Smitha Vishwanath's Blog, page 7

Nairobi Diaries : Thankful Thursday 290525: Finding the house

It’s 15 days since we landed in Nairobi and the hunt for a house to stay in began the day after we got here. With hubby working and the agents not working on Sundays, we’ve had to squeeze in time on weekdays to view houses. Prior to coming here, I thought I’d stay in an […]

Nominated as Author of the Month by Spillwords Press

I’ve been nominated as ‘Author of the Month’ for my poem, ‘An Epiphany’ which is written in the vilanelle form. I was nominated thanks to all of you who liked the poem. Here’s the poem for those who haven’t read it or don’t remember it I had a feeling about the blockin my mind dissolving-the […]

Book Review 2025 12/50 : Gypsy Wanderings and Random Reflections by Dr. Sunil Kaushal

I had been meaning to read Dr Sunil Kaushal’s memoir since a long, long time as I had read the author’s poetry on Facebook and  knew the author was a doctor. The synergy of science and literature intrigued me and I wanted to know how it all began. The book was published in 2019. Set […]

Tanka Tuesday 200525, Thursday Doors, Art : A bottle of wine, Kenya: a morning walk

The Tanka Tuesday challenge this week is being hosted by Selma. Selma says, ‘I invite you to choose one of the Poetry Forms for your syllabic poem this week and to use aKigo word from the 500 Kigo Words List that Colleen encouragedus to use last year.’ I’ve written an imayo for the challenge. ‘The imayo comprises four 12-syllable lines. Each line is divided […]

Art : Ordinary things

I’ve been trying to fill up my sketch pad. And as part of the effort, I painted two garlics (some would call them onions). Call it what you may. After all, art is subjective and that is such a relief for artists like me. Without further a-do, I present to you, ‘Ordinary things’, my latest […]

Tanka Tuesday : 130525 – poetry challenge no 12- Hainka, Thursday Doors 150525 and a birthday!

I’ve been missing in action for the last few weeks and as much as I wanted to participate in the Tanka Tuesday challenge, I couldn’t. In case you’re interested in knowing the reason, it’s because I moved countries. To read more about it, you can check this post. This week, Melissa is the host of […]

A new chapter… a new destination

After living as an expat (in the real sense of the word) for the last seven years, and being filled with anxiety and dread during my first two moves (one of which was to my home country) and the other to a neighbouring country (Bangladesh), I no longer felt anxious when I heard we were moving again. I knew it was imminent.

Book Review 2025 11/50 : Din about Chins by Santosh Bakaya (Vignettes about Mother-Daughter)

Santosh Bakaya’s, ‘Din about Chins’, is an endearing book of thirty snippets that recount her daughter’s childhood and teenage years and how the equation between the two changes with the passage of time, love being an immeasurable factor. Being a mom of two girls, the subject interested me and led me to pick up the […]

Book Review 2025 10/50 : Lost Canvas by Rukhaya MK

My reading halted in April as I was busy with Napowrimo, family and travelling. I had picked up the ‘Lost Canvas’ as soon as it was published because I couldn’t wait to read the poet’s work (I had read her previously on Fb and had found her poems piercingly direct). Rukhaya MK’s poems gently fall […]

Art : Brass is beautiful

I finally picked up my brush after two months and twenty-three days. Unlike writing, as much as I love painting, I can’t do it when I’m travelling or am busy hosting people or doing other things like meeting friends, shopping etc. This means that I invariably relegate art to the background. I have been itching […]