This is yours truly dropping in from Landour, a pretty hill station 7000 feet up in the Western Himalayas in north India. This is where I attended boarding school between 1964 and 1975 and where I have been for the last ten days or so.
I thought I’d let you know of a pretty significant change in direction for me personally and sneak in a request at the the same time.
After years of huffing and puffing about being a writer I have taken the leap. I came to India for 6 weeks to revisit some of the places I spent my youth and now that those six weeks are coming to a end, I have decided to stay on. Indefinitely. I can make my meagre income go much further here than in Melbourne and as I’ve always known, this is the country that is most tangled up in my mind, heart and soul. Over the past 18 months I’ve seen my ‘settled life’ as an aid worker, father, husband and ‘known entity’ change dramatically. The speed and extent of that change has only quickened and probed into depths I had not expected over the last month. Writing has been my preferred way of making sense of this world and so it makes sense to launch my new life here, while I’m here.
I will keep this site open but due to my reduced financial circumstances will be unable to maintain most of the music links associated with this and other blogs like C90 Lounge much longer. So if you are interested in downloading any of them I think you may have about 48 hours max. Good luck.
I am writing a lot but not really posting much anywhere as I’m not sure how to proceed. There is Substack, Medium, and lots of specialised writing communities out there. I know a few writers do drop by here from time to time. I’d love to hear from you (ajnabi1957@gmail.com) if you have any preference for any particular platform or site or how you approach sharing your work.
I think what feels right for me at this point is finding/creating a small community (as small as one other person even) who would be interested in sharing, reading and critiquing each other’s work. A sort of minor league of mutual criticism. It would require a commitment of some time and thought and effort on both (or all three or four) of our parts but may be quite rewarding as we support each other in getting better at connecting thoughts with words. If you’re keen or you know someone who might be or of a small group looking for another participant, I would really be grateful if you reach out. [ajnabi1957@gmail.com]
I am more a non-fiction/memoir/narrative fiction/historical fiction sort of guy but have written a couple of novels so am open to either genre.
As always thank you for your support and encouragement across the blogs and years. As a small gift here is a piece I’ve written recently, post arrival in India. No critique necessary to enjoy it!
What’s the Point of a Bullet Train When You Have So Much Time to Kill?
Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits 