R. Radhakrishnan's Blog, page 15

Writing and publishing a book, a personal journey

As I wrote in an earlier blog, the accidental author, I became an author by accident. I always wanted to write but always the fear of sharing my writings with the world at large was a block. I would scribble my poems on bits of paper, my work diaries and later type them on my computer. But rarely would I share anything.

I also hated the thought of exposing myself to publishing editors and the whole process of submitting manuscripts and waiting for months for a response put me off from ever p...

The Battle of Diu

I went to Diu often during my posting in Saurashtra. It was a great place to chill and relax. A small enclave, a union territory which was prohibition free. It attracted droves of visitors from the neighbouring dry state of Gujarat on weekends, all with the single aim of quenching their thirst.

I did not have any work at Diu, but it made a nice base for me to stay when I had some work at Una town of Gujarat.

Diu was a sleepy place, a fishing town mostly. There was the old Portuguese fort ...

Snapshots from History: How the Portuguese took Goa.

Empires and Kingdoms are not about religions but mostly about power. Religion does play its part as a catalyst as it serves to gain control of the common people.

Goa was ruled by the Vijaynagara Empire and its main rival was the Bahmani Sultanate.

From Wikipedia Commons

In 1496 the Bahamani Sultanate conquered Goa from the Vijaynagara Empire. Goa then had a predominantly Hindu population but also had a significant Muslim population in urban areas.

There were frequent wars in the Dec...

Karna’s death

Karna is a favourite character of many in the Mahabharata. He is a hero but flawed. A child abandoned at birth, he constantly seeks to find who he is. A man disgruntled as he feels he has not got his due, he also seeks acceptance and acknowledgement. He is torn between Dharma and loyalty, between friend and family. He is a generous soul, a great warrior, ruler but ever the lone outsider searching for acceptance. His death at the hands of Arjuna is full of Pathos. Arjuna does not know Karna i...

The Accidental Author

I retired a couple of years ago looking forward to a peaceful life, indulging in my passions and hobbies.

I started writing and realised my dream of being a published author, thanks to the internet and Amazon. It happened almost by accident, there I was fooling around on the Amazon Kindle site and before I knew it my book of poems was an Amazon Kindle ebook available around the world on Amazon sites.

It was exhilarating and I was hooked. I jumped into being an author full time. I was retir...

A ghost story

I was on an extended vacation, taking a long break, having finished high school and waiting to join college. I was no longer a kid but not an adult yet, an awkward age.

It was summer and many of my aunts and uncles had come to spend the long summer vacations with their children in tow. Grandfather’s house was full of us cousins and there was much laughter and fun as we all met after a gap of a couple of years.

Kerala was hot and humid and there was not much to do except chat with my grandp...

Tales from the village: The Exorcist and the Yakshi.

I was on an extended vacation, taking a long break, having finished high school and waiting to join college. I was no longer a kid but not an adult yet, an awkward age.

It was summer and many of my aunts and uncles had come to spend the long summer vacations with their children in tow. Grandfather’s house was full of us cousins and there was much laughter and fun as we all met after a gap of a couple of years.

Kerala was hot and humid and there was not much to do except chat with my grandp...

Check this out at Amazon

My new book has gone live on Amazon.

ONCE UPON A TIME : SHORT STORIES WITH AN INSIGHT INTO INDIA https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09TRYXKZ3/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_DX2FBMW2JZB4K4M7THFJ

The Runaway Groom part 2

We got the kids into the back seat with a grim Vijay sitting beside them. I sat in the front seat. The ride back to the wedding took only twenty minutes but seemed an eternity. The silence in the car was oppressive.

There was silence at the house when we reached back. There were groups of people scattered all around, not talking but watching each other cautiously. When people don’t talk I worry, silence is ominous.

Our entry was in the best traditions of an Indian blockbuster movie.

...

A forgotten Hero Sir Abdul Karim Jamal.

Sir Abdul Karim Jamal Abdul Shakur Jamal is a forgotten name today, but he was probably one of the richest merchants of his time and a patriot too.

He was born in 1862 in Jamnagar in the Kathiawad region of present-day Gujarat in a family of Memon merchants.

At the age of 6, he was taken by his father to Rangoon, Burma and settled there.

The family were general merchants and commission agents operating as a firm called Jamal and Bros. They dealt in cloth pieces and silks, a traditio...