RAJI WRITES
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Raji Writes...essays, stories, musings
I have stories to tell. And something to say. About several things. Read on!
I welcome your comments. You may add them in the Comments tab, or at the end of each piece.
COVID Times, Virtual Living and Counting our Blessings
Friends Across the Oceans (for Shafali, the newest one)
Nature Never Did Betray the Heart that Loved Her
Take Time to Smell the Roses (and Make Rose Jam!)
"Welcome to Your Intellectual Home": My Smith College Reunion
Time Travel (I Was By Your Side)
Mistaken identity (Male or Female?)
Small Observations (Pillow Book)
Halley's Comet (My Father and the Sky)
Richard Parker, the Stuffed Tiger
Heathrow circa 2002 (or The Power of a Word)
"Gratitude Journal" (How the Election Was Lost)
Can You Keep the Dog When I'm Away?
Triptych for Tarif (pre-election-2016)
To Sleep...(But Please, Hold The Dreams!)
Events: conferences, marches, community events....
The Times They Are A-Changin'...Come gather 'round, people!
Black Lives and the Journeys to Racial Justice (Part III: Protests After the Murder of George Floyd)
The Bay Area's first South Asian Literary Festival (SALA 2019)
Eric Yuan at TieCON 2019: The Pursuit of Happiness
Watermark Conference for Women, 2019 (The Power of Us!)
Indians for Collective Action (ICA): 50 Years of Social Service
Career and Mentoring: IBPW's Annual Conference
Coping, Caring & Compassion: A Panel Discussion on Mental Illness
(published in India West newspaper on May 16, 2018)
Watermark Conference for Women 2018 (Time's Up!)
Poetry
I can sometimes say more in a few lines of verse than I can in pages of prose....
For Helen Francis-Lang (The English Patient)
What I Would Do, If...(my child went missing)
Nasty Women Vote (even though it wasn't enough)
Your Laughter Rings Through the Halls of Academe (for Aria)
Book reviews, readings, lectures
Read my reviews of books I've read, and book-related events I've attended.
"Alpha Girls" by Julian Guthrie (Silicon Valley Reads 2020)
The Show Must Go On (COVID-19 and the Art of Zoom) Literary events during a pandemic.
"The Henna Artist" by Alka Joshi
Black Lives and the Journey to Racial Justice (Part I: Literature)
Black Lives and the Journeys to Racial Justice (Part II (Non-fiction & Art)
"The Forest of Enchantments," Sita's Story, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Salman Rushdie's "Quichotte" -- On the Road
The Living Odyssey at Stanford: Circe and Song
Silicon Valley Reads 2019: Books on Family History
The Stranger in My Genes, by Bill Griffeth
Option B, by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
The Golden House, by Salman Rushdie
In Memoriam: Naiyer Masud (1936 - 2017)
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, by Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy and Alice Walker in conversation at City Arts & Lectures
Ghachar Ghochar, by Vivek Shanbag
Pico Iyer on the Value of Travel, at HanaHaus, Palo Alto
Listening Now, by Anjana Appachana
(published in India West newspaper in 1999)
Freedom Song, by Amit Chaudhuri
(published in India West newspaper in 1999)
Theater reviews
I love live theater. Read about some plays I've seen.
The Show Must Go On (COVID-19 and the Art of Zoom) On pandemic performances.
"Rumors" (The Desi Glitterati of Silicon Valley) by Naatak Theatre Company (2020)
"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" Curran Theater, SF (2019)
"Mela '19, Dark Tales of Desire" - Short Plays by Naatak Theatre Company (2019)
"Gandhi" by Naatak: the Man behind the Legend (2019
"Marjorie Prime" by Naatak Theatre Company (2019)
"Proof" by Naatak Theatre Company (2019)
"Queen" by Enacte Arts: the Bee's Knees! (2018)
"Mahabharat" by Naatak Theatre Company (2018)
"Rashomon" by Naatak Theatre Company (2018)
"Unicorns": Smoke and Mirrors at a Billion Dollar Start-Up (2018)
"Vietgone": A War, A New Life & Old Memories (2018)
"Muavze": a political satire by Naatak Theater Company (2018)
"Gauhar", a play by Prime Time Theatre Company, directed by Lillette Dubey (2018)
"Hamlet", by American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco (2017)
"Mela '17", six plays by Naatak theater company (2017)
"Toba Tek Singh", a play by Naatak theater company (2017)
Monsoon Wedding, the musical by Berkeley Repertory Theatre (2017)
"Midnight's Children" the play, by the Royal Shakespeare Company (2003)
(published in Outlook India, Feb 2003)
Photographs, Collages
Music
Concerts, Lectures, Performances
The Show Must Go On (COVID-19 and the Art of Zoom) Concerts during a pandemic.
"Triumphant Music": the Marcus Shelby Quartet and Black History Life
Food & Drink
My adventures (mostly enjoyable and some a little scary) with eating, drinking and cooking
Film reviews, discussions
The silver screen...
"Manto" directed by Nandita Das
"Viceroy's House", a film by Gurinder Chadha (2017)