#1. Introduction, August Edition
Introduction, Moving away from Instagram and I-Day Celebrations
Hi,
Welcome to my monthly newsletter, Thoughts on a Thursday where I write about random musings, tell you about my reading list, give an update on my writing projects and share interesting things that I have come across on the internet.
Before this newsletter, I would write on and off Instagram and have had my fair share of owning a blog. At different points in time, like most the people from my generation, I experimented with maintaining a digital blog, with long commentary about the nation, about people, about social issues, and our own personal experiences but without much success at having the ability to maintain a readership. The odd attempts at having a quirky-sounding name on WordPress with rants have been a rite of passage to a lot of us. I did it too. I wanted to write, but most importantly, I wanted to be read. While Instagram definitely helped me reach an audience, and also helped me find more like-minded people, I now find the platform slightly limiting, and saturated with travel blogs, self-help gurus, and video creators. I also find the process of creating for Instagram limiting, with a mismatch in my skills and what the algorithm promotes.
So, it is with great enthusiasm that I launch my newsletter where I hope to find space to express myself more freely.
Reading Corner
This month I am reading Multiple City, a collection of Essays on Bangalore - a place that I fondly associate with being my home. This book found me at a time when I was ready to consume anything about Bangalore, anything that would take me back to a time and place, where things were familiar and the world was less than scary. Collected from different times and publications, and written by a variety of writers who have had their love-hate relationship with the city, the book takes us through different slices of Bangalore or more recently Bengaluru ( There is also a chapter on the renaming of the city written originally in Kannada by UR Ananthurthy). The recurrent theme of the city undergoing a change that it was not completely prepared for, with the weather being its USP, and how the Bengaluru of the natives is different from the Bangalore of the immigrants, all make for interesting reads. Some of my favorite quotes are :
Bangalore is a city of subcultures: the Basavangudi culture, the Chickpet culture, the Ulsoor culture, the Malleshwaram culture.
Malleshwaram was like a snooty old lady; stately houses in large compounds with stone walls looked as if they had been there forever.
A forty by sixty piece of land seemed enough to knit us into this city.
Majestic is a strangely organic area, a high-calorie version of urbanization, the bitter pill of civilization.
Our roots bury deep sometimes, clinging possessively on to shared beginnings in familiar settings to provide nutrients for our emotions and give us the confidence to reach out and touch a wider world.
Have a book recommendation ? Write to me !
Writing Corner
Every year, I make a heartfelt journal entry for independence day during the month of August. Here's a glimpse of the last few years :
August 2018
We have a parade for Independence Day in downtown Charlotte - with stalls, dance, and music. It is a great time to be an Indian in America- with fewer cultural barriers, and thriving communities spread all over the country. Have we arrived?
August 2019
Is there a right way to display one's patriotism?
Vicky Kaushal looks dapper in his white kurta. How long is that flag?
August 2020
I am still unable to come up with content for independence day. My emotions are clouded- my India is so different from that of my friends.
From news and social media, I try to gauge the situation - a general feeling of discontent, of disconnect. A lot of anger and resentment, with the government, with each other. Am I losing touch with ground reality?
Indian culture is all the rage in American pop culture now. It makes me cringe- brown jokes, merchandise, commercialization of Chai tea latte, Priyanka Chopra. Can they leave me and my culture alone?
August 2021
While America helped me find my independence, I don’t think it would be entirely possible without the presence of NRI community.
NRI privilege is real. So is NRI guilt. And NRI Viraha. And NRI hustle.
NRI privilege gives you a chance to ride the latest model of Tesla, and NRI guilt keeps you grounded enough not to get carried away.
NRI Viraha makes you want to find the closest replacement in groceries, for recipes that you crave, occurring at the most random of times.
NRI hustle is the only thing that powers you through all of these conflicting emotions, keeps you through the tough times, an armor, a shield, protecting you, guiding - an aspiration for (even) better times.
Learning Corner
Some interesting things I came across on the internet.
Lounge Corner
See you in the next edition,
Pratiksha