In “The Real-Life Poetry of Gardening,” Tess Taylor writes: Gardeners, are, by their nature, people who believe in regeneration. They understand that the broken world we inherit can also be amended, with compost, worms, and steady tending. They have seen that the tended earth, in turn, offers up radical abundance—not only of food, but of … Continue reading Dispatch from the last week of December
The mistake I was making, and which I think many of us are making, in a zeitgeist where people think that you should make a living doing what you love and retire early, is believing that narrative. Here’s what I’ve learned: the thing that pays the bills does not have to be the thing that … Continue reading Notes on meaning, career, writing and blogging
For a week now I’ve been questioning the point of keeping this blog. I’m questioning the point of everything, in fact, and I’m questioning it because I’m bored with my life. Somehow, between all of this, I started feeling tired of the life I’ve led so far and have had an intense urge to throw … Continue reading Err on the side of publishing
I have quote from Lynda Barry saved in my screenshots, taken from her book, Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor: As kids…we went to the page to find something, to have an experience. As adults, we have it backwards. We think that we need to have an experience in order to write about it. And … Continue reading Experiences on the page
Dear friend,Forgive me for writing to you before you could reply to my previous letter, but after my recent experiences, I felt compelled to share what I went through, in the hopes that this might prevent you from disappointing yourself. I have not written anything for the past several days, sometimes because there were others … Continue reading Letters to a Young Essayist: Four
Dear friend,Thank you for your recent letter. I was delighted to hear that you’ve found a time of day that works for you and that you wake up every morning excited to write. There really is something beautiful about the early hours, even if they’re quite late in winter. I, too, find it satisfying to … Continue reading Letters to a Young Essayist: Three
I feel at peace today. This morning, I listened to some videos by the YouTuber Sisyphus 55, paying attention only now and then as I cleaned the mess in our house (a result of me, my sister, and my mother hibernating in a single room because of the cold). I don’t remember anything specific from … Continue reading I feel at peace today.
Dear friend,Greetings of the new year to you! New Delhi is extremely cold right now; we keep all the doors and windows closed. I love the silence that comes with such hibernation, and it has allowed me to finally address some of the points that I couldn’t talk about in my last letter to you. … Continue reading Letters to a Young Essayist: Two
I woke up at 7:10 am today after several days. It was cold; I had to put on a second pair of pants. My sister, mother, and grandmother sat near the blower, and I joined them with a little cup of tea. I sat directly in front of the magical heating device, next to my … Continue reading A Single Cell in the City
Dear friend, I hope you are well. Thank you for your letter, which I was very delighted to receive, since people rarely write to each other these days. I have read it a few times over, and I will address each of the concerns you mentioned one-by-one. I am not any more accomplished than you … Continue reading Letters to a Young Essayist: One
Ratika Deshpande 