Author: Shweta Taneja

Shweta Taneja writes fiction and science for kids and adults. Her bestselling works include a unique two-in-one flipbook which covers real stories of Indian scientists: They Made What? They Found What?, graphic novel Krishna: Defender of Dharma and critically-acclaimed fantasy fiction series Anantya Tantrist Mysteries. She was a finalist in the prestigious French award Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire, AutHer 2022 award and has been awarded Editor’s Choice Award for best Asian science fiction. She is a Charles Wallace Writing Fellow and has given talks at international SF conferences including WorldCon at Dublin, Eurocon in France and the Cartoon Museum at London. Her work has been translated to Romanian, French and Dutch. Find her online with her handle @shwetawrites
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Seven creepy sights at ComicCon Bangalore

When I got a chance to cover ComicCon Bangalore for Scroll, I wanted to do something fun with it. So thought will write what I love: creepiness in things. And here’s what I saw.

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Sweet’s gone dead

Girls and women turned out at Cosplay not in demure, girly costumes but in kickass ones. Manga and Anime was popular as usual, as was horror. Here’s Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride for you peeps. Shivered us plenty.


(Photograph: ComicCon India)
Cold spots were a favourite haunt

Bangalore is known for one thing, the awesome weather. There’s only one period, from the second half of March and the first half of April, when the city heats up. And that’s precisely the period to which they shift ComicCon in Bangalore from a breezy September (we tell you!). The worse off were those who were sitting in panels on stage (including yours truly), with glaring lights on them, sweating while trying to swing the cool factor.

And then there were the unfortunate enthusiasts of Cosplay, who’d put on leather, rexin, wigs, paints and furs in order to look like their favourite characters. The attendees in their search for some relief, converged like a swarm of bees to cold spots, small, premium spaces in the White Orchid hall in Manyata Tech Park, where the air-conditioning was slightly more effective.  There they sat, on the carpeted ground, lounging.

“I’ve never seen Bangalore so hot,” said Jatin Varma, founder, ComicCon India, when I asked him why he shifted the event’s time to the hottest time of the year in Bangalore. “I thought it couldn’t get this hot!” Now you know, Jatin.


(Photograph: Ashwani Sharma) 
A scary crow indeed

There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned villain to get chills down your spine on a hot afternoon. So it was that we caught this young man in his rather innovative makeshift costume, doing Scarecrow from the Batman comics. And then there’s Dr Octopus from Spider-man 2. Evil is nice, no?


(Photograph: Ashwani Sharma) 

 


(Photograph: Jatin Varma) 
The bloody iron throne

Treachery and murder, killing and destruction, were rather popular with the visitors of Comic Con. The Iron Throne was in the house thanks to HBO’s promotion of the latest season of Game of Thrones on its premiere channel in India. For the visitors that meant a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of sitting on the Iron Throne which is made of the cruelest swords in Westeros, keeps giving you nicks and cuts, and means that you will have to kill and murder and shed blood in order to be there. And you won’t believe how many were eager to.

There was an hour-long line outside the booth to go sit on the throne and pose with the sword. This guy, however, did the Delhi thing. “I cut the line and sneaked in,” he told me with a smirk. “It’s free but who will wait for this long?” Yes, my dear. Wonder if your evil tactics will get you approval from GRR Martin.


(Photograph: Shweta Taneja) 
The divination lady
Then there was this lady, who fell into the part of Professor Sybill Trelawney and quite enjoyed telling anyone who would listen (as the professor did to all her students in the Harry Potter series) that their tea drudge indicated that there was death around the corner. We love a little dark drama, don’t you?


(Photograph: Ashwani Sharma) 
Sale of indigenous comics? Ghanta only.
We love pop culture and art in Western movies, comics, cartoons and culture. We love Japan for its anime and manga. And we weep over the poor quality of comics coming out of our own country. Without trying them out.

“I’m tired of mythology,” said a reader, “why can’t they publish something interesting in India?” I asked him what he reads. The answer: Lord of the Rings. Case closed. “There is interest, but most of the people want to buy posters of the cover, rather than a comic,” said Kailash, who publishes comic anthologies under the name Pulpocracy and rues not buying poster rights from the artist, for then he would’ve made enough money for his business to survive. People come, spend more than Rs 10,000 each, but on merchandise and international titles. Most indie stalls are empty.

 


(Photographs: Ashwani Sharma) 
And then there was Obelix

A cool relief after all the horror at the Con, this man made us laugh out loud. Not only had he sized up for his Cosplay, including some natural sweat and beef (though boar would have been more appropriate), but his costume was perfect as was his chilled out attitude, which made you want to revisit the Asterix series yet again. He certainly brought a smile to our sweaty faces.


(Photograph: Ashwani Sharma) 

To read the complete article, head to Scroll.

 

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Author Zac O’Yeah talks about Cult in Mint

Author Zac O’Yeah has to be one of the sweetest creature one can find in the publishing industry. First he roams about in Bangalore and beyond writing beautiful travel tales on Malgudi. Then he doles out free advice on writing over email, meets you for a cup of coffee and offers a beautiful guest post for your blog about meeting author Nirmal Verma. Thirdly, he includes you in his popular column in Mint, with a name like Avtar Singh, the author of Necropolis and many other things. So when this came out, I was literally jumping up and down on my bed.

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This is the story at the core of Necropolis, a novel by Avtar Singh, former editor of TimeOut Delhi and official nightlife expert of Delhi. I wondered if I’d spotted a trend when I opened the next book in my review pile, Cult Of Chaos, by Mint contributor Shweta Taneja, in which the protagonist, Tantrist and ghost-buster Anantya, inhabits an ancient 24-room haveli in Old Delhi where she’s set up her nest of sorcery along with a mascot cat, a snake god and an Urdu-blabbering ghost.
Compared to the moody Gothic ambience of Necropolis, which in lyrical prose bemoans the demise of the Delhi of yore while it ponders New Delhi’s alienating newness, Cult Of Chaos is a chick-lit take on the horrors of the megacity. Be warned, though. This is not soft-focus romance. In between blind-dating, there’s plenty of pulpy gore as Anantya fights rakshasas (demons) that fart foul-smelling substances in posh Connaught Place restaurants.

Taneja is more pleasantly surprised at being labelled a horror writer. “Now that you mention it, yes, isn’t it true? I wonder why more authors haven’t written horror, for there is definitely a market out there,” says Taneja, who grew up in Delhi and as a woman had to be constantly on the alert. The Tantrist hero, then, is her way of revisiting that city of dread.

Personally, she’s a fan of more psychological thriller writers like Stephen King. Regarding her novel, Taneja states: “What I wanted to do was explore the hidden side of Indian society, the things that lie beneath the veneer of the middle class, the arrogance, the thirst for power…which is perhaps why I chose an occult detective. Tantrism has always lived on the edges of the society, shunned, considered evil or disgusting or feared like monsters. Tantrism is quite fascinating for us, sort of like serial killers are for the West.”
And now that I think of it, this might well be a subgenre emerging, with writers like Singh and Taneja measuring the horror quotient of the modern metropolis.
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Read Zac’s complete column over at Mint. Fabulous, isn’t it?
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Five myths about an author

I’ve been writing books for six years now. When I began my journalist career more than a decade ago, I was sure I couldn’t write an article. It took me five years of wanting to write fiction, a Master’s degree, one failed novel and millions of procrastinating moments to finally do something that all blogs, all writers keep suggesting: write. After a year of stalling, I started to write fiction and once I did, I couldn’t stop. In the last five years, I’ve written six books, four of which are published and two lie at various edit levels. The longest of this, my first of Anantya’s series, Cult of Chaos, touched 1,20,000 words at manuscript stage. I became an author when I started to write (and not when I was published). Here are a few myths I’ve come across in my life as an author.

Myth 1: Writing is a hobby for them

If you want to get published, writing fiction is a creative business. Like any other commercial designer, you’re selling your ware in the market. If you look at writing as a hobby, there will be no sales involved, you will write whatever you feel like writing, chuck the rather painful process of editing. It will be pure art, and you won’t care two-hoots if it’s appreciated or understood by anyone else. For those who want to write this way, I suggest heading to a vanity publisher so they can distribute their books to friends and family. For the looners who want to publish a book with a commercial publisher, wake up to the fact that you’re starting a business. It would have all the pains of a new business. You have to present a spectacular product, polish it till it becomes commercially viable and acceptable, take the pains of editing it again and again and yet again at various levels,

Myth 2: Authors earn a lot

While interacting with students at IIT-Kanpur, one of them asked me, how much do I earn from writing book. I gave him a few figures, pittances mostly. He counter question was: ‘Then why do you write?’ I looked at him point blank and said that if he wanted to get into writing for the money of it (in spite of the fact that I think of it as a business), he was choosing wrong. Better to do a start-up and sell it for a few lakhs or millions. For majority of the authors don’t earn anything in comparison to the effort put into the making of the book. In India most publishers give you an advance on the book that’s calculated on how much the publisher thinks it’s going to sell. In hard figures, if you’re not a celebrity author and most are not, the advance is anywhere between Rs 2,000 for a children’s book to Rs 1,00,000 for what they call ‘genre fiction’. Many books never earn beyond the advance, so authors get no royalty beyond it. Each of these labours of love take around one year to write, edit, finish and market. And I am estimating a fast turn around. If you put the same year into a job, any job, even at a call center (which begins at Rs 25,000/month), you will earn much more than this book is going to give you. Keep this in your head so you’re not disappointed later on. If earning royalty is your motivation, most likely you’re headed for the depression pit.

Myth 3: They have it easy

‘Oh you work from home? That’s so nice. I wish I could do that.’: You will get it again and again and yet again. Writing was the hardest thing I took on myself and as you can see from the first sentence, this line of thought gets me burned up. Because I know that being an author is the most difficult person I will be. For one, there’s no security in this work. I can cease to be an author the minute I’m not writing or don’t have another book in my mind. It’s not easy, this constant insecurity I’ve to deal with.

Myth 4: Authors are naturally creative

As a lot of people who write will disagree to this. Creativity is like a friend who makes plans on Whatsapp and never really comes to meet up. It’s unreliable. What makes an author is not creativity, which all of us have to some extent, but hardwork, perseverance and determination to write, to pen down or to draw that spark that the creative soul’s left in us. To scratch that itch. Write everyday, even if you’re sick, busy, have a lot on your mind, stressed, feeling in dumps. Write even if no words come. Being at it constantly, chipping away the stone is what makes an author.

Myth 5: Authors are chaotic

Most of the ones I know are meticulously planned when it comes to the book they’re writing. They might have strewn a few books around, I know I do—papers and books and whatnots, but I know exactly what is there. There’s a method to that madness. Just that you might not see it.

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For more tips on writing, head to this section. Know of any other myths you’ve heard? Please put them in the comment section below.

 

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Ten secrets to marketing your book – 2

After three months of extensive marketing for Cult of Chaos, I am back on the desk, somewhat wiser, somewhat still the novice and definitely a dreamer.  As I move on to various other exciting projects that are brimming up (including the third installment of Anantya Tantrist’s series), I thought I should whisper all the trade secrets I learnt. And in our age, that means writing a blog. So here it is peeps. If these are useful, comment below. If not, comment still!

First five secrets to marketing your book

6 Look beyond a blog

A personal blog/website is great but online audiences are fractured and each has their own preferred social space. Today, you need to be present on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Vine, YouTube, and others. If you know your audience well, try and find where they hang out and be there. There’s no use to be on Facebook if you’ve written a non-fiction and most of your audience hashtags over at Twitter. And be on as many social networks as you can. You don’t need to post separately on anything. But connect them all together, use auto-posts, schedule posts and let it be. I wrote Anantya Tantrist‘s voice over a day, for two months and put it on auto-schedule. She two months, she talked on Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter or Google+. You’ll need to be efficient with this otherwise your writing time may be eaten into. Another important thing for you to do is have a strong voice across these social networks. It will be a reflection of who you are as a person and as an author. Like I love supernatural/fantasy stuff and I constantly write on folklore, tribal and occult things, which matches my interest in writing supernatural and tantric fiction.

7 Write columns 

Journalists don’t have time to review all books or do interviews of all authors. But you’re a writer, so play on your strength and write free content for as many magazines, papers, blogs, ezines that you can connect with (some of them might pay for it too). Most editors are open to new ideas, especially content from authors (thought being, if you’ve written and published a book, you might be able to write well). Pitch ideas around your book, not things that are directly promotional but things that you feel strongly about, or the themes of your book. I write columns on folklore and tantrism and writing, things I know. (Check out my columns at Swarajya, HuffingtonPost, DailyO, Scroll and Discover India. On each site, I get about a 10-300 shares every time I post something new.)

8 Work with your publisher

Publishers usually have decent marketing teams but they’re really busy people, so keep a track of your marketing representative, give them a call once in a while, send them an email, inform them of all your activities and ideas and thoughts and keep asking what’s happening next. And if you have an idea, always ask if they would do it, even though you feel it’s too expensive or weird. You know what’s best for your book.

9 Do go on bookstore tours

A lot of us go by the recommendations made by the staff of a bookstore. Use that to your advantage. Understand the people who’re selling your book on the ground, for whom it’s just a day’s boring business. Tell them about your book, enthuse them with what you love about your book. Do bookstore tours in your city, speak to groups that sell books and figure out how they do it. Convince them to push your book out.

10 Keep in touch with sales

You don’t need to find out how your book it doing (that dreaded question that is asked one too many times to all of us), but I’ve found it quite useful to understand how your book is being sold. Who is the sales person? Do they read? Do they know about your book? How do they recommend? What kind of pressures does their bosses put on them? What are their targets? It’s essential to understand the business of sales within a publishing house. What kind of distribution do they have? Is your book going to be available in all stores or just a few? Who decides these? I am still figuring out these things myself and you should see a post on it soon enough.

First five secrets to marketing your book

For more tips on writing, head to this section.

 

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Tantric tales: a relaxed Sunday with supernatural

It’s taken me a month to post this. Reason: I promised myself that I’ll finish Anantya’s second adventure before any posts on my blog. So here I am, with a finished book (yay!) and a story for you. Tantric Tales happened on the last Sunday of April. The whole team of The Beehive, a collective of creative people, organised it, taking over over the event, setting up the venue, plannning Anantya’s favourite drink soma-on-the-rocks, deciding and creating the graphics as well as the documentary which needed to be screened. It was really kind of the Beehive girls to go so much out of their way and do all of this! That’s the Beehive team below.

With the bees of BeeHive at the end of the event
With the bees of BeeHive at the end of the event

 

It was one of the funnest events I’ve done, a chilled out Sunday evening at a beautiful venue (if you haven’t checked out Humming Tree, I suggest you go. Now. Nikhil, the introvert-ish sweetheart that he is, always has something fun up his sleeve.) where friends and strangers sat on carpets, high chairs, low chairs with a beer bottle in one hand and a pen in the other. For the quiz was on. Ashwani, the quiz master of the evening kept them all inthralled. I even saw a group of people who left their burgers, ON A SUNDAY, to solve a quiz. This city will never cease to amaze me.

Ashwani, the awesome quiz master
Ashwani, the awesome quiz master

 

Then there was the fiery soma-on-the-rocks which Anantya would’ve gobbled in a second. I avoided it in case I fell into a giggly fit right before my discussion on stage.

wpid-wp-1432648016959.jpg

Post the quiz, I came up on stage, chatted with people, talked about researching on tantrism. Frankly, I could’ve done a better job, selling my book, talking about it, etc, but it was a Sunday and I’d just had a high after a successful book launch in Delhi and before that in Bangalore, so I became like the crowd at Humming, relaxed. The evening ended with a circle where a lot of people shared their stories and experiences of the paranormal and supernatural. Amazing, that part.

The event was covered extensively by the kind MetroPlus at The Hindu, Jagran CityPlus and  we all came on Page 3 of the Indulge of New Indian Express. Thrilling for a day, that. Leaving you with a few photographs (taken by the kind Prasad N).

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Ten secrets to marketing your book – 1

After three months of extensive marketing for Cult of Chaos, I am back on the desk, somewhat wiser, somewhat still the novice and definitely a dreamer.  As I move on to various other exciting projects that are brimming up (including the third installment of Anantya Tantrist’s series), I thought I should whisper all the trade secrets I learnt. And in our age, that means writing a blog. So here it is peeps. If these are useful, comment below. If not, comment still!

1 Take a few months off

First of all, for any marketing effort, you will need to take out a couple of months. That’s a couple of months of no-productivity, as in no-writing, AND doing things you might hate – talking to people, connecting, pushing your book, chasing, and all other things that marketing requires. So mentally prepare yourself for that.

2 Connect with people in media

I’ve worked in media houses for more than twelve years now and understand that media (all kinds be it online, offline and blogs) is very useful in disseminating the word about your book. The thing is, the traditional ones (like newspapers and magazines) are usually loaded with books (about 80 a month), so making personal relationships with the journalists who read your kind of genre, might be helpful. Take time out and figure who these journalists are and connect with them and let them know about your book. Your publisher might be doing it separately, but it’s useful for you to do it too. And this includes not only newspapers, but magazines, television, radio, blogs, online sites, Instagram and Facebook people. Build relationships with all kinds of people in traditional, online, or social media. If you can’t do this yourself, hire a PR agency, but keep it personal with whoever you connect with.

3 Do something other than a book launch

When was the last time you went to a book launch where you didn’t know the author? A launch works for a celebrity author. If you’re not that, try to do something else in an event. I tried doing an occult quiz for my tantrik book launch and got much more media interest as well as crowd than I would have if it would have been just a humdrum literary type discussion (which wouldn’t have worked for Anantya Tantrist anyway). For my kids mystery, Ghost Hunters of Kurseong, I went to schools and did detective workshops with kids, spreading word about my book. The best way to do an event is to tie-up with something else that’s already happening. Launch your book at a music concert or just before a play or at an art exhibition. Combination events work much better to reach new crowds than your own networks.

Next five secrets to marketing your book

4 Play to your strengths

I am a natural communicator. I love connecting to people, am naturally curious on how they work and what they do and how I can help them as well as take their help in spreading word about my books. For Cult of Chaos, I’ve connected with other authors and musicians and done a giveaway on their websites, connected with event organisers and requested them to put freebies about my book on their ticket boxes. It might or might not work, but my books are being talked about in these different groups, and that helps. (Or so I think and hope). Another author friend of mine is simply lovely at helping others write, so he runs a writing club offline and online (in an extensive email list). It’s organised and fabulous. Think of your strengths and weave a marketing plan around it.

5 Look beyond bookstores

Where do people read books? It’s not only bookstores, it’s cafes, parks and libraries and homes. Readers are everywhere. Can you reach these spaces? How about offices, colleges and apartment complexes? There are reader groups everywhere, try to find them and connect with them. Begin small and continue your efforts.

Next five secrets to marketing your book

For more tips on writing, head to this section.

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Cyber bullying: Nip it in the bud

Don’t over-share, don’t get into an altercation, collect evidence—a few ways to stop online bullies from browbeating you
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On 8 May, when Salman Khan was granted bail by the Bombay high court in a 2002 hit-and-run case, New Delhi-based author Sreemoyee Piu Kundu wrote an angry post on her Facebook timeline, coming down heavily on the actor and the judiciary. The outburst went viral, was shared, liked, commented upon and carried by a website as an open letter and then published as a post on various websites. All without her permission. By the next morning, Kundu had over 6,000 abusive messages in her “Others” folder on Facebook, threatening her with rape, and abusing her parents and family. “I was taken aback. After a while, I stopped blocking and stopped reading the messages,” says Kundu on phone. On 11 May, Facebook blocked her account. “A thousand of these mob reported to Facebook that my post was violating community standards or that my account was fake,” says Kundu. She didn’t want to complain to the Cyber Crime Cell of the police as “most of these accounts were fake and would be deleted”. Ignoring the messages, she approached Facebook, proved that her account is not fake and got it reopened. The faceless mob of bullies continues to send her messages.
Not many people talk about it, but most have faced online bullying or seen it happen. “Cyber bullying is a serious issue with 50% of the Indian youth having experienced it in one form or another,” says Venkat Krishnapur, vice-president of engineering—consumer and mobile at computer security company McAfee, part of Intel Security. According to a 2014 study by McAfee, which examined the online behaviour and social networking habits of 1,422 Indians in the 8-17 age group, 66% of youngsters had either been cyber-bullied or had witnessed others being bullied online. The report defines cyber bullying as any act of teasing, insulting, harassing, stalking, intimidating or abusing someone over the Internet with the help of technology (personal devices) or digital platforms such as social media.
“Fake profiles, impersonation, misuse of compromising photographs and information are the most common ways a bully can harass you,” says Rakshit Tandon, security consultant at not-for-profit Internet and Mobile Association of India. “Other ways include identity hacking, writing obscene content on anonymous public or confession pages about you, or writing defamatory statements for individuals.” If someone is sharing your personal information, or spreading lies about you on community pages, or morphing your photographs, etc., to hit out at you, you’re being bullied.
Repeated online bullying can result in psychiatric or psychological problems like depression and suicidal tendencies. “Cyber bullying can cause mood swings, self-esteem issues, appetite and sleep loss, stress, affect family life, even disrupt relationships,” says Manju Mehta, professor, clinical psychology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
A 2012 survey of 25 countries, released by technology company Microsoft, placed India at No.3 in instances of cyber bullying. “We don’t take cyber bullying seriously enough as a nation,” says Debarati Halder, managing director of Centre for Cyber Victim Counselling, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. Halder, who sees about 90 cases related to cyber bullying in a month, says the number of complaints are so low that we think it’s not happening. “But it’s happening everywhere and to everyone.”
One of the reasons might be that it’s hard to convict anyone under our current laws, says Vakul Sharma, a New Delhi-based advocate in Supreme Court who specializes in cyber laws. He says there is no exact definition of cyber bullying under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) or the Information Technology (IT) Act. Earlier, these cases were booked under Section 66A of the IT Act but that was revoked in March. Sharma says there should be a provision related to cyber bullying in the IT Act.
If you want to avoid being bullied online, here are some things you can do.

Report and block

Immediately report an offensive post to the administrator of the website, social networking site or video-sharing site and get the photograph, video or post blocked. Once you’ve done that, block the person immediately too. “Don’t counter argue, abuse or get into a shouting match,” says Halder. “Just shut off the person from your social networks.”

Don’t share everything

The 2014 McAfee report found that 92% of Indian youngsters indulged in risky online behaviour, including over-sharing or posting details like email, phone or home address.
Learn to control the information you post on social media, says Ponnurangam Kumaraguru, assistant professor and founding head of Cybersecurity Education and Research Centre at the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology in New Delhi. “Avoid posting any personal information or compromising photographs on public forums.”
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First published in Mint. Read the complete article here.
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Anantya makes it to Top Ten at various places!

I know I’ve been putting in too many of the Update posts recently and not enough stories, those lovely little things that readers (including me) love to read. But indulge me for a moment, peeps. For: Cult of Chaos has made it to Top Ten! Like with all-caps!

Yes. Anantya’s managed it. Not just at one place but four different places across the country! This was shared by the kind sales head at HarperCollins. At the end in Top Ten list of Asian Age. Whaat??

The Asian Age - April 2015

Before I could begin rubbing my eyes, a friend send this. In top ten at WS Smith, those stores that are our lone friends at the airport. Cult shares spot with Amish‘s trilogy in the Book of the Month section. WH Smith, Book of the month April

 

 

Then in April, my book was in the top ten at Bahrisons, a well respected bookstore in Delhi.

Bahrisons - April 2015

 

 

Sainath, the enthusiastic sales head in HarperCollins in Bangalore had told me that the book was first in Top Ten at Oxford Bookstore Bangalore last month, which I’d duly posted with a yay.

 That was last month and last weekend, Aswin (@aswinsam), a pal of mine over Twitter, sent me this. Yup, Cult has been there since more than a month! Woot.

So you see, complete Woot-ness has become. While I turn into an owl with sheer happiness (there are so many other reasons which I’ll let you all know in due time), you go on to read something serious here or if you crave for an interesting story, here.

 

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How to fortify your lungs against air pollution

There may be no escape from air pollution in most metros but you could at least try to boost your immunity levels. 

The link between air quality and health is direct and immediate. Last year, the World Health Organization declared Delhi to be the world’s most polluted city.

A study published in the Atmospheric Pollution Research journal in February 2014, which looked at the number of cases of cardiovascular mortality, respiratory mortality and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease cases in Delhi hospitals, found that from 1991-2010, the mortality rate attributed to air pollution had increased by 100% in the Capital. “Fifteen per cent of total deaths in the NCR (National Capital Region) are air pollution-related mortalities,” says Ajay Singh Nagpure of the University of Minnesota, US, the main author of this study, on email. “You need to check pollution levels in the area before doing any outdoor activity, including exercise.” Continue reading “How to fortify your lungs against air pollution”

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Tantric Tales: A documentary, real life stories and an occult quiz

The occult quiz is back by popular demand! This time, it’s the kind people at The Beehive who’ve owned up everything tantrism and will be hosting it at The Humming Tree, probably the coolest place in the city to hang out at. We will talk about Cult of Chaos, do an occult quiz (with prizes), a documentary on witch hunting in India and finally, the thing I’m most looking forward to: Everyone who comes there, the audience, the barman, the friends and family, will all sit in a circle and tell a real life story they’ve heard about paranormal, supernatural and tantrism.

VENUE: The Humming Tree, Indiranagar, Bangalore
DATE: 26 April, 2015
TIME: 4-8pm

So come, listen to occult stories! It’s going to be fun. Here’s the fabulous invite made by Aakanksha.

Chillli lemon Beehive final

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THE BEEHIVE
presents
TANTRIC TALES
Exploring the supernatural with Shweta Taneja
author of ‘Cult of Chaos’
In this session of The Beehive, we will explore some secrets of dark magic, tantrism and cults that exist at the fringes of our society with a documentary on witch hunting, a quiz and trivia session and a discussion on tantrism with author Shweta Taneja whose new book, Cult of Chaos has been published by Harper Collins India.
4.00 pm – Documentary
5.00 pm – Trivia and Quiz
6.00 pm – Discussion on Tantrism and Cult of Chaos by Shweta Taneja
6.30 pm – Book Reading by Shweta Taneja
7.00 pm – Story Sharing Circle
We invite all of you to be a part of this and share with us your own personal experiences or stories that you’ve heard from your mother about what happened to your aunt’s daughter’s brother-in law when he was travelling through the Western Ghats on a full moon night.. or the one about the neighbour who took a swim in the village pond and was possessed by the spirits living in the old peepal tree, where she hung her clothes. The best story will get a signed copy by the author!
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VENUE : THE HUMMING TREE
———————————————The Humming Tree is a concept Live Music and Arts Venue (operating as a bar/café as well) opened in June, 2013 and located in Bangalore, India.———————————————
ORGANISERS : THE BEEHIVE
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The Beehive is a participatory gathering of all the wonderful pool of talents, dreams, hopes, skills and innovations. We all share, we all learn, we all love. Every month, ‘The Beehive’, at The Humming Tree brings something new.

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See you all there this Sunday!