Notes From a Diary, A Note of Thanks

I am happy to share the news that I have been selected for Sangam House writer's residency programme this year. (From the website: "Every winter the Sangam House invites approximately twenty writers to live and work at an arts institution in southern India. Each year, half the invited writers come from the South Asian subcontinent and half from other countries around the world. Sangam House is open to writers in all languages and disciplines - we welcome fiction and non-fiction writers, poets, translators, playwrights and screen-writers..")

I did not have any work published in print, so it was a compilation of some posts published on this diary that I submitted as a writing sample. This gives us a reason to celebrate on this diary, and adds some pressure on me to keep making quality posts.

I am thankful to those who have been reading my diary. The ardent followers as well as occasional visitors. People who have connected with me on social networking sites and those who prefered to remain private readers. And those who augment the posts with their comments -- the named and the anonymous.

As a token of thanks to my readers, I have touched up the notes that were compiled for Sangam House submission and made it look like a book (Titled "Notes From a Diary". Back cover shown here). Thanks to Bena who helped with editing. It is free (and free to share), so those who'd like a pdf version please mail me at my gmail id sudeep dot ks. You could also read it here as a google document.

Fukuoka Passes Away

Masanobu Fukuoka died at the age of 95. The man who wrote One Straw Revolution.

He was a farmer who questioned the fundamentals of farming -- he wrote about his experiments with what he calls natural farming, where he totally did away with tilling and weeding.

He was not only a farmer. There are people who think the book is not about farming at all, but are shaken by the charm of this small book.

I felt that once you read this book, you are not the same person any more. No matter whether you believe in his farming techniques or not. No matter whether you agree with his philosophy or not. It is one present I love buying for my friends (not just because it comes for under hundred rupees).

["This is the story of a Japanese farmer. You'll really like it. It's about farming, but not really..": from an online review.]

* * *

Masanobu Fukuoka: On Wikipedia

Fukuoka Farming Web site

Nature Knows Best: an article on Fukuoka

The Little Prince

"Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves and it is rather tedious for children to have to explain things to them time and again.."

"..So the astronomer repeated his demonstration in 1920, dressed in an elegant suit. And this time everybody was convinced.."

After a long time I'm reading a book till the end..

Or so I thought when I started reading it.



Because The Little Prince started out interesting enough, it tried to avoid the kind of language that only the grown-ups understand, the words used did not demand having a dictionary by my side, and the book was so small.. I thought this time I'm surely going to finish it, for a change.

But that was not to be. After four or five chapters it got monotonous, and by the time it got to the flower and the King, it saturated; the words remained simple but the language became more of that of the grown-ups.. and (The Little Prince fans, forgive me) I could not move further. I gave up.

Still I think it was worth knowing that such a book existed. And it has been in existence for more than sixty years now. (Incidentally, one of these days I also found an advertisement of a version in Malayalam, as a series in Balabhumi.)

I'm still waiting.. to find a book that can hold me till the end!


[Image source: Wikipedia]