A humming word

/ode to the Indian revolutionary, Bhagat Singh/ the tree undresses itself, slowly  and prepares to wear a yellow turban  The wind whispers to the tree  that the turban is  of a patriot from Hindostan,  the land of spices. The turban, belonged to an atheist;  he found freedom in a prison and joy in death. the wind sings aloud the praises of a man whose bride was freedom; Just that he never married her 

Hasan Minhaj is the voice of the immigrant child. His anglicized Hindi, funny yet relatable anecdotes, makes you want to watch him, again and again. Watch him in the "Homecoming King" on Netflix where he animatedly narrates about his father, sister, mother and speaks of the uncomfortable truths that made the elders uncomfortable but we all chuckled. When he came to Milwaukee, we could not help but attend his show at the Pabst theater--a space designed for the art lovers. (trivia: Pabst Theater was closed down due to a fire incident and opened again in the late 1800s). The theater had an antiquated look and it was refreshing. With playwrights names engraved and a statue of musicians built at the crown of the stage, it felt regal. The show began with the entry of Azhar Usman, a comedian from Chicago (Indian born). He spoke about various issues including immigrant parents and dealt with the hecklers, well too. And then came: Hasan Minhaj. Hasan Minhaj has a wond...

It is people who make the play, a town. Very rarely do you see plays that are smeared with simplicity and effectiveness. Our Town is one such play. I always wondered how Americans lead their everyday lives - their kitchens, their dining rooms, the conversations they have. While Our Town takes place in a fictional place during 1910 - 1913 and it is hard to believe that the place does not exist. The play takes place in three acts. Each act takes you through a period of time of the residents of the town, Grover's Corners. Act 1 is the introduction of the characters. The milk boy, the neighbours - Webb and Gibbs and the everyday acts like going to school.. etc. Since there are no props, you could see the amount of work the women perform while cooking or while picking the veggies. At one point, the lack of props, make the chores seem like a ballad of routine. Act 2 is  Love and Marriage of Emily and George from the Webb and Gibbs family. They express their love over an...

Failure and its importance came into limelight (for me) when Nabeel A, organisor of FailFest, began conducting shows and its success amplified the significance of failure. Having followed his work and learning about Failure in close quarters, I commend the participants for accepting failure and moving ahead.  After a series of fairly successful years at Nivasini, 2017 bit particularly hard as due to some unforeseen circumstances and certain miscalculations, the publishing venture took a hit. I was perturbed but my family and friends supported me. What I saw as a mere setback took a toll on me and it took me a few months to gather my emotions and admit that: o yea.. I did take some bad decisions.  And trust me, it was not just in the case of Nivasini but the last few months have been a series of mishaps.  So taking a cue from the FailFest, here are a list of my failures in the past few months Failure #1: To control my emotions, I joined Dojo . While self ...

Padmanabha Reddy conducted a workshop on Book Writing and its stages at the wonderful Phoenix Arena. Luckily, the weather was pleasant and we could gather our thoughts and pay attention. He spoke effectively about characterization, pov and the various nuances of writing (I wished I had taken pics, too). Deeply engaging, he touched upon topics like Daily Word Count, Writing Routines... I liked how he used popular books like Alchemist, Hunger Games, Harry Potter series. Padmanabha's take on the cover pages and the techniques employed by various authors was unique. For a young author like him, I surmise it must have taken a lot of time and patience to accumulate the information. However, I could sense the apparent difference in generation gap in the reading preferences. I come from a generation of readers that thrived on books by Ruskin Bond, RK Narayan, and the like. I felt disconnected at places as I could not relate to the magical world of fantasy but the rest of the jun...

the warmth of your nasal tone brings solace to my telephone that black piece lies in the corner by the mirror, all day; it worries when its contour touches the dust of the talcum powder it mourns in silence when its mouth piece is vacant it waits for your "hello" it waits for you to stay and tell about your day It waits for me to rhyme and blurt words such as “clay” “way” “hay” But I refuse to speak. I listen like a frozen lizard that catalyses the screams of my cousin I listen like an audience of a radio show that wait endlessly for their RJ to fill their empty lives I listen like a viewer of a television show, waiting to be stunned by the worry of the day I listen to the “chik-chik” of my telephone And I know i must place down the receiver now So..till next time, “hello”

"Healing Writing" is a wonderful concept developed for empaths. I am offering "writing sessions" for teachers on this theme. The death of famous and important artists creates an unfulfilled void in our lives. The death of my paternal grandparents created a void, that i can only express in my coming books. I decided to be more artistic and more education-oriented as both my grandparents would have loved me, if i was more productive. It took me several years to get over the pain of my grandpa's death. I was happy before the news of demise of my grandmother befell on my ears. I am happy, now; satisfied too.    But the void is always there.   RIP, Nanamma.    RIP, Sridevi.    Reach out to me: niveyarao@gmail.com for any queries or thoughts on Healing Writing.