Postcards From J

It's less than two hours to a brand new year. 2018! Gosh, isn't that something? Why did I decide to sit in front of a laptop and type this? I don't know. And no, I didn't even have some major breakthrough to talk about either.  Has it been a great year? Ummm... in bits and pieces. Like most of my recent years. What defines a "great year" anyway? 365 days of being happy? Can anyone ever claim to be happy or fulfilled every day of the year? Okay, I'm rambling now. Before I sign out, here are some highlights of 2017: - I grew up. Yes, I lived alone for the most part and I learned what 'adulting' really was. I have lived alone for a while now, but this year was really the test. During 2015-16, there was a lot going on. I travelled to a few countries on work and also for holidays in 2015 and the next year, the family was down as my niece was born here and that was the major focus for everyone at home. And then September 2016, the family vani...

For some unexplained reason, I've been wanting to blog all day. Write a few lines at the very least. Or at least cheat with some pictures on the photo blog (which needs to be revived). But NOTHING. It's well past 3 AM and I am still wide awake. Dammit. Reading (or trying to read) as many things being thrown at me by the world wide web*! And you know where that leads you... Straight into insomnia hell. Well, I think I'll just go back to reading and dreaming of that next holiday. My desk looks calm, but my mind is all over the place. Okay, enough. Thanks for stopping by. :) ~j~ *PS: National Geographic Traveller India has some great content, by the way. Their social pages on Facebook and Twitter are constantly pushing out features which are quite refreshing. Just thought you should know, especially if you love travel! #NotASponsoredMessage

Our writing mentor Dilip had suggested a couple of assignments way back in November when we met. The first one is the 'homework' piece and the second one is what we wrote during the session: * Write a story (or part of a story) about a relatively young person (let's say under 40 years old) who will die soon. Only, s/he has no idea about this. You, the all-seeing author, do know: so write with that knowledge affecting your writing in whatever way it can or will. My attempt:   He smiled. I looked around me, and then quickly, and sheepishly realised he was indeed smiling at me. I smiled back. Or at least that what I thought I did.  The chaos surrounding us hardly seemed to perturb him. I marvelled at his calm demeanour and then was transported back in time to that muggy summer day in the March of 1999. It was my usual bus route and I was already running late for college. Maybe Professor D'Cruz would excuse me. Maybe he would forget about the class t...

I've been meaning to write something this month, but so much has happened since June. The brother got engaged (wedding's just 4 months away!) and work is a little too hectic at the moment. So, instead of doing a random post, here's something I wrote as part of a future assignment for DD's Travel Writing Bus. It's based on a theme we were given and it's supposed to be longer (got stuck and haven't been able to rewrite since). I'll aim to write from scratch if I can't add to it. As always, feedback is welcome. ----- We drove in silence. The darkness outside was strangely comfortable. He placed his hand on my knee. "It will be ok. Don't worry." "Hmm..." I drifted off again. "What's on your mind now?" "Nothing." I noticed he had taken a detour. 'Great! Now he wants to talk.' But silence again. Suddenly, he pulled over to the side of the path. Where are we? I turned to...