THE INDIAN COMMENTATOR

  Wow! This was a fascinating first-time live session from the Writers' Kalam family.  Special thanks to @_neharora12 and @ankush.bharti11 for being part of this live session. You guys are awesome! I'd also like to thank all our #Instagram family for encouraging us and for giving us that motivation! You are awesome!!! Here are a few lessons that we learnt in this live session!  I hope this will be useful for anyone trying to use Instagram live for success in their ventures.  1. We learned that we should announce the live sessions beforehand using a poster for a video message. 2. We understood that there is a growing demand among the young generation of India for Authentic, Brief yet Clear information that is the motto of The Holistic Pine - authenticity brevity and clarity.  3. We realised that we should keep the time of the live sessions limited so that we can work on the next issue of our journal and also on the many projects of writerskalam.com ! The demand ...

Finding myself at the crossroads of transition not just in a personal space but also in the social space, the writer in me paused for a moment and reckoned with the question of my new identity.  Even though I published my first book in 2012, when I attended certain gatherings in various colleges, the audiences still addressed me as a blogger, a moniker that irritated me at the time. Being a young and upcoming author, it was certainly a matter of great pride to be addressed as an author on public occasions. This, however, did not change the fact that I enjoyed blogging since the day I started my blog, The Indian Commentator.   The part I enjoyed the most about blogging was the reception of comments from readers and also the goodies I received as part of campaigns such as book review programmes. Being a reader of books my whole life, this was the most enticing element that hooked me to blogging and kept me at it for a long time.  I started The Indian Commentator in 2008. A...

  Editing is perhaps the most challenging of all activities in the life of an author. Once the author realises that the story is complete, she is ready to set up a scaffold of indifference towards whatever comes up in the manuscript. Although one, has assuredly enough written the draft, it is out of one's control to face the words and lines that come up in the reading process.    The reading process endows its inbuilt challenges upon the author. The act of reading what one has written is often a process full of wonders- wondering who wrote these lines or, wondering when I wrote this crap.    Those authors who are experienced in their craft know that only a scaffold of indifference can help us. First, they stand upon this scaffold and then observe the writing with a degree of distance and with an ample dose of indifference. Whatever comes up in this manuscript, I don't bother appreciating or criticising the author of this stuff.    This indi...

Dear readers and friends, On this mid-October day, I sat down to do what I love more than a lot of other things in life-writing. Although what I was penning down presently was “just” a sales copy, I still enjoyed the music of keys being pressed following the strings of thought in my head. I felt like I was back in an old art gallery where every painting was once familiar in all its beautiful subtlety. Sorry, I just had the realization that this was not how a sales copy should begin. So here is the truth: I have lost some of the techniques of my craft to time. Unused, every craft, every tool, and every intellectual muscle would wear away, sag, and finally rot. It was too painful to acknowledge the fact that I had lost some of my skills to time. That meant I was ageing. It wouldn’t do if I stood where I was. So I decided to move on. Here goes, dragging his feet, a new man with his old soul in a gunny sack on his shoulders. Pain, everywhere I see pain. A hurt ego aches m...

This is what I wrote in Facebook this morning. Advertising my author page.  I would like to shift straight to this new page. But I cannot afford to lose my touch with the virtual Colosseum here in this page, where we fight out our peaceful battles, without shedding blood. Gradually, slowly--is the mantra for change. So gradually, slowly, I will shift all my posts to this page  https://www.facebook.com/authoranulal/ .  Perhaps, I may even delete this profile page.  Have a great day. Remember, every day is a new beginning. Here is what I would like to share with you here on my blog: I have been trying several methods to publicize my new books: Those Tales Called Blue, Rani of My Daydreams , BuJi and the Indian edition of You Should Know How I Feel. I have come to my most important platform now, the space of this blog, where it all started. I started out as a writer in the comfort zone of this blog. As my readers, I would like to info...

Tomorrow, on 8 March and day after, on 9 March my new book, Those Tales Called Blue will be available for readers across the world for free download from Amazon. The eBook is presently available in Kindle format as well as print. Follow the link for a FREE Kindle EBook. http://amzn.to/2G5BmJ6 Please leave a review once you read the book.  The eBook revolution caught on as the prices of eBooks dropped to an unimaginably low point. Those Tales Called Blue is available in print format at a price that is almost that of a kindle eBook. Check it out here: http://a.co/iv3awcx Yours lovingly, Anu Lal         Review from Amazon "The stories of Anu Lal remind me of Jorge Luis Borges," Prof. C. Tharanathan Author, Literary Critic, Thinker. "Anu Lal's stories have the breath of ancient storytellers, the wisdom of old days, and the immediacy of our contemporary age. The intricacies of the human nature are delicatel...

I never really enjoyed reading Hemingway, forgive me guys for I have erred. I dislike the dry dialogue sessions when he, the author could easily have told me what the characters said and took me to the real fun, the journey into the depth of their psyche, rather than leaving the whole trip to the reader’s whim. The point is not that everyone has the right to read a story and take the journey into a character’s psyche in one’s own terms but it is the difficulty involved in convincing the reader of doing so. Perhaps, it was OK with Hemingway, not with me. I mean, the reader’s right to interpret a story in whatever way one wants it, will remain unquestioned until the reader chooses to be otherwise. The times that I live in, demand a different narrative sensibility. One that is short, fast, and to the point. People have no time for subtle analogies. I don’t know if I achieved that in my latest short story; saying is one thing, doing another. I would like to get your feedba...

Read the poem that I wrote for my recently published anthology: "I write these words, my dear, for the time when wordless passion overrules the days of our togetherness. Saving what I wished I could tell you in detail in the pages of my memories. I write these words, my dear, for the days that make our tomorrow, so no one forgets what it was like to have met you and felt the need for you. I write these words, my dear, for those who wander in search of love; to tell them what they seek is in the depths of the bottomless ocean in the eyes of the beloved. I write these words, my dear, of the gift you are, my love. " Buy: Better Than All Happy Ever Afters

What I am about to ask may appear rather controversial in terms of the business of cinema. Ultimately, that is what it is, a business where people follow the criteria they are sure to bring in a lot of favour. Some succeed, some don’t. What’s that mystery? Who knows?   My question is... where is Jason Statham? Transporter trilogy has been branded in his image and style. Last time I checked, he was taking his time off on a fishing boat or something, I mean the Transporter. Where does he go when they ‘refuelled’ this series? Refuelled is part of the same franchise, but portrays a younger Frank Martin, directed by Camille Delamarre. In Refuelled, Frank Martin is played by Ed Skrein. Image Courtesy: Google Now, let us sit down and talk over a tea. No, not coffee. I hear Americans drink coffee. In India, tea is a trendy all-time beverage. When you discuss the Refuelled instalment of The Transporter tea or coffee is a must. Otherwise, you may miss the whole point. As p...

“Anu Lal, has done it again! A new Salman Rushdie in the making!" ___Siggy Buckley Author, Next Time Lucky Dear all, The moment of childbirth, to see the graceful face of that new born, is one in a lifetime occasion. What I feel right now is not less than that. I am joyous to announce that my fifth book, Mount Sermon has been released in Amazon Kindle Store, as expected. Here is the link for the book page: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B015923JX8 “In harmony with the fantasy-sating landscape of Cannanore and some of the characters from Wall of Colours and Other Stories – the first part of the trilogy, “Hope, Vengeance and History”, the author’s newly-cast storytellers and listeners of the written word entice their reading audience into an almost physical interaction from this book’s onset as well.” __hülya n. yılmaz (Ph.D.) author, Trance (a tri-lingual book of poetry), senior lecturer, The Pennsylvania State University. I hope you enjoy Mount Sermon a...