When the doodoo hits the fan…

We are all living in an interconnected world. Or so it is said. Never is this easily debunked than when you click the search icon on your Instagram and you see all the random stuff (well, not exactly random, so mind what you search for!) people all over the world do / say and you …

Writing exercises

I have not written in so long, that I am actively ashamed of myself. I shouldn't even call myself an aspiring writer any more, leave alone writer! The other day, I filled in a survey on a writing website, hoping to jumpstart my writing. You know what it said? As I have hardly written anything …

Of Cleanliness and Godliness

I buy my milk from a local dairy. Day after day, they deliver my lovely 1L bottle of milk by 6.00 AM. When the Janata curfew was announced with much fanfare, even before I wondered about what would happen to the regular deliveries, I got a cheery message from the team: "not to worry, we …

#MicrobloggingMonday: You got this! Don’t overthink it!

My coach told me this today, even as I was agonising over my inability to bounce back after my first rigourous workout session in 8 weeks. "Don't overthink it! You are doing great!" I don't know why we are so tough on ourselves. Why we don't cut us some slack. Weird, huh? We are nicer …

Audience’s audience

"Write for your audience's audience", says Steve Bryant. I did not get what he meant exactly till very recently. Not a good thing in one who has been writing content for 20 years, huh? That's right! I started my very first web writing gig on 20 May, 1998, a mere two days after I finished …

Rains, rains that did not go away…

"I see heat and dust all day; you'll get no sympathy from me over the cool monsoon rains. ;p" "At least now you make sure you all store the water so you don't moan about water next summer." They didn't get it. Why would they, when the Instagram filter on my photos made even the …

Run, Lavanya, run!

I suck at running. Really. In the memorable words of Jennings, I run rather like a lobster in plastic boots. Which was why I never ran. Why try something I so patently suck at, right? As this included all things sporty, I became the poster child for the unfit and was quite happy (well, ish) …

In defence of words

"Lukg fr a unicrn" "R u ol sure dis is hlthy?" "sari drapping cls dis wk on fri?" I could come up with more examples but I am feeling depressed already so I will stop right here. What do people have against vowels? Complete words? Sentences? Sentence structures? Heck, against making sense?! Day after day, …

Where Safety Trumps Having Fun

A Kiddie Train A video clip, a rather ghastly and sickening one, is currently doing the rounds. Every WhatsApp group I belong to has one person sending the  clip, along with an accompanying message appealing to parents of young children to be hyper-vigilant in shopping malls. The distressing video, shot candid-camera style, shows an adult …

Blog Tour: Author Kiran Manral and her novel, All Aboard!

Kiran Manral is one of the most prolific Indian bloggers you will ever see. She runs many blogs and will diligently update each of them like clockwork. It is this dedication to her craft and her work ethic that first attracted me to her body of work. She became a published author when she turned …