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...

Top: Sudha Murthy Middle: Shobha Dey Bottom: Kiran Desai Mornings in train start not when the sun rises but when the tea sellers ring the alarm of ‘chai garam chai’ and that is when you know it’s morning. But I was on the lower berth, and one has to keep lying until the person on the middle berth wakes up and takes it down to sit comfortably. But the girl talked with her mother late into the night and then fought with the bald uncle, too, so she was definitely not going to wake up early. I got freshened up, the train had stopped at Vadodara station, and I was reminded of my time here when I was in class 6th and Kamal Aaji had hosted us ( Gujrat blog ). The air was cold, and a shiver passed through me. I came inside. The bald uncle was sitting crouched because his son was also not up. Then I had a chai, the railway tea, which is more on the sweeter side, it is almost like a basundi chai. I had the morning tea while reading ‘Dollar Bahu’ by Sudha Murthy (Little did I know I was actually...