Miscellanea

Youtube links and reviving Nury Vittachi's Traveller's Tales?

Hello Jigsawers,

It’s been a busy week. The good news is that Orienting: An Indian in Japan has remained in the top 10 bestseller list for travel books on Amazon Indian for 7 weeks now…even shooting up to #1 briefly!

Yay!

I also did two presentations of the book recently. One was at the Indian International Center, moderated by the writer, publisher, feminist - Urvashi Butalia . Other speakers included the incomparable James Kondo, who amongst other things is the Chairman of the International House of Japan, and the graphic novelist and maverick, Sarnath Banerjee.

We discussed racism in Japan, the need for Asian lenses on Asian countries, aesthetics and much more. Have a watch:

I also spoke at the Bangalore International Centre, with two of India’s leading public intellectuals, Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Pavan Varma (who also has a new book out: The Great Hindu Civilzation) about Orienting. The event was moderated by journalist and critic Supriya Nair, who also edits Fifty Two, which offers some of the best indepth reporting on India you will ever read.

We talked about the pitfalls of writing a foreign culture, about my writing process, Rabindranath Tagore in Japan, Japan’s technical prowess or surprising lack thereof, China-Japan, Buddhism and much else.

You can watch it here:

Before I buzz off, I thought I’d leave you with two headlines from different parts of the world that might have escaped your notice (given that other important things are happening in the world). But you might enjoy reading them. Kind of stuff you can’t make up!

1) A Spanish bishop in Catalonia, known for his homophobic views, has resigned after falling in love with the author of satanic-themed erotic fiction. He is now looking for a job as an agronomist.

2) A UK judge has ordered a rightwing extremist youth to read Charles Dickens or face prison.

I was thinking it would be fun to carry these sorts of eye-brow raising pieces from around the world à la Nury Vittachi’s Traveler’s Tales from the erstwhile Far Eastern Economic Review.

Could you forward me any headlines that fit the bill from your part of the world for inclusion in The Global Jigsaw? It’s always fun to know the “interesting” things people get up to.

Until next week, keep reading. Oh and subscribe please. Or share. Or both

xo

P