As many of you know, I’ve been doing a weekly books column for the Sunday Guardian for over two years now – ever since the paper’s launch in January 2010. It’s been very fulfilling; the column began at a time when I had been writing much more about cinema (including the two books) and it gave me a pretext to stay in touch with the literary world. So it’s with some sadness that I’ve decided to end it, mainly because I need to make small alterations to my weekly routine. Too much column-writing can become a grind: it eats at the time and energy I have for one-off projects (reportage, essays, reviews etc), creating a situation where I find myself saying no to assignments far more often than I say yes.
This definitely isn’t the end of my association with the SG though – it’s a dynamic young publication run by one of the most generous editors I’ve known, Prayaag Akbar, and I’ll continue to do occasional pieces for them. (Coming up in the April 1 issue: a piece about a little-known Hrishikesh Mukherjee film starring Rajesh Khanna as a zombie.) Though initially slow to get its website started, the paper now has a neat and efficient online version - on this page you’ll find a part-archive of my columns and other pieces. (I have put up longer versions of many of these on the blog over the months, but it’s nice to have them accessible like this on a single link.) The side-bar also has links to other terrific SG columns, including Left of Cool (written alternately by Aishwarya Subramanian and Aadisht Khanna), Culture Mulcher (Deepanjana Pal), Techno Babel (Krish Ashok), Perfect on Paper (Isha Singh Sawhney) and Video Drome (Abhimanyu Das). Plenty of good stuff there – if you don’t get the print edition of the paper, do subscribe to the website feed.
This definitely isn’t the end of my association with the SG though – it’s a dynamic young publication run by one of the most generous editors I’ve known, Prayaag Akbar, and I’ll continue to do occasional pieces for them. (Coming up in the April 1 issue: a piece about a little-known Hrishikesh Mukherjee film starring Rajesh Khanna as a zombie.) Though initially slow to get its website started, the paper now has a neat and efficient online version - on this page you’ll find a part-archive of my columns and other pieces. (I have put up longer versions of many of these on the blog over the months, but it’s nice to have them accessible like this on a single link.) The side-bar also has links to other terrific SG columns, including Left of Cool (written alternately by Aishwarya Subramanian and Aadisht Khanna), Culture Mulcher (Deepanjana Pal), Techno Babel (Krish Ashok), Perfect on Paper (Isha Singh Sawhney) and Video Drome (Abhimanyu Das). Plenty of good stuff there – if you don’t get the print edition of the paper, do subscribe to the website feed.
SG is very high on cinematic/literary quotient. 2 columns each on films and books is a lot. (not that I am complaining)
ReplyDeleteEven Aadisht has stopped writing for SG now. Is something up?
Hi, you're right, aadisht has stopped, again because he is busy with a couple of his own projects. but he will be writing for us as and when he is able. and thanks for reading - we really appreciate it
ReplyDelete@ Jai, would just like to thank you on your own blog for writing for us from the first issue on, and bearing with all our teething issues. It has been a genuine pleasure working with you and I hope we can continue to have lots more Important Literary Pieces (like Rajesh Khanna, Hungry Zombie) from that fertile keyboard of yours
Jai, with Rajesh Khanna playing zombie, are you referring to Naukri?
ReplyDeleteChaila Bihari: no, this is a film called Shaitani Anand. A must-watch!
ReplyDelete