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Using Twitter/ Nieman Storyboard
For a writer, being successful on Twitter, accumulating followers, is a particular skill that has more to do with showmanship than writing. Provocative, controversial and funny content attracts followers. Can you do that? Writing click-bait type tweets that offer headline-like copy helps. Can you do that? Keeping a steady cadence of content is key. You have to keep putting stuff out there. Some folks tweet four times a day. Can you do that? It involves being comfortable with what skeptics call “oversharing,” and stopping the censor in your head that says “nobody cares about your every inane thought.” Can you stop that censor? Read my take on how journalists use Twitter.
About Rajat Parr/Sommelier India
The unbridled pleasure of orange wine If you ask wine writers or sommeliers to pick a wine that goes well with Indian food, you get [...]
Emojis/Hindustan Times
This was a fun piece to write. Inspired by a man I know who uses emojis in a cute, funny way. The one covering the face with the hand for instance. There are all these facial exercises going around. Maybe we just imitate emojis? Or better yet, meet in person and actually emote.
Jonathan Franzen interview
In which I interview Jonathan Franzen about his birding journey. Click here to listen to the interview for the Bird Podcast Read more about [...]
Moral policing/Hindustan Times.
At the end of the day, it is a bad-news story, but like much in this contradictory country of ours, it is also a good-news story. The only way that this particular moral policing story is different from the countless others that are sprouting up all over India is that it is a social media phenomenon
Indian fermented pickles
How many times have you shelled out Rs. 300 for a bottle of kombucha and wondered why there was no Indian equivalent? Where were all the gut-friendly, probiotic fermented drinks (and foods) in Indian cuisine? Of course, there are. As with anything in India, every state has its own variations. In this piece, I write about Rajasthani Kanji and Karnataka's Karindi.
Foreign languages/Harvard’s Nieman Storyboard
Do you think in English or your native tongue? I wrote this complex essay about mother tongues, foreign languages, and how they influenced-- and continue to influence-- my writing. Also whether you can use them to improve yours. For this, I listened to stories and poetry in my mother tongue, Tamil. I also listened to Pablo Neruda in Spanish and Russian poets in Russian. I don't understand these languages but they helped my writing. Read the post to know how :)
Raj Parr profile/Mint Lounge
Some time ago, I drove three hours from San Francisco down the coast of California to a picturesque town of Cambria-- to meet iconic winemaker, Raj Parr. As you will read my profile of him here, Raj Parr can identify wine varietal, vintage and producer by simply smelling the wine. Which to me is the thrill of tasting wine. The nose is an under-used organ and wine-tasters have figured out how to make it work for them. Read about how Raj Parr does it.
Dance Conference- Maya Rao
When the multi-talented Madhu Natraj asked if I would chair a dance conference in her mother's name, I was honored and touched. I am a failed bharatanatyam dancer. But I love dance and the world of dance. So I happily accepted. For the last several weeks, we have been planning. And here it is-- happening on Saturday, September 18th from 10 to 3 at the Bangalore International Centre (BIC). You have to register for the event to be there in person at the BIC. Details in the post and on the BIC website.
