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“You will never be as young as you are right now.”
— Neil Pasricha
The Happiness Equation by Neil Pasricha is a quick and enjoyable read. According to Pasricha, the formula for happiness is “want nothing + do anything = have everything.”
His simple reasoning makes powerful sense. The chapters are short and the concepts are easy to understand. They give you space to recall and absorb what you have just read. I recommend reading it before bed to allow the learning to be the last thoughts you mull over before you fall asleep.
“To the underestimated, the overlooked and the outcast, Trust Your Power!”
— Colin Kaepernick
The Indian cricket team recently took a knee at a cricket match, to protest racial injustice. But, who started this form of protest? It was, in fact, started in 2016 by a lone American football player, Colin Kaepernick. He began receiving attention for kneeling while his teammates stood during the national anthem played prior to a game. It was after the death of African American George Floyd in May 2020 at the hands of the police that Kaepernick’s simple form of protest went viral.
The new docudrama Colin in Black and White on Netflix explores his life and upbringing, and sheds light on the experiences that led him to begin taking a knee.
“I didn’t know then that music is transportive: a mini time-machine. While listening to a cherished song, we’re playing and rewinding, transcending space, time, identity. Even decades later, whenever that Bhosle song plays, I’m not enjoying it as much as I’m waiting for my school bus.”
— An Equal Music by Tanul Thakur
Tanul Thakur is a film critic and independent journalist who writes some of the most fleshed-out and thoughtful material on films. An Unequal Music is his piece from a recent symposium titled Dil Ki Zubaan: Language of Songs. It is a bittersweet revelation of his relationship with music and its connection to his mother.
“… what the darkness hid, the silence revealed. In the absolute stillness of the night, windless and clear, every sound was distinct, intensified.”
— Mrs. Adis by Sheila Kaye-Smith
My scan of English textbooks, for my work as a writing tutor, revealed that the curated mix of short stories, non-fiction pieces, poems and book extracts in most of them is excellent.
In one grade 11 textbook, I came across a thriller of a short story, Mrs. Adis by Sheila Kaye-Smith. Set in a single night, it tells the story of a friend of Mrs. Adis’s son turning up at her doorstep to ask her for protection from the authorities after he has committed a crime. It is an excellent example of engaging fiction and how it can be used to explain what constitutes good writing. I couldn’t find a link to just the story, so I here is a link to the PDF format of the textbook. The story is on page 57 of the PDF.
“Treat the reader’s time as more valuable than your own.”
— Writing without Bullshit by Josh Bernoff
Here’s a list of books that help you be a better writer. Complied by Scribd, the list of 15 is diverse, ranging from Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke to Joanna Penn’s How to Write Non-Fiction. Both are on my wish list. The ones I have read and recommend from this list are the compact and enduring Elements of Style by William Strunk and the witty Writing without Bullshit by Josh Bernoff.
Until next time,
Michelle