Siddhi Bhosale

S. S. Baba and I at JLF! Thanks to AI, I could visually see  What I actually felt that day! Suited up in a red blazer, white shirt, and black trousers. Clicked pictures on the entrance of the hostel, the sun doing its job right, and Anjali taking the best shots. It started off really well. Then hopped into our rickshaw and saw Jaipur unfold before us, one route at a time.  Reached Amer Clarks, today we knew the grind, of the face being scanned and entry being allowed. For today, I had taken the Jaipur bookmark pass, which is where publishers, editors, marketers, and bookshop owners have panel discussions, while the normal pass is for writers’ events mainly. And to my benefit today, the bookmark had two events where Marathi publishers were going to be interviewed, which my father said my grandfather knew. So to start the day on a sweet note, we had a bitter coffee with Parle-G, to balance the bitterness.  The day began with arriving before time for the session and still no...

Last Sunday (September 14, 2025) was the best Sunday of my life; it seems like God painted this particular page of my life with all the variety of colors He had! It was raining the day before, and Sunday morning also started with rain, but Rain God was kind to us and He spared some hours for the book launch of ‘THE LOCAL TALES’.  I reached the park, where I am present almost every Sunday to read with ‘Pages of Panvel’, the beautiful book community, where I walked in as the first reader back in January’25, and within months, I was walking in not just as a reader but as a writer too, and that made me a little anxious and nervous all at once.  After reading from 8 to 10 am, the usual book circle was hosted, where readers shared what they were reading, and Mumma also talked about some Hindi books that she had read. Her fluent Hindi impressed everyone, and thus, Hindi day was celebrated! Post, which Anushka Kulkarni, the founder of Pages of Panvel, handed over the dias to me. I g...

S.S. Baba & Me! Heaven. 22/08/2025 Dear S.S. Baba, How are you? It’s been 8 years since you left us. I still remember that day, but I chose to play the cassette of happy memories that I have with you in my mind every time I am reminded of that day.  Happy memories begin from my birthdays, when you and Aaji used to come from Aurangabad (then). Your shopping on the journey, especially the goodies you got from Lonavala, always excited us as kids. The colourful jelly chocolates, the golden and silver coin chocolates, and one thing that always looked thrilling but tasted okayish was the three-colour jelly custard (I still remember that pink colour used to be a litchi flavour), and your favourite bakery products! You were so far-sighted that you gifted me a computer set; probably only you knew back then that I would become a computer engineer in the future. Additionally, you gave me my first big cycle, the green Hercules cycle. I was so excited to have that cycle! Birthdays without y...