Writeups

Two books roused desire in me while I was in school, an adolescent. These books were Jean Webster’s novel, ‘Daddy-Long-Legs’, and Danielle Steel’s novel, ‘Wings’. Desire, while in school, was a mushy thing that seemed to melt inside my being or break out of a fist-sized, fist-shaped cage and flow out freely, leaving an elation in its wake. I was in school in the 1990s. Years later, in mid-2000s, when I saw on TV the advertisement of the chocolate lava cake of Domino’s Pizza – thick, lava-like, deep brown chocolate flowing out of a crusty, baked object – I felt that that desire that I felt in school was the same like this viscous, lava-like chocolate. With each book, with each kind of desire I felt, each layer of that cake crumbled. Both the books I mentioned are different from one another...

A line from a poem A line From a poem Came to me in dream In two versions: Almost like a legal document I did not know if It was a verb Or a mood I had to change Or perhaps, A whole person Broken up, fragmented In need of flight and Root, At the same time. A branch breaking off in perfect Calm To travel a safe distance Before disappearing From the bound of memory Forever.   A philosopher meets his match I never asked For the moon But she Arrived at my door One stolen evening Just like a summer storm Drenched and asking To be in Carrying the past as if It was only yesterday A baby in her arms Hers. My door is always open, I say, Come in. The past is a forgotten - extinct - species. At that time, I was wrapped in...

Stories sometimes seem like living creatures. The strong ones evolve, flit from one form to another and back again. They pass through languages, forms, format, are not tied to any one medium. There are stories that transcend boundaries and forge connections, sometimes because of the story’s power, sometimes because of the underlying structures that give them power. Take Lewis Caroll's instant classic, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'. Steeped in symbolism, riddles, nonsense songs and dream logic, the book has haunted and delighted readers since 1865. But- this is the important part- even if you haven't read the book but are reading this, its surreal quality, vivid colours and young protagonist possibly inhabit some part of your consciousness. Translations, adaptations, abridged versions...