Re-reading, resurfacing

Hello from the North

Yes, you heard that right. Much has happened in the last 8 months. I quit full-time journalism, moved from Bangalore back to Delhi (a city that remains my bestest frenemy) and started working with a super-cool edtech startup (check it out here). As a result:

• I took a long hiatus from the newsletter until I had got my bearings right (I am almost there)

• I ditched the publishing cycle and started reading without any rhyme or reason (hint: in case you missed the title of the newsletter)

• I read these days almost entirely for pleasure or out of my curiosity (That’s a sentence I’d have rolled my eyes and hysterically laughed at if you had thrown at me even last year)

Now that it’s August and my mushed-up brain is beginning to put itself back together after the scorching Delhi summer, you will hear from me (hopefully) every week about stuff I’m reading and doing. Needless to say, I’d love to hear from you too about what you’ve been up to.

To kick things off, I want to share some links to a new column I started writing for Mint Lounge about re-reading. I began it as an experiment to unwire my brain from the aggressive competitiveness of #bookstagram where, instead of actual reading and reflection, books are like seasonal fashion trends, accessorised by coffee cups, withering flowers, unappetising biscuits, and the pet of your. (Cats are preferred, but dogs will do.) And the faster you read (@1 book per diem is optimal if you want to retain your self-respect), you will earn extra brownie points from whoever dispenses them to loyal readers.

Anyhow, here are first few instalments of the column, which is an outcome of painfully slow re-reading and even slower writing.

• Why Hermann Hesse’s ‘Siddhartha’ is a popular favourite after 100 years, especially among corporate bros.

• The high bar Katherine Boo set for foreign correspondents to India with Behind The Beautiful Forevers.

• The OG of creative ‘climate change’ writing, Mary Oliver.

• 25 years after The God of Small Things came out, I still hum “Oh Esthapappychachen Kuttapen Peter Mon,/ Where, oh where have you gon?” in my head.

That’s all for this week. If you don’t hear me from next week, safe to assume I have buried myself in a mountain of shame for missing an instalment of the newsletter.

Stay safe and well,

Somak