Dearest Yet Untitler,
I’m really honoured to be nominated for this blogging award by my fellow Substacker Cali Bird of Gentle Creative. She’s been a true comrade on my Substack journey, and I feel deeply connected to her via her writing. I feel like I made a good friend - my first via Substack.
This is a peer-recognition award where writers nominate fellow writers who are deemed creative, positive and inspirational. I’m seriously chuffed to be recognised in this way.
Thank you Cali for nominating me!
This is also a great opportunity to thank all of you, my dear YUers. Whether you’re someone who responds regularly or simply reads silently, the fact that you have been there to receive is immensely precious to me.
As part of the recognition, I am answering a series of questions. There’ll be some stuff here that you don’t know about me.
The Award Rules are at the end of the questions – one of them is that I get to nominate a few other fellow ‘stackers. Please do check out their newsletters. They definitely added tremendous value to my life.
Here goes….
What do you write about?
I write deeply personal photo essays where image and text interact to go further than writing or photos alone would go. When I started, I thought I was going to be writing about art and culture, but I now know that the plan was always to reveal the ways in which I see the world and to find a language for it that was uniquely mine.
I think I found it. And I keep striving each week to refine it.
Why?
Because.
I’ve realised that it’s a sustenance I cannot do without. YU is a place where I express myself most freely, and I think I have learned to value this freedom more and more seeing who its becoming more and more difficult to speak one’s mind in today’s world.
Also, I had been looking for a way to have a regular creative output. I tried many times and failed. One day, when I wrote my first instalment on this platform, I hit home.
I walked in then, I simply didn’t leave!
What’s something you believe deeply, even if it’s unpopular?
I believe in the innate good within humanity. Every single one of us.
I harbour an insecurity about this sounding naive, but I nurture this belief just the same.
What do you long for right now?
A sense that the world can work its way out of the mess it’s in. I long for greater confidence in the future.
I long for hills. For the time and opportunity to be out in nature.
I long for a more secure footing in my career.
I long to manage my uncertainties better.
What’s a small ritual that keeps you grounded?
Echoing Cali - Like her, I too am a Buddhist who chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo every day.
The Three Treasures of Buddhism are - The Buddha, The Law and The Sangha (the community of believers). The one thing that grounds me most is when I visit a fellow practitioner and study Buddhism with them, with the aim to help them break through anything that’s holding them back. When I do this, I realise that we’re all swimming through what’s essentially the same mire and this grounds me.
I also find my Bullet Journal practice very grounding.
When do you feel most alive?
When I run. Also, lately, when I’m playing tennis.
Also, when I’m listening to someone very carefully for some reason.
What’s a truth you’re still learning to live with?
That I, Vasant, the youngest of my family - am ageing and that slowly, my body is losing the abilities that it took for granted all this time.
What do you want to be remembered for?
Kindness.
I don’t take this for granted. I know very well that often, kindness isn’t my first instinct. Others may not perceive this, but I do. So I will have to keep working for it if this is what I choose to be remembered for.
Who are you when you’re not creating or working?
A father. A husband. A son. A brother. A friend.
What was your favourite hobby as a child?
Daydreaming. I remember a time when used to look forward to concocting all sorts of scenarios inside my head and living in them. I could really keep myself occupied!
I also enjoyed reading comics.
What is your favourite hobby now?
Bullet Journaling! I’m doing it all the time. While it serves great practical purpose in my life, it also provides the satisfaction of a proper, regular hobby. I enjoy keeping a small but efficient stash of stationary - fountain pens (loaded with inks of various colours) , ball-points, pencils, a ruler and sharpies - all of which are deployed in my journals.
My journals are becoming keepsakes, as a result. Recently, I bought a small ultra-portable water colour set, and it’s multiplied the overall pleasure of this hobby manifold.
The best thing is, that I feel beholden to no one in this. It’s simply something for my own, unadulterated pleasure! How fortunate this feels!
Where is the most exotic place you’ve ever travelled to?
Novosibirsk, Siberia.
More on that in this instalment:
Yet Untitled 008 - What to do with Siberia?
See the girl in the photo? Of course you do, the light’s bloody fantastic, making her glow as if lit from within!
Where is a place you hope to travel to?
Sapporo in Japan.
I blame this on my Haruki Murakami fixation.
If you could have a conversation with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be?
Daisaku Ikeda, the Buddhist philosopher, educator and poet.
And Leonard Cohen.
Sadly, they have both passed.
Who is your favourite musician?
Leonard Cohen. I’ve written about him extensively in past instalments. Here’s one.
There’s something very reassuring about his poetry and his music. I love the way his wisdom transcended cynicism, in a way that - in my eyes - my older favourite Bob Dylan never managed to do..
What is your favourite movie?
That would be Christopher Nolan’s ‘Interstellar’.
Its scale, its craft, its depth, its complexity and its relatability. Perhaps the father-daughter story at the heart of it has something to do with the film being my favourite.
‘Donnie Darko’ is a close second. It just made an indelible impression on me, and coloured all the years that followed after I watched it.
Who is your favourite writer?
Oh boy. I just can’t think of the answer.
I don’t think I’ve enjoyed anyone’s body of work as much as Haruki Murakami’s. But M.T. Vasudevan Nair is a writer I’ve met and spent time with, and he’s someone I’ll never forget. I love his work.
Sadly, he died recently. Something about having known him and having loved his work makes him eminent among all writers who I have encountered.
Who would you like to nominate for this Award?
Jihii Jolly - for everything she’s taught me about making sense of our complex world.
Karen Davis - for her wonderful ability to see the beauty of our planet and to be able to transfer her joy via her writing.
Cali Bird - for fighting with great dignity and nobility through very testing times, being able to find wisdom, courage and happiness nonetheless by continuing, no matter what.
Uday Nath - On the surface, his blog is about finances, but at its core it’s about encouragement and belief that we can all do better. There’s a lot of creativity and spirituality baked into it as well.
Raju Tai - One of Yet Untitled’s earliest supporters, I feel a lot of kinship with Raju Tai and how she helps others unlock their inner creatives, encouraging one and all to write.
Sana Ally - Whenever she writes, she goes deep and comes out with pearls of insight. I nominate her to celebrate her journey as a writer and also in appreciation for all the support I’ve received from her in my own journey.
Nominees - please note the rules below and have fun nominating others!
Award Rules:
Display the Award's official logo somewhere on your blog.
Thank the person who nominated you.
Provide a link to your nominator's blog.
Answer your nominator's questions
Nominate up to 11 bloggers.
Thanks for listening!
Lots of love
V
P.S - is there something you learned about me in this post that surprised you? Hit me up. I want to know!
Also,
And,
Vasant - thank you for nominating me! I loved reading your answers. I probably don't know three other people who have seen Donnie Darko, lol. That was one strange movie!
So lovely to read your answers. I'm a Murakami fan too. Love his book about running and writing. (Can't think of the title!) And thank you for nominating me again.
You've been so amazingly consistent in producing this newsletter every week. Well done xx