A writing Geek: Top Indian Blog

You may like to hear it: A Writing Geek has been listed in the Directory of Top Indian Blogs 2013-14.

Actually, I didn't know about it. Haddock, an amazing photographer, congratulated me this morning while commenting on my last post.

No big deal for me. Temperamentally, I care little about these things. But it's a hot and humid day, and there's nothing to feel good about. Then you hear it. You feel a bit up for a fraction of a second. 

 I blog for the sheer pleasure of it without any audience/business interest in mind. I blog since I can't do without it. I tried not to blog for some time but I failed.

My thanks to editors of Directory of TIB who have considered AWG fit for their list.

How Ruskin Bond celebrated his 80th birthday

For me, every day is a new awakening. On my 80th, I greeted the early morning sun, watered my plants, wrote a page or two, salu­ted the world from my window, and treated myself to two eggs instead of the usual one!

Internet and Good Writing

Q: Does the internet help or hurt good writing? 

A: I think the question is whether good writing helps or hurts the Internet. Good writing doesn't need help and can't be hurt.

- from an interview with  Lorin Stein, editor of The Paris review

Reading: The Illicit Happiness Of Other People/ Manu Joseph

The Illicit Happiness Of Other People is Manu Joseph’s second novel, but I read him for the first time.

 I picked up the book mainly for its wonderful title. Besides, I wanted to find out what and how Manu Joseph (who I know as a journalist, but recently got awarded for his fiction) actually writes.

It is about Unni Chacko, the weird cartoonist, who killed himself at the age of seventeen. But why did he do this? The novel revolves around this mystery  as Ousep, Unni’s father, a journalist, conducts his long, crazy and relentless search and taps all possible sources to find out the cause of his son’s suicide.

Towards the end of the novel everything falls in places, and the reader knows about the cause, which is not very uncommon, but convincing.

Manu Joseph is a wonderful writer, and I must admit he fascinates me with his prose, intelligence  and sensibilities. He never bores. Like any of today’s writers, he has his research part in this novel, but he incorporates it aptly with an effort though.

In an otherwise well- constructed narrative, the only thing that jars is the abysmal poverty of Chakao family. How come the family would be living in so poor condition while its man is a chief reporter with UNI, his drinking habit notwithstanding?