The short story and I

A few days ago I had an epiphany of sorts. I saw a movie (called Dor)—quite an event in itself as everyone who knows me knows that I am a terrible snob when it comes to watching anything Bollywood (!)— and I realized that the reason Hindi movies fail to inspire is the same as […]

The unkindest cut

Censorship is a funny thing. I know I’ve ranted on the subject time and again, and this is unlikely to be the last time. Consider these scenarios from a series being telecast on Star World currently: [Two people talking; one slightly tipsy, the other trying to work. TIPSY ONE is trying to apologize, and finally […]

The Prestige: What price?

How far would you go to fan an obsession? The Prestige, telling the story of a bitter and destructive rivalry between two magicians, asks the same question. The answer, when you figure it out, is chilling. Hugh Jackman (Robert Angier) and Christian Bale (Alfred Borden) star as two nineteenth-century magicians driven by an obsessive drive […]

Favourite gaming heroes

We talk about book heroes, we talk about TV heroes, but why have I never thought before to make a post about my favourite gaming characters?! While it’s true that I mostly play RPGs or strategy games like The Sims where you make and develop your own characters. But you can’t really have addictively (is […]

Writer’s Log going ad-mad!

Well, as you can see, I’ve been experimenting with various advertisements on Writeside.net and Writer’s Log. I have Google Adsense and Auction Ads on the main site. There’s also Text-Link-Ads, but they haven’t managed to sell a spot on my site yet! On this blog I have Amazon ads. Recently I also signed up with […]

No wonder!

Am I the only one appalled at the campaign to vote for the new Seven Wonders? We in India are being exhorted at every turn to vote for the Taj Mahal, justified by the mistaken notion that this will uphold ‘national pride’! Correct me if I’m wrong. But where does national pride come into this? […]

Starting out tips for freelancers

Once, I got a mail through my site’s contact form asking: “Are you a professional or just a freelancer?” I got back to him, telling him that I was a professional freelancer, but never heard from him again! The point is, quite often, and especially where I live, freelancers are merely poor cousins of the […]