Author Archives: neerja2014
My Best Birthday Cake
Describe your perfect birthday cake. #bloganuary I grew up in India in a small town called Dehradun. Birthdays, in those days, did not rate as high as festivals like Holi, Diwali which celebrate the community rather than an individual. Probably special food was made and if possible, family or friends were present to give me …
How do you define success?
#bloganuary When I get up in the morning, and I don’t regret my actions of the day before, I call it success. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But it isn’t because it requires lifelong training, (from the self, teachers, colleagues, parents, nature) to create that kind of discipline. There is no better guide than the Bhagavad …
The Monsoon
write a poem about rain #bloganuary – An Elegy to Harriet Monroe The staccato rap-tap-tap of thunder heralds the short and wet season:From the Bay of Bengal, humid, earth-scented,Howling, darkening shadows across the parched Delhi sky.Scented with drops of water falling on arid earth, soaring, trees shuddering in a maddened dance of excitement, announcing its …
Review: The House on East Canal Road
“An evocative, well-imagined portrayal of late colonial India through one family’s eyes.” – Kirkus Reviews
Transitions
Writing an Author Bio is hard. So, after I published Moments in Transition: Stories of Maya and Jeena I wrote this: My Life in Spine Art What is hard about my bio is that I have been a rolling stone – sort of. So now, after The House on East Canal Road here is my …
Very Munnar
Our guide’s name was Mr. Douglas. He said 3 elephants are okay but 4 can be dangerous.
Meditation and Me
My handy-dandy phone app tells me it has been two years since I started practicing TM (transcendental meditation) – twenty minutes twice a day. That is the guideline but I achieve it half the time. But still – two years is two years – and two years more than ever before. So – Where am …
The Open Door: The Aha! Moment Story
The Open Door – is published in The Origins Journal. It is an anchor story in my book Moments in Transition: Stories of Maya and Jeena. I decided to place it towards the end of the novella. My logic, albeit obscure was that I want my reader to become curious about the tension in the …
Uptown Girl : Short Fiction
Published in The East Bay Review: You can now read my short story Uptown Girl for free. “Sophistication” is another word for that inventive mix of tolerance, resilience and resourcefulness city people develop. —Edward Hoagland In a few long strides, the elegant woman clicked her black heels across an expanse of opulent granite to park …
Neerja Raman 