While browsing through an Indie author forum on Facebook, Eisha finds Cincinnati-based Jacqueline Vollat's post about her children's book, How to Hug a Cloud, which is available for free on Kindle that day. Who doesn't like a freebie? She downloads it and reads the 36-pages from cover to cover, illustrated beautifully by Noor Alshalabi, a freelance illustrator based in Jordan (https://www.noorillustrates.com/). Will the dreamy rhyme about chasing a cloud and not giving up work for her almost-four-year-old toddler? 

#jacquelinevollat #childrensbook #selfpublishing #kindlebooks #nooralshalabi #illustrator #jordan #cincinnati #cloudycastlebooks #indieauthors #indiepublishing #podcast #books #thewritecreed #rhymesfortoddlers #agesfourtoeight #rhyme 

Eisha religiously empties her Spam and cleans her Inbox to reduce load on the servers. It's one of the tiny things you can do for the environment and save power, she says. Before she hits "Empty Spam Now", she glances through the subject lines, some humourous, some not. From eggplant emojis in mails about penis-elongation to Russian women trying to sell her sex, to lottery and casino wins to blocked PR to hate mail from people she knew or didn't know, she finds them all. Then she talks about the spammers and scammers in Facebook writers' and podcasting groups and cyberbullies who can or cannot be blocked and how she deals with them. Amusing and informative, this episode of The Write Creed is dedicated to the pages of mails we never read or want to ever read. 

#thewritecreed #spam #junkmail #inbox #gmail #mailaccounts #spammail #scammers #spammers #facebook #podcasting #writing #sex #lottery #casino #hatemail #cyberbullies #trolls #bots #selfpublishing #ebooks #publishingscams #traditionalpublishing #digitalbooks #thegoasaga #books #writersforum #betareaders #eggplantemojis #spambots #bots #phishing #fraud

In this episode of The Write Creed, Eisha reads out a chapter from Mad & Moonly, the third and final book of her new romantic thriller series, The Goa Saga. 

James, Aeram and Saysha are lying on the bed. Aeram recalls the time Danny belted him in the room and James gave him a hiding. He tells James that he loves him more than anyone in the world and he will take Oleg down. Only he can, because Oleg and Svetlana like him. Why?

Mad & Moonly is available on Kindle, Amazon, Notion Press and Flipkart

#thegoasaga #authorreads #readings #madandmoonly #booksongoa #contemporaryfiction #romanticthriller #russian #russiansingoa #miningingoa #podcast #thewritecreed #author #eishasarkar #spotify #googlepodcasts #audible #amazonmusic #applepodcasts #goa #goatourism #youngadults #fiction 

In her bid to reduce the number of plastic bottles in the bathroom, Eisha has ordered a couple of Earthy Sapo's Reetha Shampoo bars on Amazon. This is a product review after her first use. You might wonder why Eisha's reviewing a vegan shampoo bar on The Write Creed podcast. Well, it comes with a lot of literature, that's why. There are instructions on the brown box, an instruction manual about how to use the Earthy Sapo Reetha Shampoo Bar, another instruction manual about how to store or care for Earthy Sapo's soaps, another set about how to convert the soap bars into liquid and then, a couple of notes from the founder,  Sheetal, about how you tailor your expectations to get the maximum benefits from the product. Eisha reads them all out. Enjoy this one.

#earthysapo #shampoobars #ayurveda #ayurvedicproducts #reetha #coconutmilk #aloevera #bhringraj #rosemary #amla #hibiscus #methi #brahmi #shampoos #ecofriendly #sustainabililty #instructionmanuals #hairwash #hairproducts #vegan #noanimaltesting #kalartcreations #environment 

Eisha has just launched her first fiction series, The Goa Saga. In this episode of The Write Creed, she reads out from the second book, Gone Goa Gone. 

Archbishop Patrick announces a press conference to refute all claims of child abuse made by James and other former students of the boarding school in Mapusa. Saysha is a bunch of nerves. James is cool. He has nothing more to lose, he says. At a crucial moment of the televised press conference, there is a commotion in the audience. Archbishop Patrick leaves in a hurry. Aeram tells her that he has released a video that has gone viral. She's proud of how intelligent her husband is. Then Aeram tells her it was James's idea, not his. How!

Gone Goa Gone is now available on Amazon, Flipkart and Notion Press.

#gonegoagone #bookreading #authorreads #thegoasaga #thewritecreed #podcast #booksongoa #childabuse #christianity  

Dr Rahul Bhagwat is Gujarat's ace bird photographer. He is a visiting lecturer at Gujarat Forest Rangers College and his photographs have been published and used in wildlife sanctuaries across India. He also holds a doctorate in Indian Classical Music and is a tabla player. In this episode of The Write Creed, Eisha and Dr Bhagwat talk about birds, photography, eco-tourism and conservation. Dr Bhagwat tells Eisha that he's comfortable in Hindi only. Eisha tells him she can't talk about birds in anything other than English. She asks her questions in English, he answers in Hindi. The words flow without the need to translate them. This encapsulates the beauty of conversation in India, multilingual and boundless. #birdsofgujarat #rahulbhagwat #birdphotography #wildlifephotography #cameras #instagram #facebook #tourism #pandemic #tadoba #gir #ranthambore #vadhwana #conservation #ecology #wildlife #tiger #jimcorbettnationalpark #nationalparks #india #gujarat  Birdsong: Orange-headed thrush recorded by Dr Rahul Bhagwat

Eisha has just released her first fiction book series, The Goa Saga, which is a Romantic Thriller trilogy. In this episode of The Write Creed, she reads out a chapter from her first novel in the series, Shadow & Soul.

When Aeram and James both have a shoot, Saysha waits in the vanity van. Once James finishes his part, she asks him to drop her at a boutique. While she is browsing through discount clothes, a couple of photographers take her pictures. James and Saysha run from the paparazzi. They hide in a decrepit building, where Saysha finds that she can't resist being attracted towards James, though he's gay and in love with her husband.

Shadow & Soul is available on Amazon Kindle and in paperback formats at Amazon and Amazon-partnered bookstores, Notion Press and its partner bookstores and Flipkart 

A graduate of Sophia College, Mumbai, and post-graduate from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Armeen Kapadia Basavaraju thinks that words and design are not that different, after all. A few years back she returned to her old love — writing — and hasn’t looked back since. Her stories have been published in literary magazines such as Amarillo Bay and The Louisville Review and she self-published her novel, Crossroads, in 2020. Crossroads is a delightful window into the Parsi community. The collection explores the day-to-day conversations, emotions and events that alter and shape the lives of different Parsis in modern India and reveal the issues that a vanishing community faces. In this episode of The Write Creed, Eisha chats with her old friend, Armeen, who is now working in Microsoft, about Parsis, the orthodox and liberal voices, Parsi publications and writers and the pros and cons of self-publishing in India.

#armeenkapadiabasavaraju #microsoft #ux #design #nationalinstituteofdesign #nid #nidahmedabad #writer #author #crossroads #parsi #parsis #parsicommunity #parsisinIndia #India #parsiana #jamejamshed #bombay #ahmedabad #mumbai #communities #iran #firetemples #agiary #parsitimes #kdp #kindledirectpublishing #selfpublishing #bangalore #notionpress #amazon #rohintonmistry

Eisha has just launched her first Romantic Thriller trilogy on Amazon Kindle this October. The three books of The Goa Saga are Shadow & Soul, Gone Goa Gone and Mad & Moonly. The first is the story of Identity, the second about the fight for Inheritance and the third is the path to Interdependence. The series is targeted at a global audience of 18-40 years who are English-speaking, urbane, social media savvy, OTT platform binge-watchers and travellers and features places and characters from India, Europe and the US. It took her five-and-a-half years to create the series. In this episode of The Write Creed, Eisha talks about the two self-publishing platforms she used to publish, promote and distribute her books, Kindle Direct Publishing or KDP and Wattpad, the challenges of traditional publishing and self-publishing, royalties, data-gathering and marketing. 

#thegoasaga #kindledirectpublishing #amazon #amazonkindle #thewritecreed #paperbacks #wattpad #kissingbooth #shadowandsoul #gonegoagone #madandmoonly #eishasarkar #kindlebooks #wattys2021 #selfpublishingplatforms #readingapps #kindleapp #googledocs #lockdownwriting #lockdowndepression #traditionalpublishing #traditionalpubishingversusselfpublishing #writing #goatrilogy #writingseries #portuguesegoa #romanticthriller #youngadults #youngadultfiction #netflix #travel #goa #goatourism #royalties #booksongoa #indianfiction #indianwriters  

Vadodara's famed public garbas have had to be cancelled because of the ongoing Covid19 pandemic. However, that has not dampened the Navratri spirit this year as much as it had in 2020. Smaller gatherings, baithaks and dances in societies, homes and smaller halls are common. Eisha was invited to one such baithak and she shares a few recordings of that in this episode of The Write Creed. 

#navratri #fineartsgarba #vadodara #baroda #msuniversity #dandiya #raas #durga #ambaji #durgapuja #unitedwaygarba #covid19 #pandemic #pandemicnavratri

Over the last decade of teaching students in the fields of communication, media, journalism, etc, Eisha has had the same queries year after year from students, peers and friends who wish to spread their work far and wide but don't know how much to charge. To those of you who wish to get writers (all kinds, fiction/non-fiction, journalists) photographers, artists and designers to submit their work to you or "offer help" or "support you", you should PAY them for their help/support/job. They may be your best friends but they need a livelihood. As for how much should you pay or how should they charge you, here's a rough guide. Every organisation is different and will have their own budgets and goals but Eisha is putting it down in this episode of The Write Creed because she knows people, even the most seasoned journalists, exploited by companies/NGOs and made to work for almost free because they found it "too awkward" to ask for money. Don't be. If you don't know how much you should charge, let this be a guide.

https://eishasarkar.blogspot.com/2021/03/paid-internships-please-for-arts.html

https://eishasarkar.blogspot.com/2021/03/how-much-to-charge-for-transcription.html

https://eishasarkar.blogspot.com/2021/03/how-much-to-charge-for-your-creative.html

#freelancers #freelancewriters #journalists #journalism #writing #editing #design #photopgraphy #indianfreelancers #creatives #careers #freelancinginIndia #freelancephotography #freelanceeditor #transcription #languages #finearts #liberalarts #needpaidinternships #interns #communications #media #books #NGOs #corporates #events #branding #livelihoods #paycreativepeople #thewritecreed #academics #institutions #projects

Prerna Shah is a Dublin-based writer, blogger and journalist. In July 2020, right in the middle of the Covid19 pandemic, she and her friend Swati Subhedar started The Good Story Project which is a storytelling platform that allows ordinary people to write about their lives. "A safe space where interviews, personal narratives and features could be conducted with balance and empathy." In this episode of The Write Creed, Prerna and Eisha talk about the need and scope of slow journalism and then meander through topics of mental health, loss, adoption, grief and guilt, while weaving their own stories into the conversation. 

Suggested reads: Jerry Pinto's piece and Amandeep Sandhu's interview

#thegoodstoryproject #prernashah #thewritecreed #mentalhealth #loss #grief #death #adoption #covid19 #pandemic #swatisubhedar #narratives #journalism #slowjournalism #guilt #bipolardisorder #virginiawoolf #empathy #balance #support #writingheals #dublin #mumbai #vadodara #lucknow #mumbai #gujarati #ordinarypeople #everydaylives #sushantsinghrajput

Hafeestonova is a digital strategist, photographer and the host of Cha Cha Music Review podcast in Lagos, Nigeria. In this episode of The Write Creed, Eisha tells him that when someone tells her about African music, she thinks about the African-American sounds of rap, reggae, hip-hop, blues, jazz and soul but not about music from the African continent. Hafeestonova tells us about how Afrobeats are trending everywhere and how Grammy Award-winning Burna Boy and Wizkid's Essence have introduced Afrobeats to the West. Originally created by Fela Kuti of Africa 70 in the early 1980s, the Afrobeat (without the 's') mixed West African and black American sounds. This generation of Afropop artistes fuse more Ghanaian and Nigerian sounds into reggae, rap, soul, blues and jazz. Eisha and Hafeestonova then go on to discuss the different music in Africa and how, in spite of different languages, it transcends boundaries. "In Africa, it's more about the sound than the lyrics," Hafeestonova says. Eisha tells him when she first heard Master KG's Jerusalema, she thought it was a Nigerian singer and later, much later, she realised he was South African. Hafeestonova laughs but then adds that Burna Boy has also done a remix version of the song so Eisha's not completely wrong. Bollywood music is popular in Nigeria on and off, but right now, Hafeestonova says, K-Pop is ruling the charts. They then go on to discuss podcasting and why he started a music review podcast. Growing up with music on the 'streets' of Lagos, music was the best form of escape from difficulties. His home was full of music and so when Hafeestonova decided to get into podcasting in 2019, the only thing he wanted to talk about was music. They then discuss the hot podcasting scene in Nigeria, corporate support for podcasters and podcasting groups in Lagos. Learning and laughs in this episode! #nigeria #hafeestonova #chachamusicreviewpodcast #lagos #abuja #ghana #southafrica #burnaboy #wizkid #essence #afrobeats #afrobeat #felakuti #africa70 #music #nigerianmusic #westafricanmusic #eastafricanmusic #southafricanmusic #masterkg #jerusalema #pandemic #covid19 #pandemicpodcasting #podcasts #africanpodcasts #africanmusic #bollywood #kpop #koreandramas #bts #blackpink #nairobi #mombasa #adisababa #amapiano

Untamed thoughts by Anita Sinha

Notion, caprice or stretch of imagination. 

Leave behind the nitty gritty of life. 

Take a circuitous path. 

Trudge along labyrinth. 

Scale the heights of a summit. 

Watch the snow-clad mountains 

Rays of the sun in several hues. 

Close my eyes and feel the blues 

Shout at the top of my voice, echoes resonate the valleys 

Gleefully I stand in ecstasy. 

Strutting I spot valley of flowers 

Enchanted and captivated 

Stood mesmerised, drinking their beauty and healing my soul. 

Butterflies fluttering, birds humming and bees buzzing around. 

Transcending in bliss, singing and trilling , no scale no rhythm. 

No desire of applause, no fear of disdain. 

Behold! I see brook. 

Streaming clear and placid. 

Pace towards it , tempted to feel the chill. 

Bending to touch, oh no I hear a beep. 

Beep of the timer , brought me back to my present. 

I found myself in the park, for morning walk 

Now time to go for a bath

Cover art: Picture of the Pir Panjals by Rachit Mankad

Eisha's former student, Kushan Patel, is now a sought-after quizmaster who conducts quizzes for IITs, IIMs and other top institutes and quiz clubs in India. He has been quizzing for 25 years and been a quizmaster for over a decade. In this episode of The Write Creed, Kushan talks about how he got interested in quizzing at an early age, the shift of format of quizzes from information gathering and quick recollection to puzzle-solving thanks to the democratization of the internet, how Covid has allowed people from different countries to quiz together, the challenges of making a quiz both entertaining and competitive, how game shows on television have evolved and why there has been no popular music quiz show on Indian television after Annu Kapoor's Antakshari. Eisha wonders if quizzing dates back to ancient Greece. Kushan thinks it had to come up after the advent of the Gutenberg printing press in 1440. They end the conversation with a mention of the patron saint of the internet, a certain John Paul II or Saint Isidore of Seville circa 600 AD, who came up with an etymological encyclopedia and also invented the period (full stop), comma and colon.  #quizzes #quizmaster #bqc #bournvitaquizcontest #kbc #kaunbanegacrorepati #antakshari #quizzesinindia #quizshows #iit #iim #pubquizes #karnataka #pune #bombay #ahmedabad #seville #annukapoor #amitabhbachchan #zeetv #popularculture #travel #food #socialmedia #contests #internet #media #covid #zoom #thewritecreed #kushanpatel #podcast #patronsaintofinternet

Eisha started writing haiku a few years ago when she lived in Australia during poetry-jamming sessions with her friend from the US. When she bought her first Android phone, she downloaded the HaikuJAM app which was founded by Dhrupad Karwa and Andrew Leung. The poetic expression app allows for collaboration between three people to create haiku. She used it for a couple of years till motherhood put a break and she preferred binge-watching shows on Netflix instead of writing haikus. Then last year, when she got into a fight with a friend, they ping-ponged haikus at each other to de-stress themselves. Eisha started looking for other people to jam with and joined HaikuJAM again. This time, she was disappointed. There were too many haikus circulating with too many spelling mistakes. It put her off. She was looking for something else, when she stumbled upon Miraquill, which was earlier Mirakee, founded by Alankrita Sood. It's more serious, allows for longer poems as well and gives her copyright. Of the two, which one does she like more?  #haiku #writingapps #haikujam #miraquill #androidapps #alankritasood #indianwritingapps #mirakee #miraquill #poetry #poeticexpression #selfexpression #dhrupadkarwa #andrewleung #madeinindia #selfexpression #haikuwriting #thewritecreed #review #eishasarkar #ios

This episode of The Write Creed starts with Eisha sitting in the Crystal Room of The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai as she gets nostalgic about the events she covered at the hotel when she was an intern at Bombay Times. It has been over a decade that she has spent some time at the hotel and she savours each moment she is there. The Gateway of India and Colaba Causeway are crowded as people make their way to immersing their Ganesh idols into the sea on occasion of Ganesh Visarjan. This year, thanks to Covid19, the celebrations are low-key. The most memorable part of their staycation at the Taj was a gift from the hotel, a ride in a new electric carriage, that has replaced the old horse-drawn Victoria carriages. A pollution-free golf cart-like experience in a part of Bombay she adores. What more could she want!

#tajmahalpalacehotel #tajhotelmumbai #tatagroup #colaba #apollobunder #gatewayofindia #ganeshvisarjan #ganpati #victoria #horses #downtownplus #timesofindia #bombaytimes #covid19 #mumbai #nostalgia #experience #electricvictoria #golfcarts #historicallandmarks #tourism #journalism #travel #thewritecreed

Journalism is all about deadlines and Eisha loves keeping time. She is known for her fondness for unusual dials and wearing men's watches. Not a serious horologist, she did try to repair a few of her early watches during her teens with a set of screwdrivers. Then she outsourced it to old watchmakers in repair shops in Mumbai and Vadodara and took a step back in time. In this episode of The Write Creed, she talks about her favourite watches, journalism and advertising before reviewing her latest, the Crossbeats Ignite S2, made in India. Enjoy this journey through places, people, papers and time. 

#mumbai #bombay #timesofindia #cst #vt #kolkata #orlando #disneyland #usa #america #citizen #titan #mickeymouse #disney #tagheuer #timex #gucci #cartier #seiko #crossbeats #bangalore #productreview #amazon #horology #time #watches #watchmaker #watchrepair #switzerland #fossil #fitbit #strava #applewatch #smartwatch #crossbeatsignite #swimming #pedometer #journalism #thestatesman #bombaytimes #robbreport #patekphilippe #omega #tissot #fasttrak #casiogshock

Eisha was woken up at 3.40 am on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 by a torrential downpour in her city, Vadodara, India, and a buzz on her cell phone. It was a message from her friend Henaa Salehi from New York about scheduling this interview a couple of hours later. Henaa left Kabul on August 15 by the last commercial flight out of the capital of Afghanistan before the city was taken over by the Taliban. Henaa is the Director of Procurement Policy and Legal Directorate, at National Procurement Authority of Afghanistan. She has a bachelors in law from Kabul University and has been a practicing commercial lawyer for five years before joining Afghan government on 2019. She first joined Afghan government as legal expert for Legal Unit of the President where she was also serving as the Acting Director for Directorate of Regional & International Commitment’s Coordination at the Unit and served the positions for 1.5 years.

Henaa is also a Fulbright Scholar and is currently pursuing her masters in International Business & Trade Law at Fordham University, New York City. Besides being a lawyer, she has been a women and youth rights’ activist for nine years mainly focusing on gender equality and education.

In this episode of The Write Creed, Henaa talks about growing up as a refugee in Pakistan, the times of the first and current Taliban regimes, the women protestors on the streets of Kabul and her plea to the international community to not recognise the Taliban government. 

#afghanistan #henaasalehi #kabul #taliban #bantaliban #pakistan #refugees #afghanrefugees #newyork #usa #thewritecreed #spotify #applepodcasts #googlepodcasts #war #afghanwar 

It's Ganesh Chaturthi and what better way to start the day but with an ode in Gujarati written to welcome the lord of all good beginnings, Ganesha or Ganpati Bappa. Dhruti Mankodi has created this garba specially for The Write Creed. Thank you! Cover art: Mumbai's famous Lalbaugcha Raja #dhrutimankodi #garba #gujarati #garbaforganpati #lordganesha #ganeshchaturthi