Vestin whom I had met at Anita's attic. Satya had written a fun book and it really looked interesting. She also told me that her daughters loved 'The Men Within'. I met Dr. Radhakrishnan Pillai, Anita Nair, Kuljeet Yadav. Prajwal introduced me to many sports reporters - Manuja Veerappa being one of them. Anita introduced me to many people she knew - Ashwin Sanghi was one - as the fast bowler who was a first-class cricketer turned writer.
 |
| George and Anita |
The session went well. Topics included how one copes with success and failure, how it affects relationships, what it takes to be a champion, when do you know you have reached your potential, how does one conduct oneself in public. Rehan and Nisha spoke about the dedication one needs to be a champion, about giving back to the sport and so on. I found Lalith in the audience, someone who had read 'The Men Within' years ago and I was thrilled. He asked me a question about vanishing grounds and what the answer was. I felt that it's for schools to believe that sports develops character and if it does, they can find ways to hire grounds etc and expose children to sports. We took a picture. George came sometime in between and we were on for Nimmi's play that afternoon.
 |
| Lalith, me and The Men Within |
After the session, we hung about the place for a bit. Turns out that Anita and George are great pals too. We chatted a bit and then left to Rangasharada. Show is at 430 but we needed to get a bite. We decided to go to Rangasharada and eat at its famed canteen.
The Kaladham Diaries - Day 9
Last day. I made it to the ground. Piyush came with me. I bowled a bit. piyush got some great snaps of my bowling action - all in alignment.
Back to the Convertor with a fine breakfast. The Bangalore crowd - Shireen, George, Brandon - would leave by 11 and the Hyderabad crowd - Sathya, me, Piyush, Sharon, Vishakha, Hash and Elisabeth would leave for Hyd at 1.
George and I promised to meet at the Times Lit Fest tomorrow at Bangalore and head to watch Nimmi's show in the afternoon. Hugs and farewells and off they went.
Brandon would be heading off to Colombo and Shireen to Cochin to do some work. Packing up, saying farewell, giving tips and off we were to the quaint Vidyanagar airport. At Hyderabad, Sharon and I split ways with the rest, who were heading off to Delhi and Bangalore. Hugs and farewells and off we were, heading home.
The Unfestival had ended. Thanks JSW Foundation. Thanks Sathya. Thanks Vidyanagar. Thanks all.
Writer Profiles 9 and 10 - Vishakha Jindal and Elisabeth
Vishakha Jindal, Designer, Artist and Photographer
Vishakha is a designer and artist. She finished a course at Srishti Insitute of Design and now co-manages a design studio in Mumbai. She has many talents - designer (she designed last years book at the Hampi House), is an artist and a photographer. She knows her craft well and goes about it calmly and efficiently - knows exactly what she wants.
Vishakha drew some wonderful paintings and showed them to us and I am sure they will show up in the book someplace. She is very sorted and gets things done, quietly and easily. She has this fine learning mindset and asks questions - the right ones. She'd go off on long walks or jogs most mornings, discovering new places by herself. I asked her to come along with me to get Antony's pic and Elakkiya's pic and she was gracious enough to do that and so well.
I somehow feel I will be seeing more of Vishakha soon.
Elisabeth, Documentary Film Maker
Elisabeth is a documentary filmmaker from Hamburg who is on her first visit to India. She is Chandrahas's friend and joined us directly. The first thing we noticed with her was that she hardly missed a beat - not a moment you'd feel that she was in a strange country with a bunch of strangers. She just walked right in and made herself comfortable. And in doing that she made us all comfortable too. Food, water, going around, sun, nothing bothered her. She was always in good humour and was a fantastic addition to the group.
On her second day at the Unfestival she decided to come with me to the IIS. She sat quietly for most of the time there and in the end she asked such a simple yet profound question that unlocked a beautiful thought from Elakkiya. What is your relationship with that 100 meter track she asked. And Elakkiya said it was his friend. How beautiful is that! She showed her documentary films on the radicalization of youth in Germany - it was such a beautifully made animated movie. Very political and very deeply involved.
Great work Elisabeth and hope to see you soon.
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| Happy with the action |
Back to the Convertor with a fine breakfast. The Bangalore crowd - Shireen, George, Brandon - would leave by 11 and the Hyderabad crowd - Sathya, me, Piyush, Sharon, Vishakha, Hash and Elisabeth would leave for Hyd at 1.
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| Sathya, Elisabeth, Hash, me and Piyush (Pic. Vishakha) |
George and I promised to meet at the Times Lit Fest tomorrow at Bangalore and head to watch Nimmi's show in the afternoon. Hugs and farewells and off they went.
 |
| Shubra, Vishakha and Sharon (Pic. Hash) |
Brandon would be heading off to Colombo and Shireen to Cochin to do some work. Packing up, saying farewell, giving tips and off we were to the quaint Vidyanagar airport. At Hyderabad, Sharon and I split ways with the rest, who were heading off to Delhi and Bangalore. Hugs and farewells and off we were, heading home.
The Unfestival had ended. Thanks JSW Foundation. Thanks Sathya. Thanks Vidyanagar. Thanks all.
Writer Profiles 9 and 10 - Vishakha Jindal and Elisabeth
Vishakha Jindal, Designer, Artist and Photographer
Vishakha is a designer and artist. She finished a course at Srishti Insitute of Design and now co-manages a design studio in Mumbai. She has many talents - designer (she designed last years book at the Hampi House), is an artist and a photographer. She knows her craft well and goes about it calmly and efficiently - knows exactly what she wants.
Vishakha drew some wonderful paintings and showed them to us and I am sure they will show up in the book someplace. She is very sorted and gets things done, quietly and easily. She has this fine learning mindset and asks questions - the right ones. She'd go off on long walks or jogs most mornings, discovering new places by herself. I asked her to come along with me to get Antony's pic and Elakkiya's pic and she was gracious enough to do that and so well.
I somehow feel I will be seeing more of Vishakha soon.
Elisabeth, Documentary Film Maker
Elisabeth is a documentary filmmaker from Hamburg who is on her first visit to India. She is Chandrahas's friend and joined us directly. The first thing we noticed with her was that she hardly missed a beat - not a moment you'd feel that she was in a strange country with a bunch of strangers. She just walked right in and made herself comfortable. And in doing that she made us all comfortable too. Food, water, going around, sun, nothing bothered her. She was always in good humour and was a fantastic addition to the group.
On her second day at the Unfestival she decided to come with me to the IIS. She sat quietly for most of the time there and in the end she asked such a simple yet profound question that unlocked a beautiful thought from Elakkiya. What is your relationship with that 100 meter track she asked. And Elakkiya said it was his friend. How beautiful is that! She showed her documentary films on the radicalization of youth in Germany - it was such a beautifully made animated movie. Very political and very deeply involved.
Great work Elisabeth and hope to see you soon.
The Kaladham Diaries - Day 8
I seem to be missing a day somewhere but that's ok. A walk in the morning, breakfast and Kaladhama once again. Nimmi was leaving today - she is directing a play and had to join her group in Bangalore. I would be there in Bangalore on Saturday so I told her that if George came along I would come to watch the play. George and I were at the Times Lit Fest Bangalore on Saturday. I think Nimmi booked our tickets then and there. We were on.
Nimmi's farewell was a long drawn process because the car would not come and we all waited for ages - so long that she tried to shoo us away inside. After Nimmi left we went to Kaladham. Today, I decided to write about how my co-writers inspired me. Most of the day was spent in writing that. Lunch and back to Kaladhama. Srinivas from the JSW Cricket team came to meet me and fill me in on some of his cricket stories.
Today was also the time when the official photographer came and took some pictures. We all posed. I mean everyone else posed. I for some reason could not even manage a smile. George could actually see that I was not smiling even though he sat behind me - that's how much I did not feel like smiling. Anyway pictures done, we all headed back to our readings. I read out my stuff about everyone else which was generally well received. Sathya laid out the general idea about when to submit our pieces and the general idea about how they would compile an anthology with our pieces, all set in Hmpi or Kaladham or Vidyanagar.
We headed back to an Andhra meal followed by some beer.
It was 12 by the time we hit the sack. Tomorrow is the last day at the writer's retreat, residency, whatever.
Time had flown.
Writer Profile No 9 - Shireen Quadri, Editor, Travel and Adventure Writer
Shireen is the founder and publisher of the Punch Magazine and worked with several publishing houses before that. Travel and adventure are her passions.
Shireen has the editor's eye for stories and she gave me feedback on a couple of pieces I read immediately. I liked that. She would be a fun person to hang out with in the evenings and had many stories about publishing and movies. She climbed up the Hanuman Hill which I felt was a good achievement - 575 steps. When I was going to the IIS she came with me to check out the place and was interested in the piece I was writing about it. George caught on to her - 'why are you so suspicious' he would tease her and I'd love to listen in on their conversations. Or the Miranda House conversations with Piyush. On the last day she left with George and Brandon to Bangalore - and the two of them convinced her to take a long trip into town. I can totally imagine Shireen getting convinced.
She is great fun, good for a nice and easy chat anytime because there are so many things you can talk to her about. Now to ask her how one gets published in the Punch.
You can sample her writing here
http://thepunchmagazine.com/the-byword/review/upamanyu-chatterjee-meat-of-the-matter
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| Chandrahas, Nimmi, Sharon, Elisabeth, Brandon, me, Sathya, Shubra, Piyush |
Nimmi's farewell was a long drawn process because the car would not come and we all waited for ages - so long that she tried to shoo us away inside. After Nimmi left we went to Kaladham. Today, I decided to write about how my co-writers inspired me. Most of the day was spent in writing that. Lunch and back to Kaladhama. Srinivas from the JSW Cricket team came to meet me and fill me in on some of his cricket stories.
 |
| Chandrahas and Sathya |
Today was also the time when the official photographer came and took some pictures. We all posed. I mean everyone else posed. I for some reason could not even manage a smile. George could actually see that I was not smiling even though he sat behind me - that's how much I did not feel like smiling. Anyway pictures done, we all headed back to our readings. I read out my stuff about everyone else which was generally well received. Sathya laid out the general idea about when to submit our pieces and the general idea about how they would compile an anthology with our pieces, all set in Hmpi or Kaladham or Vidyanagar.
We headed back to an Andhra meal followed by some beer.
 |
| Checking something out - George, me and Piyush |
It was 12 by the time we hit the sack. Tomorrow is the last day at the writer's retreat, residency, whatever.
 |
| Andhra meals |
Time had flown.
Writer Profile No 9 - Shireen Quadri, Editor, Travel and Adventure Writer
Shireen is the founder and publisher of the Punch Magazine and worked with several publishing houses before that. Travel and adventure are her passions.
Shireen has the editor's eye for stories and she gave me feedback on a couple of pieces I read immediately. I liked that. She would be a fun person to hang out with in the evenings and had many stories about publishing and movies. She climbed up the Hanuman Hill which I felt was a good achievement - 575 steps. When I was going to the IIS she came with me to check out the place and was interested in the piece I was writing about it. George caught on to her - 'why are you so suspicious' he would tease her and I'd love to listen in on their conversations. Or the Miranda House conversations with Piyush. On the last day she left with George and Brandon to Bangalore - and the two of them convinced her to take a long trip into town. I can totally imagine Shireen getting convinced.
She is great fun, good for a nice and easy chat anytime because there are so many things you can talk to her about. Now to ask her how one gets published in the Punch.
You can sample her writing here
http://thepunchmagazine.com/the-byword/review/upamanyu-chatterjee-meat-of-the-matter
The Kaladham Diaries - Day 7
Early outing. Left by 6 am or was it before? We hoped to catch sunrise at the Hanuman temple. Shubra, George, Piyush opted out. That left Sathya, Hash, Elisabeth, Vishakha, Nimmi, Brandon, Shireen, Sharon for the short day trip. We headed off a little behind time. The minivan took us around the river and after 45 minutes we were at the foot of the 570 steps. Sharon was feeling unwell so she sat back in the van.
To me, these are great challenges. But I do them to tell myself I can do it. The last time I had climbed Simhagad at Pune was a huge achievement for me. Or even the time when I got back to bowling after two years due to a shoulder injury at a resort near Pune was another. So the 570 steps meant something more to me. It's me vs me.
So I headed off in advance knowing I will slow down. I got some place and stopped. I realised it was not so much the breathing that was bothering me as were my legs. they had become jelly. Hmm. Nimmi and Brandon overtook me. Vishakha caught up with me. After some 30 minutes or so I got up there, sweating, in one piece. I got one small kid, Basava, to come and take my picture. He was thrilled at the responsibility.
The Hanuman temple was just opening. There were many monkeys around. While we were in the temple a few langurs just went wild, trashing everything that was in their sight. The priests told us to stay out of their way - they could knock you out for 15 days. Temple done, we headed down. Brandon and I had the most interesting conversation about spirituality, the champion's mindset, love, manifestation, law of attraction and so on.
Back in the minivan we headed out to the Pampa sarovar where Shabari met Rama. We encountered an angry priest, ignored him, ate some lovely breakfast and headed back. Kishkindha, the kingdom of the vanaras, is supposedly located around Hampi someplace.
Back at the Convertor, a quick lunch and I headed off to Rushdee Warley along with Vishakha and Shireen. I had a wonderful time with Rushdee, speaking about the champion's mindset and institute's goals. Back at Kaladham I changed, went to meet Srinivas and his young protege, Shubham who made it to the Under 16 zonals last year after scoring heavily. He is 15 now and bats well. I also met Thippe Swamy who lives in the local village Vaddu and who works as an outsourced employee operating the conveyor belts.
Most of the crowd went to visit the steel plant. I could not because of my meetings with Warley and co. Once again we read from our work, headed back to the beer table.
Writer Profile No 8 - Sharon Irani, Poet, Editor, Performer
Sharon does many things. A poet first, an editor, a biker, a dancer-performer (she does things on those hanging strips of cloth). She does them all well I should think, going by the impression I get. She is very sure of herself, no rough edges, takes the trouble to do her research well and all in all, knows what she is talking about. She managed a celebrity, rode a Jawa and then a Bullet, looks like a model, performs some crazy stunts, writes beautiful poetry and is much fun.
At Kaladham she chose a place by the flowing water on day one and then flitted all over. one day she came to the Board Room where Piyush was playing music. She prefers quiet - and if you listen to her poetry, you know why - there is a stillness that is very nice about it. I get her poetry! She sings very well, knows all the lyrics, knows much about many things - books, films, stuff like that. She is very good with animals as I saw her with the little pup that Sathya rescued from sure death. Lots of energy, lots of promise, lots of talent. It has to show up sometime soon.
I am a second gen Irani she says. I had to ask her the dumb question - what's the difference between Iranis and Parsis. Of course she gave me a detailed explanation. Ex-Mayo college, writer of book reviews and other stuff, she is a regular at the Jaipur Literary Festival. She read out my piece in Knot for Keeps - the day I went to meet Sarita. Thanks so much Sharon. See you soon.
All things fun, head Sharon ward
 |
| 570 steps done |
 |
| Basava to share the moment |
So I headed off in advance knowing I will slow down. I got some place and stopped. I realised it was not so much the breathing that was bothering me as were my legs. they had become jelly. Hmm. Nimmi and Brandon overtook me. Vishakha caught up with me. After some 30 minutes or so I got up there, sweating, in one piece. I got one small kid, Basava, to come and take my picture. He was thrilled at the responsibility.
 |
| The climb - seen from the top |
The Hanuman temple was just opening. There were many monkeys around. While we were in the temple a few langurs just went wild, trashing everything that was in their sight. The priests told us to stay out of their way - they could knock you out for 15 days. Temple done, we headed down. Brandon and I had the most interesting conversation about spirituality, the champion's mindset, love, manifestation, law of attraction and so on.
 |
| Pampa sarovar - place of the angry priest |
Back at the Convertor, a quick lunch and I headed off to Rushdee Warley along with Vishakha and Shireen. I had a wonderful time with Rushdee, speaking about the champion's mindset and institute's goals. Back at Kaladham I changed, went to meet Srinivas and his young protege, Shubham who made it to the Under 16 zonals last year after scoring heavily. He is 15 now and bats well. I also met Thippe Swamy who lives in the local village Vaddu and who works as an outsourced employee operating the conveyor belts.
Most of the crowd went to visit the steel plant. I could not because of my meetings with Warley and co. Once again we read from our work, headed back to the beer table.
Writer Profile No 8 - Sharon Irani, Poet, Editor, Performer
Sharon does many things. A poet first, an editor, a biker, a dancer-performer (she does things on those hanging strips of cloth). She does them all well I should think, going by the impression I get. She is very sure of herself, no rough edges, takes the trouble to do her research well and all in all, knows what she is talking about. She managed a celebrity, rode a Jawa and then a Bullet, looks like a model, performs some crazy stunts, writes beautiful poetry and is much fun.
At Kaladham she chose a place by the flowing water on day one and then flitted all over. one day she came to the Board Room where Piyush was playing music. She prefers quiet - and if you listen to her poetry, you know why - there is a stillness that is very nice about it. I get her poetry! She sings very well, knows all the lyrics, knows much about many things - books, films, stuff like that. She is very good with animals as I saw her with the little pup that Sathya rescued from sure death. Lots of energy, lots of promise, lots of talent. It has to show up sometime soon.
I am a second gen Irani she says. I had to ask her the dumb question - what's the difference between Iranis and Parsis. Of course she gave me a detailed explanation. Ex-Mayo college, writer of book reviews and other stuff, she is a regular at the Jaipur Literary Festival. She read out my piece in Knot for Keeps - the day I went to meet Sarita. Thanks so much Sharon. See you soon.
All things fun, head Sharon ward
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