Gratitude

I lost my Mai today. Until my mid 30s, I rued the gulf that stood between Mai and me. While my parents insistence on teaching us English, as our primary language has benefited me immensely, in most everything I do, the one thing that I feel sad about is that I speak my mother tongue (Konkani) in a slow halting manner. 1 Which meant that I never could talk well with my grandmother. I am one of her oldest grandchildren, and I never got to have heart to heart conversations with her, the way my other cousins did. And yet … ...

Yes, I preordered Cal Newport’s, A World without Email. https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2021/02/10/announcing-the-email-academy/ India folk, go here - https://www.amazon.in/World-Without-Email-Reimagining-Overload/dp/0241341418/ Having read 5 of his books, I know this will make a big difference to my life. What I have actually done though, is tried to repay Cal in a small manner for his podcast at https://www.calnewport.com/podcast/ ...

My plan for the new year … A final thought from Atomic Habits as we start the new year: “Improvements are only temporary until they become part of who you are. The goal is not to read a book, the goal is to become a reader. The goal is not to run a marathon, the goal is to become a runner. The goal is not to learn an instrument, the goal is to become a musician. ...

My email program, was somehow hacked into last week, and close to 3000 spam mails were sent out in the course of a few minutes. While I was able to serendipitously catch it as soon as it happened, I apologise if you were the recepient of unsavoury stuff from my email address. I am now in the process of rebuilding everything. letter at janusworx dot com is the new home from where these letters will be sent from. Please add this address to your contacts, so that I do not end up in your spam :) ...

Now we are here at home, in the little nation of our marriage, swearing allegiance to the table we set for lunch or the windchime on the porch, its easy dissonance. Even in our shared country, the afternoon allots its golden lines so that we’re seated, both in shadow, on opposite ends of a couch and two gray dogs between us. There are acres of opinions in this house. I make two cups of tea, two bowls of soup, ...

I found this image on Austin Kleon’s blog a few days ago, and it set me to thinking about these newsletters of mine. I would love to think of them, the same way. They are free, but definitely not cheap :) Not to toot my own horn, but for all their recent brevity, it still is a process that involves a lot of reading, and thinking and curating and writing. (and a whole lot of slogging) ...