Greetings and salutations good people!
I have returned from my many travels and travails and have been keeping busy these past weeks, hence my limited posting of anything, even those few quirky newsworthy wonders that I love to share.
Been gone a while and realised when I got back a couple of days ago that it’s a bit jarring when you have a lot of travel and in between travel prep and such and then suddenly back home with nowhere to plan for again. With that in mind, here’s some happy, suitable music that I love for you to listen to while you make your way through my mad journey below!
The past month and some have been quite hectic as I travelled to the far-flung lands of southern India, oh those many miles away from my home in North India! I braved the vegetarian food and heavy rains, the mild tempered peoples and the insanely congested traffic – all in the name of attending the Bangalore Comic Convention.
And what a convention it was! Business was respectably brisk and the people seemed enthusiastic, costumes of all shapes and sizes abounded and merriment was to be had – albeit a somewhat uncomfortable merriment it was thanks to the utterly useless hunk of metal they called air-conditioning that was about as useful as ripping one under a shared blanket. Eventually we opened all doors and windows and on day 2 even managed to scrounge up some pedestal fans to get the air circulating. But we survived and thus far a puddle I am not!
This was followed by a lovely little side-trip, my first break/vacation IN MONTHS and one much needed, especially after the convention, the production of my maiden publishing effort and all the usual highs and lows of life in the mad-house that is New Delhi.
NOTE: Our anthology is now available as an e-book on Amazon in the US for anyone interested outside India (what can I say? I want folks here to buy the actual comic for now!), just search for “Ground Zero volume 1” and in case you have any trouble, let me know and I’ll be sharing the details here soon anyway!
Where did I go? Where else, GOA!
My first trip out there after about five long years and the place is still as quiet, idyllic, friendly, relaxing and just near perfect as I remembered. Only THIS time, there was a bonus: two close friends having taken the leap to move to this wonderland by the beach, three of us city-slicking wastrels decided to coordinate and descended upon these sand-loving hippies and invade their home. Which they graciously opened to us and this led to possibly the most mellow and mentally relaxing few days I’ve had in more than a year, it was five days of peace that I couldn’t have told you how badly I had been needed until I was there.
To my dear friends Tall and Small who let me stay with them, a heart-felt thank you and you know I’m coming back right!? And to Gaiman-girl and my very own Hydra-Bob who came on that trip with me, allow me to quote Donkey from Shrek: “Lets do that again!!” 😀
But as the cliché goes, it all ended far too soon and next thing you know, I’m back at the grind and already preparing for another work trip – this one for the day-job wherein travel to China I did and spend a week face-palming I did… sorry, my brain went Yoda-ish for a moment there…
Anyway, two weeks after returning from this wonderful mix of work and travel in the south, I was winging my way to the land of Dragons – no not Westeros! I mean the symbolic ones, yknow, China! – and next thing you know, I’ve gone from comic-book conventions to a pharmaceutical business convention and I’m neck deep in jargon, chemistry and bargaining. What joy!
Though I did get to enjoy nicer/cooler weather than the brain-roasting heat of Delhi for a few days PLUS went to a “Buddhist” restaurant where they use vegetables and soya and replicate various meats such that the taste, texture and overall experience is eerily like actually eating meat! Awesome!
On the plus side I managed to finish not one but TWO whole books in the five days I was on the road in “Zhongguo” (a.k.a “The Middle States” as it is sometimes called…). First up is one that I’m ashamed to say I’ve known of and have even read a graphic adaptation but never managed to get a good copy till recently: “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson. Second is “Practical Demonkeeping” by Christopher Moore which is a pretty good laugh and was a nice change after Legend. Reviews for both will be forthcoming here itself very soon!
But I survived through it (either that or I’m literally ghost-writing this blog now!) and am now back in the ol’ homeland of me mater and pater – writing, drawing and trying to stay sane.
Scripts are running well past due for volume 2 of the anthology I launched in Feb, with a whole new slew of local talent on board – writers and artists – and a much more ambitious aim all around. I’m even doing some additional art duties this time around and will be posting teasers of the artwork and stuff from this upcoming volume here in a couple of days.
In the meantime however, here’s some more of my own artwork for your perusal and entertainment, here’s another art sample from my own portfolio that I am slowly uploading to my Deviantart account. Hopefully I’ll get the hang of this sooner or later and actually become something resembling an artist – hope you like it and hope the music was a good accompaniment.
Stick around, I’ll be posting up some new short fiction hopefully later today itself!
Cheers all!
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