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# Shweta Taneja

Award-winning author of science and fiction

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://shwetawrites.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Blog](https://shwetawrites.com/blog/)
- [Out Now: The Big Book of Wild Poop](https://shwetawrites.com/out-now-the-big-book-of-wild-poop/news/) - The Big Book of Wild Poop takes all the bad words and turns them into lessons in climate change, ecological relations, anecdotes and puns.
- [Report: Giant pandas at the Hugo Awards and other WorldCon updates](https://shwetawrites.com/report-giant-pandas-at-the-hugo-awards-and-other-worldcon-updates/news/) - Last month, I was part of an invited delegation to Chengdu, China for the Worldcon. Here's what I did, who I met and what I thought of the event.
- [Announcing a wacky ecopunk for kids. And it's hilarious!](https://shwetawrites.com/announcing-indias-first-ecopunk-for-kids-and-its-hilarious/news/) - Two siblings take help from their mother’s cranky, wacky robot to fight against all freaks of the waste. This adventure which turn everyone into climate warriors!
- [Two stories, two translations: Kannada and Italian](https://shwetawrites.com/two-stories-two-translations-kannada-and-italian/news/) - Very happy to announce that my work has been translated to two different languages close to my heart. One is Kannada, spoken in the state I have been living in since the last decade (Karnataka, for readers who might not know) and the second is Italian, spoken in a shoe-shaped country obsessed like Indians with food.
- [A literary festival with students, book signing, pals and drumming](https://shwetawrites.com/a-literary-festival-with-students-book-signing-pals-and-drumming/news/) - Last week, I was invited to the Alliance Literature Festival at the Alliance University. In any festival, it’s the conversation with people – readers, authors, attendees that remain with me.
- [Dealing with Covid-19 and starting a letter of hope](https://shwetawrites.com/dealing-with-covid-19-and-starting-a-letter-of-hope/writing/) - A stressful April because of covid-19, lessons I learnt, watching bird porn and why I’m starting this newsletter in such dark days.
- [You don't need to be productive always to be creative](https://shwetawrites.com/productive/writing/) - In my 2nd letter to you, I talk about how the pandemic has made me feel more loved, how to deal with guilt when not being productive, watching Korean dramas and a cool, free futuristic game you can play online.
- [Release: New SF short on buying a robotic bride](https://shwetawrites.com/robotic-bride/news/) - Read my latest science fiction short story, Bhaisaab's Bespoke Brides Boutique. A hilarious futuristic satire about a family going to a store to buy a custom-made robotic bride.
- [You became my penpal thanks to two kids & what I learnt from them](https://shwetawrites.com/penpals/writing/) - How two children in two different hospitals across the world inspired me to start this newsletter. And how you can make penpals today.
- [Finalist In AutHER Award 2022 For Children Lit](https://shwetawrites.com/finalist-in-auther-award-2022-for-children-lit/news/) - Very happy to announce that my book on Indian scientists, They Made What? They Found What? has made it to the shortlist of AutHer Award 2022
- [About quitting a book and getting an award, all in the same week](https://shwetawrites.com/about-quitting-a-book-and-getting-an-award-all-in-the-same-week/writing/) - True story of how I almost quit writing my book and got a book award, all in the same week. Never give up, folks.
- [Science book won the Publishing Next Awards 2021](https://shwetawrites.com/science-book-won-the-publishing-next-awards-2021/news/) - My science book on Indian scientists, They Made What? They Found What? has won the Publishing Next Industry Awards 2021 for best book in children's category!
- [Some of my latest releases in books, articles and stories](https://shwetawrites.com/latest-releases/news/) - All of 2020, my publishing plans, as with all writers, went haywire. Even though our world continues to be up and down and all the rollercoaster in between, I'm happy to say that I have had five cool things in latest releases out with different publishers in the last few months. What I love about
- [Release: New Solarpunk short story on evil dolphins](https://shwetawrites.com/solarpunk/news/) - What happens when dolphins take over the world? Create a technology that humans have no understanding of? I’m thrilled to announce the release of my new solarpunk tale, The Songs That Humanity Lost Reluctantly To Dolphins. It’s part of an upcoming anthology on imagining an optimistic future by World Weaver Press, an independent publisher based
- [Global internet is dead, thanks to for-profit algorithms](https://shwetawrites.com/global-internet/articles/) - In the 1980s, when the global internet emerged, it was a network of decentralised computers in different universities across countries. By the 1990s, with Tim Berner Lee’s World Wide Web, any node across this network, could access any information. As storage capacity and data access speeds increased, this was quickly taken over mostly US-based companies,
- [My book on science releases on National Science day](https://shwetawrites.com/national-science-day-india-book-kids/news/) - It’s National Science Day today. That’s 28th February peeps. A little more than ninety years ago, Sir CV Raman discovered what is called The Raman Effect. To refresh your memory on what exactly Raman Effect means, you can either read its Wikipedia page, or pick up my book on Indian scientists, They Made What? They
- [Cover Reveal: New book on science and Indian scientists for kids](https://shwetawrites.com/book-on-science-and-indian-scientists-for-kids/news/) - From fiction, I’ve time-travelled to writing a science book for kids! I’m thrilled to announce my upcoming flipbook with Hachette India. Since it’s a book on science and Indian scientists written by a, umm, science-fiction author, expect more than a few laughs, a lot of activities and quizzes, and a rollercoaster ride through the stories
- [Why WhatsApp policy is different for EU than for India](https://shwetawrites.com/whatsapp-policy/articles/) - WhatsApp’s new privacy policy popped on my screen a lazy morning a couple of weeks ago, spreading its black-on-white legalese. Unlike most people who groan at the idea of reading clauses when all they want to do is scroll through good morning messages, I was filled with a sense of joy and determined purpose. (First
- [Must read graphic novels by Indian authors](https://shwetawrites.com/indian-graphic-novels-must-read/writing/inspiration/) - When my eyes are screen-lagged, I love to cuddle up on my couch and unfurl a good old graphic novel, especially a narrative non-fiction one. A few years ago, I would have always recommended fantasy (I hounded artist Appupen, till he agreed to draw the covers of my fantasy series Anantya Tantrist Mysteries and have
- [Happy New Year: I had a great 2020! Here’s to 2021](https://shwetawrites.com/happy-new-year/writing/inspiration/) - Since the past few years, I had been in a kind of a slump. Last year, as the world went into a crazy spur, I jumped out of mine
- [Book Launch: How biryani chokes a history book](https://shwetawrites.com/book-launch-how-biryani-chokes-a-history-book/news/) - What do biryani, wrestling, Russel Market and children have in common? A fantastic ride through 1920s in Bangalore! My new short story 'The Biryani Choke' is a rollicking tumble set around the opening of the Russell Market in Shivajinagar of the 1920s. The story is being published in an anthology by INTACH Bangalore appropriately called
- [I Spy a Salute: A tribute to John le Carré](https://shwetawrites.com/tribute-to-john-le-carre/articles/) - Tribute to John le Carré: le Carré's fictional world, like powerful fiction today, slithers underneath our fabricated reality
- [SF in India: Challenges, Debutants and More](https://shwetawrites.com/sf-in-india/articles/) - Gatekeepers of the publishing industry look for oriental tropes in SF in India, missing out on innovative and urgent tales of experiences
- [BLF 2020: Book launch at a hybrid festival](https://shwetawrites.com/hybrid-festival/news/) - Milind Soman and I almost met at the Bangalore Literature Festival this year, a hybrid festival. It was a cool Sunday evening. I was to speak in the last session at the festival - a panel to launch a fantastic anthology on Bengaluru’s history, Eleven Stops to the Present: Stories of Bengaluru with Meera Iyer,
- [SF story released in a blockchain-powered anthology](https://shwetawrites.com/blockchain/news/) - Excited to announce that my short story Agni’s Tattoo was released in Whose Future Is It? the first anthology published by blockchain-based Cellarius.
- [Short story shortlisted in prestigious French awards](https://shwetawrites.com/short-story-award/news/) - This is surreal at a serious level. A short story I wrote a couple of years back, The Daughter That Bleeds was translated in French as 'La Fille qui saigne' by Mikael Cabon and published in Galaxies magazine, an SFF fanzine in France. This happened last year and I was gleed at that point and then
- [Me: Top 50 Startup Women in Switzerland](https://shwetawrites.com/startup-women-switzerland/news/) - Woah. I am in a list of Top 50 Startup Women in Switzerland. What most of you don't know if that I founded a startup in Zurich in the #FinTech space in 2018. The idea was to do new projects and to meet people and to earn money so I could feed my mainstream career - fiction writing.
- [Giving a talk at WorldCon 2019 + Evil Plan](https://shwetawrites.com/giving-a-talk-at-worldcon-2019-evil-plan/news/) - It's this week! I have some exciting news from my end. I've been invited to Dublin for WorldCon 2019, the biggest convention for the speculative fiction industry in the world, to give a talk on my work and on the work of emerging speculative fiction authors from South Asia. My talk will explore science and fantasy
- [When your friend turns immortal](https://shwetawrites.com/immortal/fiction/) - Though I called Ashwa a friend, I had never seen his face. Our relationship had always been more about silence than conversation.
- [Eurocon: How I got interviewed by French media](https://shwetawrites.com/eurocon-how-i-got-interviewed-by-french-media/news/) - During my visit to Eurocon 2018, I met a French lady in a corner. I was quickly stuffing my stroller and getting ready to talk about Indian fantasy.
- [That won't work on any chudail](https://shwetawrites.com/chudail-2/fiction/) - The man tumbled, wheeled around and straightened, still shivering like a leaf in a storm, his eyes double the size of his shrunken balls as he ogled her knees. ‘You stupid man!’ Jaanu rasped. ‘Leave, you’re in danger here!’ ‘Please don’t eat me,’ he yowled, crossing his arms to protect his groin. Jaanu groaned. ‘I’m
- [Laid off from your job? It need not be a problem](https://shwetawrites.com/laid-off-from-your-job-it-need-not-be-a-problem/articles/) - Getting laid off is not the end of the world. Turn it into an opportunity. In September 2016, Sangita Mukherjee was called by her manager into his office and told that due to restructuring of the company, certain positions had become redundant and she was told to resign from her job the same day. “I
- [Can I fight for equal rights without being labelled a ‘feminist’?](https://shwetawrites.com/feminist/articles/) - In a world of hashtags and -isms, is it impossible to fight for equal rights without becoming a ‘feminist’? For we demean the term rather than accepting it.
- [New: Short Story in Magical Women, a feminist fantasy anthology](https://shwetawrites.com/chudail/news/) - Happy to announce that my hilarious, wacky short story on a chudail get-together has released in Magical Women, a feminist fantasy anthology
- [Story translated to French, Romanian and Dutch](https://shwetawrites.com/story-translated-to-french-romanian-and-dutch/news/) - My short story, The Daughter That Bleeds, has been translated and published in three European languages: French, Romanian, and Dutch.
- [New Release: The Rakta Queen](https://shwetawrites.com/new-release-the-rakta-queen/news/) - It gives me a thrill to announce the launch of Anantya Tantrist's third adventure, The Rakta Queen, yet another rollercoaster dive into the supernatural underworld of Delhi. Anantya Tantrist is all that stands between Delhi and the forces of darkness. A Kaula tantrik is brutally murdered by his chandaali slave. The same night, a group
- [Comic release: Obsolete Baby](https://shwetawrites.com/comic-release/news/) - So excited to announce release of “The Obsolete Baby”, a whimsical and darkly funny short comic short I scripted that deals with giving birth and our obsession with technology. Illustrated by artist Kavita Nambissan, it releases in Ground Zero fourth volume by MetaDesiComics.
- [Interview: Bangalore is perfect to write](https://shwetawrites.com/economic-times/news/) - Interview in Economic Times on how Bangalore's slow pace gives Shweta Taneja time to weave stories. Having grown up in Delhi and working there as a journalist, working there as a journalist, Taneja was drawn to India's software hub through what she read about it and heard from people who had travelled there. It was
- [He looked at her body, naked except for the kumkum](https://shwetawrites.com/kumkum/fiction/) - He looked at her body, naked except for the kumkum, which looked more like black smears in the moonlight. For a moment, his heart lurched. She was just a child, really. Could he go through with this? The phone rang, making him jump. He didn’t bother to check the number. He knew who it was.
- [‘Immigration? Aren’t they Indians?’](https://shwetawrites.com/immigration-arent-they-indians/fiction/) - The Non-Tantrik Department was crawling with all kinds of pashus and mayans, who might have arrived here at night and now waited for their stamped pieces of paper to get into the city. Rakshasas, yakshas, dasyus, looked at me with lazy eyes, unseeing and disinterested, waiting for their name to be called. I stepped over
- [Mattreya’s claw-like left hand sank into the vampire’s neck](https://shwetawrites.com/mattreyas-claw-like-left-hand-sank-into-the-vampires-neck/fiction/) - Mattreya’s claw-like left hand rose again and sank deep into the vampire’s neck. Blood splattered on those standing too close to the stage.
- [How Shivajinagar found itself in Anantya Tantrist](https://shwetawrites.com/shivajinagar/traveltales/) - There’s something about some roads that change you as you walk through them, almost like they are portals to other worlds. A friend and I had been planning to create a heritage walk app and decided to explore Shivajinagar, Bengaluru, one Sunday afternoon for research. After a satisfying ghee-filled masala dosa and coffee, we reached Shivajinagar and
- [Employee engagement is a lot of work today](https://shwetawrites.com/employee-engagement/articles/) - Employee engagement for millennials takes constant motivation, feedback and training and companies need to get their leaders and HR to focus on it.
- [You realise she's a female?](https://shwetawrites.com/female/fiction/) - You realize she’s a female?’ asked Lord Qubera, his long golden eyelashes fluttering on his fleshy cheeks as he blinked. I cringed, wishing I had sunglasses.
- [How to use Facebook groups to get a job](https://shwetawrites.com/facebook-groups/articles/) - Find the right groups with keywords that are most relevant to your industryPrefer local groups so that you can develop city-based professional networksIntroduce yourself by posting a message about you and what you're looking for.Don't lurk in a Facebook group.Don't spam. Post links that show you to be someone who is genuinely interested in the
- [How podcasts can help you be a startup founder](https://shwetawrites.com/podcasts/articles/) - Startup founders are enhancing their learning skills by listening to podcasts despite busy workday schedules. For a busy startup founder, who has to learn a lot about every aspect of business, every little minute of a day counts. That’s the reason Ami Sata, founder, Amouve, an organic bed and bath brand based out of Mumbai,
- [How to be a successful gig economy worker](https://shwetawrites.com/gig-economy/articles/) - Choose your clients wisely to make sure you are paid on timeBe transparent and upfront about the mistakes you make,.Learn to say no to projects that pay too little.Plan ahead financially as there will be down times.Manage the time between projects. Learn something new then. In April 2018, after a year of considering it, Bengaluru-based
- [How millennials revamp old family businesses](https://shwetawrites.com/family-business/articles/) - To take their existing family businesses to greater heights, the younger generation is trying out new ideasBeing in business with family as a second or third generation has its pros and cons When Bengaluru-based Chaitanya V. Cotha, the scion of the 150-year-old C. Krishniah Chetty (CKC) Group of Jewellers, joined his family business in 2010,
- [How to find a job on Instagram](https://shwetawrites.com/instagram/articles/) - Creative professionals are using Instagram’s visual storytelling to showcase their work and get a jobAccording to Statista, Instagram has 71 million monthly active users in India.Be professional on InstagramRewrite that bioCreate a visual resumeBuild your networkSend positive messages to brands Always be on the lookout It’s on Instagram that Achin Bhattacharya, CEO and founder of
- [Why some millennials are quitting Facebook](https://shwetawrites.com/facebook-2/articles/) - If the idea of quitting Facebook makes you anxious, irritable, or you miss out on work, it may be time to let goMillennials are feeling overwhelmed by the way Facebook requires their attention and misuses personal information In July, more than a decade after joining Facebook, Mumbai-based event manager Jason Menezes decided to delete his
- [How to negotiate a holiday with your boss](https://shwetawrites.com/negotiate-holiday/articles/) - Here's a step-by-step guide on how to negotiate a holiday with your boss. And no, you don’t need to lie about a relative’s sickness, you just need to plan ahead. Approach the boss with a solutionFind a replacementPlan aheadBe flexible Approach the boss with a solution What can you do to ensure that your work
- [How to avoid a burnout in a job](https://shwetawrites.com/burnout/articles/) - Three professionals tell us how they beat the burnout and went back to managing their work life through personal time and professional help. Symptoms of a burnout About four years ago, in late 2014, Nida Sahar, a computer engineer based in Bengaluru, started to feel a lack of interest in her work. Every morning, she
- [How to overcome challenges when a wife earns more than her husband](https://shwetawrites.com/wife-earns-more/articles/) - When Sandeep Mulay Kumar and his wife were investing in a property in Bengaluru, his mother found out that he was paying less than his spouse Pramitha Ramaprakash because he was earning less than her. “My mother took me into a corner and told me quietly that the fact that I’m earning less than my
- [New job? Here's how to make new friends.](https://shwetawrites.com/new-job/articles/) - New job? When it comes to building relationships with Indian colleagues, it’s food that matters the most, according to Mumbai-based operations manager Neha Thadani. Three years ago, when Thadani joined her current company, an MNC based in Mumbai, the newness of the office was overwhelming. “It was a disconcerting experience," says the 35-year-old, “I didn’t
- [What is expertise economy?](https://shwetawrites.com/what-is-expertise-economy/articles/) - Are you ready for the expertise economy? Constant upskilling and gaining expertise beyond education is the millennial way to work. At the age of 25, Gautam Soni, who works as a business analyst at LinkedIn in Bengaluru, has already pivoted twice in his career. After graduating, he did not find a job immediately and tried
- [How to do a steady job with a part-time startup](https://shwetawrites.com/part-time-startup/articles/) - What are part-time startups and why are millennials doing them? Since June 2017, Bengaluru-based Saswati Suchipadma has led a hectic life. She is a full-time technology consultant in a multinational company and runs a handmade jewellery start-up. “I have meetings with clients in the US, and deadlines both at office and with my personal business
- [New ways that founders are doing business meetings](https://shwetawrites.com/startup-founders/articles/) - Startup founders are doing meetings in newer ways to save time, increase their efficiency and also be much more productive. When Mithun Srivatsa, co-founder and CEO of Blowhorn, a logistics startup, began his company, he had a small office in HSR Layout in Bengaluru, which could seat only four people. “I did five meetings a
- [How do I set up a cooperative start-up in India?](https://shwetawrites.com/cooperative-start-up/articles/) - The cooperative start-up structure is still a nascent idea in India. Every morning, Nirbheek Chauhan, 30, gets ready and heads to his office—another room in his apartment in Bengaluru. There, he connects with the other six members of his team, based out of UK, Greece, France and Australia, and starts work on his current project.
- [Did Amy Ingram just set up that meeting for you?](https://shwetawrites.com/amy-imgram/articles/) - Amy Ingram is a secretary. She sets appointments and meetings. She works for top-level executives, including CEOs, in the IT, start-up and finance sectors. If you work in these industries, you’ve probably received an email from her. But Amy is not a real person. “She" is the creation of x.ai, a US-based Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- [Editor's Choice Award: The Daughter that Bleeds](https://shwetawrites.com/story-story-award-the-daughter-that-bleeds/news/) - Proud to announce that The Daughter That Bleeds, a short story I wrote, that has been published in The Best Asian Speculative Fiction 2018, has been awarded the Editor's Choice Award. All of 2018, as I prepared The Rakta Queen for publishing and moved countries, I've been busy typing away hilarious, maddeningly weird feminist speculative fiction
- [Green vegetables boost your immunity](https://shwetawrites.com/green-vegetables/articles/) - Packed with fibre and rich in vitamins, green vegetables and leafy veggies can help build your immunity. Here's how to consume them.
- [How to be an author: Five  lessons I learnt at Europe’s biggest science fiction and fantasy convention](https://shwetawrites.com/how-to-be-an-author-five-lessons-i-learnt-at-europes-biggest-science-fiction-and-fantasy-convention/writing/) - One day, among other emails, I received one from Galaxies, a French fanzine. I had been invited to Eurocon, Europe’s largest convention for science fiction and fantasy, to give a talk on my novel The Rakta Queen: An Anantya Tantrist Mystery and the Indian fantasy and science fiction scene in general. With glee, I prepared for the talk,
- [5 life hacks for aspiring writers](https://shwetawrites.com/five-life-hacks-for-aspiring-writers/writing/) - Want to start on that first book? Aspire to get published? Here are a few tips for aspiring writers that I shared with Writersmelon. Why do you want to write? If you want to be a writer, the first thing that you need, which is I think a very individualistic thing, is the desire to
- [Slavery in India and how it compares to the world](https://shwetawrites.com/slavery-india-compare-world/writing/) - While browsing the layers that is the internet, I came across Global Slavery Index and found the facts that they'd written about India after research quite intriguing. There are lots of little nuggets there to mull over and think about various ways we ignore, encourage and are okay with slavery in our country. I had
- [The possibilities of the occult in fiction](https://shwetawrites.com/possibilities-occult-fiction/articles/) - How does one research into occult? In the climax of Cult of Chaos, the first novel of my tantric fantasy series ‘Anantya Tantrist Mystery’, the protagonist Anantya and her teacher, Dhuma, an aghori who lives in a cemetery, embark on a complex tantric ritual to call upon a charnel goddess, Shamshana Kalika, to the human plane.
- [Milan and Turin: A tale of two cities](https://shwetawrites.com/milan-turin/traveltales/) - A chill February wind from the Alps shuffles me from the open piazza in front of the Duomo di Milano into the relative warmth of the corridors that make up the famous Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The oldest active shopping mall in the world, this galleria in Milan was completed in 1877. It is an
- [Bonding turns colleagues into friends](https://shwetawrites.com/bonding/articles/) - Bonding at workplace makes people work more efficiently, share more about themselves and stay away from alienation.
- [Working abroad can boost your career](https://shwetawrites.com/working-abroad/articles/) - Apart from a suitcase full of souvenirs, working abroad gives you a clearer sense of self that can give a fillip to your career, says a new study
- [Midlife career change can work, with a few challenges](https://shwetawrites.com/midlife-career/articles/) - A change in midlife career is possible, however there are many challenges. Here people who have changed career after 40, share their experiences
- [A millennial’s guide to negotiating a better salary](https://shwetawrites.com/salary/articles/) - There's an art to salary negotiation and its to ask for the offer and be ready to walk away if need be. We give you more insights on how to get paid better.
- [For success, learn to listen  well](https://shwetawrites.com/listen/articles/) - Listen well and you will know the truth. Over a cup of coffee in February, Akash Manohar, the director of engineering at Synup, a Bengaluru-based marketing start-up, made a suggestion to its millennial founder Ashwin Ramesh—change the work timings, because late hours don’t allow the team to pursue hobbies. “The norm for most tech start-ups is to
- [How to make a career with drones](https://shwetawrites.com/drones/articles/) - Drones is a cutting edge technology in India which is yet to become a full-fledged career. However the positive signs are all there.
- [Setting up a start-up, straight out of college](https://shwetawrites.com/start-up/articles/) - Transforming an idea into a start-up business is the biggest challenge young entrepreneurs face. Here's how they overcome these challenges
- [How to make it as a trailing spouse](https://shwetawrites.com/trailing-spouse/articles/) - Being a trailing spouse can be stressful as you quit your job to follow your partner's career. However, with perseverance it can work.
- [How online learning is the way forward](https://shwetawrites.com/online-learning/articles/) - Online learning is the new way millennials are educating themselves. It's cheaper, flexible and offers constant and customised learning options.
- [Smart speakers aren’t ready to take over your home, yet](https://shwetawrites.com/smart-speakers/articles/) - Artificial assistants in smart speakers can do some tasks for you to make your life easier but they are a long way off from turning you into a couch potato
- [Kitchen gadgets that will make the food themselves](https://shwetawrites.com/kitchen-gadgets/articles/) - It’s time to try something new in the kitchen. Retire your drab old whistle-cooker and wok, and bring in some kitchen gadgets.
- [How to use a chair to workout](https://shwetawrites.com/chair-exericse/articles/) - Our lives involve a lot of sitting which is an unnatural position for the body. Chained to your desk? Use your chair as a prop to squeeze in a workout
- [Run your business with these apps](https://shwetawrites.com/business-apps/articles/) - Use these apps to ensure that your business runs seamlessly even if you are away from your desk or on a holiday. It's that easy!
- [Seven strategies to survive a toxic workplace](https://shwetawrites.com/toxic-workplace/articles/) - Here's how to survive a toxic workplace: Don’t be bogged down by negativity, don’t shy away from reporting a bully, and don’t be the person who yells back.
- [Indian fantasy has come of age. Here's why](https://shwetawrites.com/indian-fantasy-has-come-of-age-heres-why/articles/) - As The Rakta Queen, my latest fantasy fiction releases, I feel Indian fantasy has made a niche for itself in the English language in India. Here's why.
- [8 apps to boost your productivity and finish work early](https://shwetawrites.com/productivity/articles/) - With December holidays around, boost your producitivity and get off from work with these apps. Get organised and get ready to party
- [Want to shed flab? Try BodyPump, a workout that burns fat and builds muscles](https://shwetawrites.com/bodypump/articles/) - Want to shed flab? Try BodyPump, a workout that burns fat and builds muscles. It uses High-Intensity Interval Training (Hiit) to destruct fat.
- [Ways to spot fake news](https://shwetawrites.com/fake-news/articles/) - Fake news is not a new phenomenon but social media platforms have made it much easier to spread rumours and lies. Here's now to spot fake news.
- [When to eat a fruit is just as important as which fruit to eat](https://shwetawrites.com/fruits/articles/) - According to experts, you might be eating the right fruits but your timing might be wrong. Here's what the experts say are the right fruit times.
- [Phone, computer, tablet—are multi-screens at work a distraction?](https://shwetawrites.com/multi-screen/articles/) - There was a time when Sriram Rajamani’s 1-hour, 30-minute commute to work from north Bengaluru to the centre of the city felt like a complete waste of time. Today, multi-screen devices help him use the time advantageously. “While my driver braves the traffic, I work on my laptop with a tethered connection via my phone
- [Give your brain a boost with these 9 smart foods](https://shwetawrites.com/brain/articles/) - You need the right food to keep your brain healthy. A study published in The Lancet in July concluded that one in three cases of dementia could be prevented if more people looked after their brain health and strengthened the brain’s network by improving their diet, not smoking, doing exercise, keeping a healthy weight and treating high
- [How a skateboard brings social change in Madhya Pradesh village](https://shwetawrites.com/skateboard/articles/) - Janwaar Castle, is a project with India’s largest rural skatepark at its core, set up in Janwaar, where children are taught how to skateboard
- [7 signs that you are addicted to social media](https://shwetawrites.com/social-media/articles/) - Selfies. Holiday pictures. Posts. Feel you are addicted to social media? Here are the signs to look out for and what you can do about it
- [The boot camp workout](https://shwetawrites.com/boot-camp/articles/) - The boot camp workout is a military-inspired exercise routine. Here's a lowdown on everything you need to know about the boot camp workout.
- [Say goodnight with sleep apps](https://shwetawrites.com/sleep-apps/articles/) - While you can use sleep apps to regulate and discipline your body clock and sleep cycles, research shows they won't you with sleep disorders.
- [Post 35? It’s never too late to start exercising](https://shwetawrites.com/post35/articles/) - You're post 35 and you’ve finally decided to start exercising? That’s great news. For exercising regularly can reduce fat, stress and cholesterol, improve body functions, prevent diabetes and boost self-confidence, says Ali Irani, head (physiotherapy and sports medicine), Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital, Mumbai. The tricky part, however, is to ensure that your routine is safe,
- [8 gadgets to make air travel more comfortable](https://shwetawrites.com/8-gadgets-to-make-air-travel-more-comfortable/articles/) - One of the most annoying aspects of air travel is just how loud everything seems to be, especially when you’re trying to sleep. There’s the quiet but insistent hum of the aircraft, which becomes a rumble the further you are from the cockpit. Then there are people talking, laughing, babies crying, cold blasts of air,
- [How to protect your eyes](https://shwetawrites.com/eyes/articles/) - Your eyes are getting no rest from screens. Here’s how to protect them An average Indian office-goer spends 6-8 hours daily looking at computer, mobile or television screens, says P. Suresh, consultant ophthalmologist at Fortis Hospital, Mumbai. “The figure is worse for IT professionals or people who use computers for work, as they spend 12-16
- [What makes online games like Blue Whale so addictive?](https://shwetawrites.com/online-games/articles/) - What makes some online games so addictive that players are willing to harm themselves, even attempt suicide?
- [Poem: In tolerant India](https://shwetawrites.com/intolerant-india/writing/) - Yes, I'm a racist. I look at you and see The percentage of melanin In your skin The angle your eyes slant The colour of the iris The length of your hair It's texture It's shape It's smell The way it shines Or not. Yes, I'm a casteist. I look at your surname and your
- [Livestream your view](https://shwetawrites.com/livestream-your-view/articles/) - Want your followers and friends to see what you are seeing? Here are some apps for livestreaming. At a music event and want to show friends who couldn’t attend what’s happening on stage? Or travelling to a new place and want to share the sights with your spouse? Or just want to capture different experiences live
- [Have a partition story? Go here.](https://shwetawrites.com/partition-story-go/news/) - My paternal grandparents were settled in Lahore in a haveli when partition happened. They packed their bags, saw horrific things that humans did as they moved to Delhi. My grandfather was a clerk under the British Government in Lahore. In post-independent India, they had no government jobs to spare, so he sold buns on a cycle.
- [Why are we so afraid of dying?](https://shwetawrites.com/why-are-we-so-afraid-of-dying/traveltales/) - When I wrote this blog on death, sometime last year, I was sitting in a cancer treatment hospital. It was clean, official and bustling. It even had a coffee shop where doctors and families of patients and patients themselves came to get a caffeine shot before they head back to the patient they were overseeing. Like any normal office
- [Want an academic paper? Head to pirate site Sci-Hub](https://shwetawrites.com/want-academic-paper-head-pirate-site-sci-hub/writing/) - There's something quite weird happening in the academic community. Scientists and professors write papers which are meant for other scientists to read and expand their own knowledge as well as add to it. They send these papers to journals where they get published. Most scientists and researchers would get promotions, cushy jobs or academic positions on the basis
- [One million photographs to inspire you](https://shwetawrites.com/one-million-photographs-inspire/writing/) - It was yet another humdrum day when someone put this across. One million photographs that the British Library has put up online on Flickr. That can be downloaded, used, pondered upon, awed at. One million pieces from ancient books, from across time, across languages and lying in various vaults at the humongous library. It's an old
- [The ultimate Bangalore dosa map. What's your favourite dosa place?](https://shwetawrites.com/map-places-dosa-bangalore/traveltales/) - Bangalore dosa map? Now that's called craziness. As I write this, I giggle. A friend recently asked me why do people in Bangalore make early morning plans for dosa rather than evening plans for a drink. It's true. If you've been in Bangalore long enough, or have turned to become one with the city like
- [True love stories from Tinder. Internet style.](https://shwetawrites.com/true-love-internet-online-dating-tinder/writing/) - How does love blossom in the world that is the internet? What do you feel as you swipe left or right, deciding instantly on a pose, or a hashtag or just the numbness in your thumb? I'm always fascinated by how love shapes itself online. Which is why when I came across #100IndianTinderTales, an art
- [Poem: Broken Butterflies](https://shwetawrites.com/poem-4/writing/) - Tittered, scattered. Lying crumpled in old, forgotten sands Are broken wings Fluttered by the cold northern winds Fluttered into awakening, they sing Of bygone, forgotten worlds Histories of great empires and grandeur Of souls and decomposed bodies Lying in the sands with them Forgotten, splattered. (c) Shweta Taneja, Aug 2010
- [The day I visited a police station](https://shwetawrites.com/police-station/news/) - Touchdown to Mumbai after three years and the first thing I had was a watermelon juice. As usual, smiling and remembering old times. While I tried to paid the over enthusiastic waiter, I saw that my wallet was missing. A frantic search began at 11.30pm as me and my friends realized that yes, it was
- [My Pile of Things](https://shwetawrites.com/poem-3/writing/) - A dog-eared book With a scribbled smiley Accidently splashed with water Now a confused clown. That dirty, stuffed pink rabbit Clipped on the glass Of a closed god’s shelf. A dried browned petal of a rose Pressed carefully between yellowed pages Leaving behind silhouette imprints Of forgotten, hazy memories. A silver ring with multiple loops
- [My wedding poem](https://shwetawrites.com/poem-2/writing/) - Just discovered the poem I had written for my wedding! Had completely forgotten about the emotions I felt then. This was made into a card and sent to all our friends. Hope you enjoy it!
- [My sunlit study](https://shwetawrites.com/study/writing/) - If I take a picture of my office early Monday morning since I was very enthused in going back to work after a three-day chutti. I must be doing something right! Oh and it's not an office, it's a study J Stream of light and flashes of yellow. Don't miss my pink cup on the
- [Bowled over by Bangalore](https://shwetawrites.com/bangalore/traveltales/) - It was while showing another friend this city that I found out how deep I had fallen for it. I never knew it existed. I should have, but like any other relationship, it's always the family and closer friends who get to know that you are hooked. You never do. Self-realisation is like myopia. Closer
- [Why Wikipedia is a threat to authority](https://shwetawrites.com/wikipedia/writing/) - The morning edition of Times of India got me started. It had an article on how Justice Katju made history when he made a Wikipedia page on 'Live-in relationships' as the basis to formulate a four-point guideline for his judgment on a case. The story goes on to say that the judicial community is shocked
- [Meeting up Wikipedians](https://shwetawrites.com/wikipedians/news/) - A lazy Sunday afternoon, I picked up my backpack and entered the relaxed office of Centre for Internet and Society. The occasion was a Wiki Meetup. My first and as I would learn, first for most of the ten people present there. The meetup officially started with a gang of boys walking in, mostly dressed
- [Same sex feminism](https://shwetawrites.com/feminism/writing/) - Let me not ramble on the concept, but show you what happens. Friend A and Friend B meet after a long time. Both have been college mates and are in their late 20s or 30s. 'Where are you working now?' asks friend A; trying to make friendly conversation. 'Oh, I am doing nothing. Family takes
- [Bylanes of Old Agra](https://shwetawrites.com/agra/traveltales/) - Afternoon Siesta Gutka gluttons Nights of desire Shave on streets Allah for afternoon Knitting in technicolor Old-age tenants Flowing juices Hostel for pigeons View from the top Broken dreams Colourful starts In anticipation Barati's bane Where's the postman?
- [A Word’s Journey](https://shwetawrites.com/poem/writing/) - An older poem from my other blog (which I will be deleting most probably!) A Word's Journey Hesitant She resides On a quivering, moist lip. From the broken, beating, dying heart To the boiling cortex lobe Through an ignited stimuli, To the barking voice box. She came with lightening-speed Grabbing on-edge, electric nerves An angry
- [Exploring Lepakshi](https://shwetawrites.com/lepakshi/traveltales/) - Recently visited a small temple town - Lepakshi in Andhra Pradesh. It's about 120kms from Bangalore further onwards from the Airport. A mammoth Nandi greets you as soon as the town begins. It's one of the biggest monolithic Nandi in the world. Other than that, the most thing in this beautiful centuries old temple is
- [Idiot has no Idea](https://shwetawrites.com/idiot-has-no-idea/writing/) - Do you think of yourself as a dud? Well Idea’s adverts will definitely make you feel like one. Though I don’t really want to talk about those silly ads with the overrated lazy boy-with-the-Bachchan-spoon, the compellingly dumb acts done by all the extras (the actors who would be called Foils to the Bachchan act in
- [My photo exhibits in BlrQueerFilmFest](https://shwetawrites.com/my-photo-exhibits-in-blrqueerfi/news/) - Quite unexpected I must say! I saw a call for entries to the Bangalore Queer Film Festival and send in a photograph I took on recent roadtrip. It's from Ajanta caves (yes, yes a blog on the travel experience coming soon!) and was my first experience of the spectacularness that is Ajanta. So I open
- [The problem I have with Census 2011](https://shwetawrites.com/census-2/writing/) - The Census lady just visited my house in Delhi with her long list of questions. With every question, I felt more and more disconnected with our government's thinking and also angry. In their need to compartmentalize our beautifully diverse population, the government is killing our multiplicity—or wants to. You will be forcefully put in one
- [What about people who don't fit into your boxes?](https://shwetawrites.com/census/writing/) - In reply to my post on The Problem I have with Census 2011, a Swiss friend who has been married to an Indian friend and living in India for years with her husband and daughter, wrote a blog on her experiences with the census and dealing with daily prejudices. Being a Swiss, resident Indian with
- [Sanskrit Book Fair 2011 in Bangalore](https://shwetawrites.com/sanskrit/traveltales/) - It was a place to remember and a place where some prejudices about Sanskrit, our ancient language, were discarded. Spent a day at the grand Sanskrit Book Fair cum conference held in Bangalore. With 1300 volunteers, 154 stalls with 128 publishers and 4 crores worth of sales (took it form the same website), the
- [Notes from Road Trip 2011](https://shwetawrites.com/travel-2/traveltales/) - Just a short photoblog on a trip which cannot be explained in words which limit one’s sense of experiences. Me and husband travelled across the hinterland of Maharashtra and N.Karnataka during the 26 January week this year and here’s what we learnt and unlearnt Highway NH4 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL We reached Pune from
- [Tarantulas and all things not so tiny](https://shwetawrites.com/tarantulas/writing/) - Just read a report on how big, fat tarantulas manage to stick to things that they want to. Invisible spiderman-like silk threads keep them there. But this post is not really about the glues. Or about anything in particular actually. If I need a reason to post (this is my blog you know, and
- [Venice and romance? Bleh!](https://shwetawrites.com/venice/news/) - Sorry for being such a party pooper for romantics (I consider myself one, btw. It must be society of cynics getting to me). Let me start this blog by copy-pasting a quick Google search I did on Venice. ‘Venice is probably the most romantic city in the world; its unique watery landscape gives the city
- [How a hair oil brand inspired an Indian science fiction tale in 1896](https://shwetawrites.com/indian-science-fiction-jagadish-chandra-bose-naiyer-masud/writing/) - While reading about early examples of Indian science fiction, I came across a wonderful scholarly tale of how Jagadish Chandra Bose, a physicist and science fiction writer in India in late 19th century, wrote a bilingual science-fiction inspired by a hair oil brand. The article, written by scholars Anil Menon and Vandana Singh, who also write speculative fiction
- [The beta of becoming](https://shwetawrites.com/writing/news/) - Blame it on a sleepy mood in the morning. Or the fact that I am doing too many tech stories for Mint (here, here and even here). Or a beautifully grey-blue morning in Bangalore. Or just the bellboys, who I love putting blame on anyways. Today morning, I woke up convinced that I am a
- [Rituals of death and dead cultures](https://shwetawrites.com/death/writing/) - Being pissed off at something makes me write. I am pissed off at many things right now. Mostly, I can direct all my anger, frustration and irritation at one word: RITUALS. Rituals are like flies in India. They are everywhere, they survive, they hop around your food, your mouth, your eyes, sitting, peeing, pooping on
- [Kolkata during Durga's reign](https://shwetawrites.com/kolkata/traveltales/) - And lo! Durga falls down VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL Made a recent trip to Kolkata during Durga Pooja. I planned to write a blog on the travel (before I went there) but after experiencing the whole city during the throngs of art, aesthetic, stories, religiosity, happiness and sheer sublimity, I am kind of out
- [Me and Fart: On IITians and making a movie](https://shwetawrites.com/iit/writing/) - Fart, my imaginary dumb friend, and me were drinking beers and sitting at my home surfing on my telly when we saw a movie trailer of the film With Love, Delhi on one of the channels. A low-budget thriller with a rather dark Tom Alter in the role of a villain. The trailer ended with these
- [My toothbrush travels](https://shwetawrites.com/toothbrush/writing/) - My toothbrush, It travels When no one has their eyes open Or are listlessly staring At the slow moving Ceiling fan. When all are lost In their own private Heavens or sometimes hells. That is when my toothbrush Slings its bag On its bristly shoulder And sneaks away Mutedly Into
- [Clothes and rape](https://shwetawrites.com/rape/writing/) - The policeman said, don't blame us if women get raped if they are dressed provocatively. Karnataka Women and Child Welfare Minister C C Patil said women should know how to dress or presumably face the consequences. And here’s what the media said. I have used about 20 articles generated in the media (in English press)
- [Word Breakup: Poppy Shame and Eve teasing](https://shwetawrites.com/word-breakup-poppy-shame-and-eve-teasing/writing/) - I have been toying with the idea of doing a blog on the phrase ‘Shame, shame Poppy shame’ something that is used quite freely around me, though no one knows where and how it originated. I heard it recently spoken by my mother, who rarely uses English words when in family, use this phrase for
- [I blog for internet](https://shwetawrites.com/internet/writing/) - Internet is a life-savior for me. I cannot imagine not checking out my emails, blogs and videos that have refreshingly non-censored language and sometimes when I have time (and inclination), even porn. So I write to support the Black Out Day today. I write to support the action against a supposed ‘democracy’ trying to stuff
- [Forest Tales: Little Loris](https://shwetawrites.com/loris/traveltales/) - Little Loris lives on a bamboo tree far inside the green forest. Her eyes are like big saucers but she is as small as a coffee mug. Mama Loris thinks she has the most beautiful eyes. They are round and huge and bright. In the day, Little sleeps. At night, she wakes up and plays.
- [My hidden masochist](https://shwetawrites.com/masochist/writing/) - I have a wee bit of masochism when it comes to writing. Writing doesn’t come naturally (like talking does) to me. It needs to be done in a secluded environment and I mostly hate not being around people. It makes me think, makes me sweat, it makes me run around without any results. It pays
- [yellows at lalbagh](https://shwetawrites.com/lalbagh/writing/) - yellows at lalbagh, originally uploaded by Shwetawrites.
- [The Kejriwal character](https://shwetawrites.com/the-kejriwal-character/writing/) - Since the name Kejriwal might get this blog banned without reason, let me start by saying this post is not about politics. It is about imagination. As an exercise to improve the characters I write about, I have been looking at various people when walking on the road, or in news and creating their stories.
- [Kali and the patriarchal fears](https://shwetawrites.com/kali-and-the-patriarchal-fears/writing/) - She’s naked, covered with ashes, her hair matted with snakes in them, a garland of skulls and freshly cut heads around her neck. She laughs like madness herself, dancing to the chaotic rhythm of death, dragging a corpse behind her which she licks with her blood-red tongue from time to time. Now imagine meeting her
- [Sachin tattooed on my skin](https://shwetawrites.com/sachin/writing/) - Real life story of a ten-rupee note… The note, recovering from the washing machine fiasco Recently, a ten rupee note was discovered, dried, wrinkled, faded and folded in a washed jeans pocket by this writer. In exchange for the security of a dirty, almost-empty, much-travelled wallet, the ten rupee note revealed its
- [Working for giants](https://shwetawrites.com/working-for-giants/writing/) - Advertisements have always fascinated me. They reflect desires, cravings and thoughts of the people that they are aiming at. Ads, all be it print, or television or online, show who we want to become, what we aspire towards. I was browsing in the morning through the Thursday edition of my loo-paper, Bangalore Mirror, when I
- [Open sky to open the soul](https://shwetawrites.com/open-sky-to-open-the-soul/traveltales/) - I have always felt that a daytrip out of the city, in sunshine, with the open sky above you and the green fields all around you, is the best way to rejuvenate your senses. I visited the awe-inspiring Somnathpura temple this weekend with a bunch of friends. It was my second visit to this
- [New year's ahoy!](https://shwetawrites.com/new-years-ahoy/news/) - It's a beautiful day outside. Have you looked? It's rather misty and mysterious and full of invisible monsters who tickle to make you smile. Such a pwetty day it is. Let me take it as an opportunity to say thank you for being with me here, for reading my blog, for encouraging me with your clicks
- [Photos: Book reading at EuroSchool](https://shwetawrites.com/euroschool-bangalore/news/) - A month ago, I got a call from Anita, one of the ladies at my yoga class who also happens to be the English teacher at EuroSchool, Bangalore. She wanted to invite me to inaugurate their English Exhibition and also interact with students later one. I agreed of course. I rarely can say no to anyone,
- [The ghosts of IIT Kanpur](https://shwetawrites.com/ghosts-iit-kanpur/traveltales/) - ‘Do ghosts stay in Banyan trees or Peepal trees?’ I asked the gardener, a young fellow, sitting on his haunches in the IIT-Kanpur campus nursery. It was a question which, pardon my pun, had been haunting me since days. I usually mess up my names, so couldn’t remember which tree it was that was a
- [Results of the IITK Competition](https://shwetawrites.com/iit-kanpur/news/) - Even though I have been quite tied up with the launch of Cult of Chaos, I was glad to have said yes to a chance of judging the Haiku Competition for IIT-Kanpur students. There was a first for me too. I’ve never judged before and wasn’t sure I could do a great job of it. So to
- [Two interviews and a confession](https://shwetawrites.com/confessions-anantya/news/) - Last week, two interviews came out one after the other in the web for Cult of Chaos. One was over at a new website, onwriting.in, where Saurabh, a novelist himself, is collating gyan for newbie writers. The other came over at the b00kr3vi3ws blog, where Deb, other than the usual stuff, asked me one question that
- [Giveaway: Tell me a superstition; get Anantya](https://shwetawrites.com/giveaway-tell-superstition-get-anantya/news/) - Sharath Komarraju is a pal who's written a guest post for my blog, helped me so many times online with advice and also come to my book launch. He's a fabulous writer and runs contests with freebies on his website regularly. His Contest Number 13th had to have a Cult of Chaos connection, considering the
- [Discussion at Bangalore Writers Workshop](https://shwetawrites.com/bangalore-writers-workshop/news/) - Wonders never cease. Only a few years ago, I was scrounging websites and blogs, emailing and trolling authors for a bit of wiseness, gyan on writing that could come my way. And then the wonderful Bhumika from Bangalore Writers Workshop invited me over on a Saturday to speak on the art of writing and to answer
- [Cult heads to China and reviews](https://shwetawrites.com/cult-heads-to-china-and-reviews/news/) - Oh, it's such a treasure, when someone else posts a photo of Cult of Chaos over at social media, tagging me. And there are so many spaces online for these little delights. The book's been sighted at various stores in Mumbai and Delhi and I've been informed on Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter and other places. But
- [Debut happened with Radio One and Radio City](https://shwetawrites.com/debut-happened-with-radio-one-and-radio-city/news/) - Super duper excitement happened while I was in Delhi. First of all, I saw spring come into the city after six years. It's fabulous, by the way, that end of winters before they crash into the searing hot summers of the city. The city was blushing and blooming with colours all over, Fall tussling with Spring.
- [Author Zac O’Yeah talks about Cult in Mint](https://shwetawrites.com/author-zac-oyeah-talks-about-cult-in-mint/news/) - 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
- [NDTV Gadgets on the tech stuff I need to write](https://shwetawrites.com/ndtv-gadgets-on-the-tech-stuff-i-need-to-write/news/) - As part of my work, I’ve been writing on consumer technology for four years now with Mint but didn’t really think on what kind of technology I used to write these articles, books and keep in touch with various things I do. Not until Gopal, the editor of NDTV Gadgets, wanted to feature me in NDTV
- [Yes, Androids dream of electric sheep](https://shwetawrites.com/yes-androids-dream-of-electric-sheep/writing/) - There are some books that haunt you as soon as you see them. That's what happened to me with Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? The title itself, a question, started to haunt me, giving me psychedelic images of possibilities, before I even picked the book up. It's written by amazingly creative Philip K Dick, an Amreekan
- [Donate a book to kids. Here's how](https://shwetawrites.com/donate-books-kids/news/) - For those who might know me, know that I love gifting books as well as getting books as gifts. I also carry a dream within me, to create libraries for kids, places they can just come and sit and browse and wonder in the world. In schools, orphanages, communities, apartment complexes, everywhere, free libraries. So
- [Infographics of world's spoken languages](https://shwetawrites.com/infographics-of-worlds-spoken-languages/writing/) - I've been researching on infographics and though I'm not usually a let's simplify the-message-kinds, that is how it seems the world is going. So it was a pleasure when I found this beautiful infographic created for South China Morning Post, on my timeline the other day. I shared it immediately, but wanted to keep it here, on
- [How creating Anantya helped me find my freedom](https://shwetawrites.com/how-creating-anantya-helped-me-find-my-freedom/writing/) - The plotlines of most action flicks, are all about the hero. The hero rocks the roads, chases goons, tots guns, fights for justice, sows wild oats with white girls, and then heads back to home, to his heroine. All this while, this heroine, the girl, pines away back at home or sits pretty in a
- [Sponsor a child's education. Get Cult of Chaos!](https://shwetawrites.com/sponsor-a-childs-education-get-cult-of-chaos/news/) - I've always wanted to be associated with causes that have to do with education and children. Be it donating books or assisting a child's formal education. I deeply believe that for a society to reach anywhere, for a kid to achieve anything, sound education is a requirement. Which is why I completely and with passion recommend this wonderful initiative
- [That garbage is not my problem](https://shwetawrites.com/garbage-problem/articles/) - Early morning as the auto drags along, crisscrossing and honking irritably at the traffic, I notice the pavements that travel along with me. Two cleaners from BBMP, on either side of a pavement near Ulsoor (I see one after the other), are halfheartedly sweeping with a broom on the debris, leaving the shit behind. It’s
- [Are ghosts real?](https://shwetawrites.com/ghosts-real-life-paranormal-incidents/traveltales/) - Are ghosts real? As an author interested in the paranormal and supernatural, this is the question I get asked a lot. Do I believe in ghosts? Have I experienced any? Do I think ghosts exist around us? I’ve had a few experiences which defy logic. And I’m okay with them, because you cannot find a
- [Deal with post Diwali blues by donating](https://shwetawrites.com/deal-post-diwali-blues-donating/news/) - Hope you had a fantastic Diwali. Now add more lights to it by donating. The best way to feel good about yourself is to bring in light into someone else's. It lifts your spirits up and makes you feel thankful for what you already have. With this Diwali's wishes, I wanted to share a few of
- [Poet Shubham Shree's satire on sanitary napkins](https://shwetawrites.com/poet-shubham-shree-satire-sanitary-napkins/writing/) - I came across 25-year-old Hindi poet Shubham Shree through an article in The Caravan by Daisy Rockwell. Shubham has just won the prestigious Bharat Bhushan Agarwal Prize in August and there was a lot of criticism that her poems faced because the pillars of Hindi literature didn't think her poems were literary. Here's one of my
- [Crowdsourced maps of real places in your favourite books](https://shwetawrites.com/crowdsourced-maps-places-favourite-books/writing/) - I'm a literature geek who loves to visit places that I've read about in fiction, especially detective fiction. While in Switzerland, me and my husband (who's equally crazy about this stuff) made a special excursion up a hill to see the Reichenbach Falls where Sherlock Holmes tussled with Moriarty and fell off the falls. While
- [Is Internet freedom dead?](https://shwetawrites.com/is-our-internet-freedom-dream-dead/writing/) - I've been fascinated by the idea of Internet. For many it represents freedom, democracy and equality. However, the way internet is going now, it seems that it's simply mirroring the realities of our real lives. It is building similar power structures and has enhanced human insecurities and the difference between have-its and have-nots. Pokemon was
- [Year end and so much to be thankful for](https://shwetawrites.com/year-end-much-thankful/news/) - Time is a thing of beauty. There are moments it trickles, slows down enough that you can hear your heart beat, beat by beat. There are flashes when time zooms, taking you on a journey full of laughter and glee. That's how my 2016 went. Flew by, waited tiresomely and pondered. So I just want
- [Bangalore history: A 1949 letter by a missionary on anglo-Indians](https://shwetawrites.com/history-bangalore-1949-letter-missionary-anglo-indians/writing/) - How were Anglo-Indians perceived just after the Indian independence? A friend on facebook recently shared two sides of an old postcard written by a missionary in 1949 by a missionary KE Munson to a friend of hers in the USA. I was fascinated by the postcard, her opinions and since it's so difficult to read,
- [Looking at speculative fiction beyond mythology](https://shwetawrites.com/speculative-fiction-beyond-mythology/writing/) - Is speculative fiction beyond mythology possible in the literature coming out from our country? Till now, most of the speculative fiction that has come out of the country (even mine) has been heavily inspired or uses characters from our rich Hindu mythology. I take the topic head on in this talk at the LitFestX. This
- [Event: This Sunday, come over to Blossoms Book House](https://shwetawrites.com/this-sunday-come-over-to-blossoms-book-house/news/) - Of all the ones I've been to, Blossoms Book House is especially close to my heart. Maybe because it was in their vast collection on tantrism that I first came across the climax of my first book of Anantya Tantrist series - Cult of Chaos. I've spent hours in the bylanes of its fantasy and science
- [Event: A tantric quiz, a book launch and complete glee](https://shwetawrites.com/event-a-tantric-quiz-a-book-launch-and-complete-glee/news/) - What's a book launch without a tantric quiz? To formally announce the launch of my new novel, The Matsya Curse, we have organised a quiz which tests your knowledge of supernatural, folklore and tantrism. If Goddess-forbid, a quiz bores you, there will be a quick book reading from The Matsya Curse and a fiery session with
- [Interview: Author Anjum Hassan and Zac O' Yeah on their writing course](https://shwetawrites.com/anjum-hasan-zac-yeah-authors-writing-course/writing/) - When I first began writing fiction, I didn’t take any creative writing course. There weren’t any I could find. Instead I learnt the old way—reading, scrounging blogs of writers, emailing authors and haranguing them—till I could build that small little wisp of an idea in my head, through plot building, characterization, structure and somehow fit
- [Event: Occult quiz and book launch in Delhi with Samit Basu](https://shwetawrites.com/occult-quiz-and-book-launch-samit-basu/news/) - Let me repeat that again. Samit Basu. Yes, the superking of speculative fiction in India has agreed to come to my book The Matsya Curse's launch and discuss all things fantasy, Indian occult and why a certain percentage of us are obsessed with dragons and spaceships. Thrilled, absolutely dont-pinch-me-let-me-dream thrilled to tell you all about
- [Interview: Sudeshna Shome Ghosh on how to pitch to an editor](https://shwetawrites.com/editor-sudeshna-shome-ghosh-publishing/writing/) - If you are a children books author and appreciate editors, you would have heard of Sudeshna Shome Ghosh. A Bangalore-based editor, Sudeshna has worked in the Indian publishing industry for twenty years now. She started her career at Penguin Books India and moved to Rupa Publications and Aleph Book Company thereafter. During this time, she has
- [How research into tantrism helped me find my mojo](https://shwetawrites.com/research-tantrism-helped-find-mojo/articles/) - "How much of the tantrism mentioned in this book is true?" a woman asked me at an event. She referred to my fantasy thriller series, Anantya Tantrist Mysteries, which has a tantric detective who fights supernatural crimes and is based in a world where tantric organisations run the supernatural world and liaison with the Indian
- [Guest Post: How to multitask as a writer](https://shwetawrites.com/multitask/writing/) - Kiran Manral is a good friend and a prolific author who multitasks in a normal life. She has published eight books, written countless articles, blogs and short stories and is actively involved in mentoring startups, speaking on stage, involved in curating literary events and handling an awesome family. So of course when she launched yet another
- [Event: Talk at Eurocon - Trends in Indian Fantasy/SF](https://shwetawrites.com/trends-indian-fantasy-sf-eurocon/news/) - Pinch me. I'm giving a talk at Eurocon. I’m writing this in a train, looking out at a blur of a rainy French day. On my way to Amiens from Paris. Amiens is a small town in France, where Jules Verne was born. A town where this year’s Eurocon 2018 will be held this weekend,
- [Event: Factor Daily's Sci-Fi Meetup in Bangalore](https://shwetawrites.com/factor-daily-sci-fi-bangalore-meetup/news/) - Each time you finish a new novel, you think you're more experienced and will be able to write the next one faster and in a more efficient manner. Doesn't happen. My novels are messy, individualistic creatures to whine and throw their own unique tantrums. And I love them (and at the same bipolar time, throttle
- [Photos: Reading at a book crawl on a lazy Sunday](https://shwetawrites.com/reading-book-crawl-blossoms-bangalore/news/) - Love the idea of a book crawl, that is a pub crawl but you get drunk on books instead. You move from book store to book store to check out the novels, comics and other things on sale and to hopefully meet readers and people who are part of the love of reading. When Book
- [7 reasons to add burpees to your exercise routine](https://shwetawrites.com/7-reasons-add-burpees-exercise-routine/articles/) - Burpees are one of the hardest, most intense parts of a workout session. This sweat-inducing, explosive four-step movement involves squatting, thrusting, getting into a plank position and jumping. “It is a full-body exercise that helps develop muscle strength and burn calories,” says Kamal Chhikara, owner and head coach of the Reebok CrossFit Robust gym in Delhi.
- [Event: Occult quiz and book discussion in British Council, Chennai](https://shwetawrites.com/event-occult-quiz-book-discussion-chennai/news/) - I'm finally heading to Chennai with the occult quiz. It's been a couple of years since friends, fans and quiz enthusiasts are asking me to bring the creepy occult quiz to them. So i'm so so excited to announce this. It's tomorrow, 5-6pm at the British Council, Chennai. You can RSVP to Susan: susan.chettri@britishcouncil.org or on
- [Shifting? Get help from a smartphone](https://shwetawrites.com/shifting-get-help-smartphone/articles/) - Shifting to a new city comes with its own set of hassles. You have to find a place to stay, haggle with apartment owners, disclose personal information like whether you eat meat, stay out late, and how much you earn. Then there’s Wi-Fi, air conditioning, cable TV and other services to take care of. And
- [Event: Author as librarian at Goobe's Book Republic](https://shwetawrites.com/event-author-librarian-goobes-book-republic/news/) - What happens when an author becomes a librarian? As far as I remember, I've always wanted to be a librarian, or own a bookstore and have harboured a dream of sitting in one, selling and recommending books to readers like me. I actually do that, in airport stores, or bookstores on weekends, lurk, and suggest
- [Dhanushkodi, the ghost town to Sri Lanka](https://shwetawrites.com/dhanushkodi-ghost-town-sri-lanka/traveltales/) - The road to Dhanushkodi is smooth and straight, flanked by gabion boxes that protect it from gales with velocity of 70-80 kilometers per hour. The panorama fills with salty water, an endless silver and blue, merging with the mercilessly heated up skies. The waters of Bay of Bengal roar on our left while the cerulean
- [Photos: How to rock a book launch at the British Council Library](https://shwetawrites.com/book-launch-british-council-library/news/) - My latest book, The Matsya Curse, was partly edited at the Chichester University, where I was for three months, on a Charles Wallace India Trust writing fellowship, galavanting, interacting with authors and teachers and basically learning so much. That's the reason when it came to the book's launch I decided to approach the British Council
- [Everything you need to know about a bootcamp workout](https://shwetawrites.com/everything-need-know-bootcamp-workout/articles/) - Inspired by the training given to those who join the Armed Forces, boot-camps are high-intensity workouts that deliver specific results. “It’s primarily an outdoor group activity where a cluster of people who have the same goal join together,” says J. Keshav, owner and president of BootCamp Chennai, whose 12-week outdoors boot camp costs Rs12,300. The goals
- [The river Ganga: Myths, folklore and stories you want to retell](https://shwetawrites.com/river-ganga-myths-folklore-stories/traveltales/) - On Dasashwamedh Ghat in Banaras, people jostle with each other to touch the holy waters of the river Ganga. Old people take careful steps, while younger ones jump into the river from a height, slapping, playing, and laughing. Some mutter prayers to Goddess Ganga as they take dips ritualistically amidst the flotsam of rituals, decayed
- [Photos: A talk on trends in graphic novels and comics](https://shwetawrites.com/photos-talk-trends-graphic-novels-comics/news/) - I recently had a chance to talk about Indian graphic novels and comics that have come out in the last seven odd years. It's a fascinating mix of novels made to reflect on social changes, satire, city narratives, anthologies, fantasy, superhero genre, mythology, biography and also a slide on the evolution of the Indian Comic Con
- [Get rid of stomach pain through natural ways](https://shwetawrites.com/get-rid-stomach-pain-natural-ways/articles/) - You party late into the night, fill yourself up on snacks and drink one cocktail after another. Before you know it, you are feeling bloated and your stomach is hurting. Don’t worry, says Deepshikha Agarwal, dietitian and sports nutritionist based in Mumbai. “Drink plenty of water with ginger or fennel every 2 hours or sip
- [How to rock disappearing status updates](https://shwetawrites.com/rock-disappearing-status-updates-facebook-whatsapp-instagram/articles/) - Disappearing status updates are the new thing to do over on Facebook and Instagram. Even Whatsapp makes sure they stand out. We give you some tips on how to use the disappearing status update on all three social networks. Why you should do disappearing acts First made popular by the Snapchat app, disappearing status messages
- [7 signs that you are addicted to social media](https://shwetawrites.com/7-signs-addicted-social-media/articles/) - Feel you are addicted to social media? Here are the signs to look out for and what you can do about it. Notifications are taking over your life Brr. Boing. Beep. Your phone keeps calling, blinking, beckoning you, and you oblige again and again, while you’re studying, working, eating, dating or sleeping. It’s stressful and
- [Slow down ageing through what you eat](https://shwetawrites.com/slow-down-ageing/articles/) - Want to slow down ageing? There is a way. We break down some nutrients that can help you stay agile and young. Slow down ageing: Infuse turmeric in milk That old granny tale about drinking milk with a pinch of turmeric actually works. “Having a pinch of turmeric with milk daily (for an adult) makes
- [Author Anita Desai on struggles in writing](https://shwetawrites.com/author-anita-desai-struggles-writing/writing/) - While browsing the bylanes of internet i found this wonderful interview of author Anita Desai in The Wire. It's a deliciously long one, where the author among other things, talks about her latest book, The Artist Of Disappearance and the research that went in In Custody and Fire on the Mountain. Here I've just used her struggles and
- [How the kind Appupen drew Anantya’s cover](https://shwetawrites.com/appupen/writing/) - This was just sent by Harper Collins team. It’s the cover of Anantya Tantrist’s first adventure in book format and I feel butterflies the size of dinosaurs in somewhere in the deep dark pits of my being. So I wanted to distract myself by telling you all a story. (For that’s what stories are
- [Event: A graphic reading party in Bangalore](https://shwetawrites.com/event-reading-party-comics-bangalore/news/) - A reading party, a rather modern phenomenon of people coming together and being introduced to a genre or to read together, silently, sitting in a pub or a cafe, is a wonderful idea. Which is why when Gathr approached me for this event, I was quite excited. It's happening this Thursday in Bangalore. I will
- [The Matsya Curse is out for pre-order. Yay!](https://shwetawrites.com/the-matsya-curse-pre-order/news/) - It's called The Matsya Curse. And it's here. Am superbly thrilled to share the cover of my latest book with you all. Anantya Tantrist is back. And so is this adventure, which is crazier than the last one. The cover's been done by the wonderful, wonderful George Mathen. (Read about how I convinced him to do
- [Natural ways to get rid of springtime allergy](https://shwetawrites.com/natural-ways-get-rid-allergic-cough-sneeze/articles/) - The flowers are blooming, the grass is lush and green. The allergy season is here and some of us will start sniffling and coughing. “Spring brings with it flowers, fragrances and allergen pollen,” says Shikha Sharma, founder and managing director of Nutri-Health, a wellness clinic in New Delhi. When you come in contact with allergens,
- [Should you write a romance bestseller?](https://shwetawrites.com/write-romance-bestseller/writing/) - Have you been tempted to write a romance bestseller lately? The other day, I was chatting to an author about how speculative fiction is such a hard-sell in India. (It's the usual conversation between science fiction writers. There's a handful of passionate us, and a handful of equally passionate readers. The others, don't really care if it's
- [Report a bribe or file an RTI - All through your phone](https://shwetawrites.com/report-bribe-tag-pothole-file-rti-participate-government-planning-phone/articles/) - If you wish to be involved with the process of your government, as any citizen should, you do not necessarily need to wait for the UMANG app. There are already many apps that allow you to ask questions, offer suggestions and get involved in government initiatives. Till the government comes out with UMANG, we suggest
- [Interview: Literary agent Kanishka Gupta on publishing](https://shwetawrites.com/literary-agent-kanishka-gupta-publishing/writing/) - I've always found the job of a literary agent very curious. Since as an author I know that most Indian authors don't make much money, I do not understand how a literary agent, who charges the author 10-20 percent commission on royalty, makes any money in Indian publishing. This curiousity led me to ask these
- [Must-have sports apps for sports lovers](https://shwetawrites.com/must-apps-sports-lovers/articles/) - Whether it’s finding a sports partner or places to play, your phone has it covered with smart sports apps. During college, Gururaj Upadhya was a badminton champion. But once he started working, he left sports behind. “After 10 years of work, I wanted to pursue badminton again,” says the 37-year-old chartered accountant from Bengaluru. Expensive
- [What people say when I tell them I’m an author](https://shwetawrites.com/people-say-tell-im-author/writing/) - In workshops at schools, at literary events, festivals, interactions with writers, strangers and friends, I’ve met some really funny responses to the fact that I am a writer. The awkward conversation starts in a party or a hangout, when you chat to a stranger. Or when one is trying to get through immigration or getting
- [Media Mentions: HT Brunch, Scroll, Bangalore Mirror](https://shwetawrites.com/media-mentions-ht-brunch-scroll-bangalore-mirror/news/) - Last few months, got a few journalists asking me to give a quote for a lot of interesting stories they were working on for their media houses. Listing down my absolute favourite ones! This is more for my reference than your reading, but go ahead and read it if you're looking for interesting stories around
- [Where to go to rent a designer outfit](https://shwetawrites.com/go-rent-designer-outfit/articles/) - Renting a designer outfit is not only possible but easy in India. When Andria D’Souza urgently needed a designer outfit for a party, she didn’t know who to turn to. “I had nothing to wear, it was a day before the party and I was desperate,” says the 30-year-old Mumbai-based actor. Then someone suggested Delhi-based
- [The 8 best translation apps for travellers](https://shwetawrites.com/8-best-translation-apps-travellers/articles/) - What are the best translation apps for travellers? When Douglas Adams invented the Babel Fish, “a small, yellow, leech-like odd thing” that would help you instantly understand anything said in any language in the whole wide universe, in The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, little did he know that 39 years after the radio comedy
- [Exercises to help you fight the bulge](https://shwetawrites.com/exercises-help-fight-bulge/articles/) - What kind of exercises should you do to fight the bulge? With age and love of beer and desserts, we develop beer bellies, muffin tops, thunder thighs and double or even triple chin. “Men tend to put on weight on the stomach, while women get fat deposits on the hip and thigh regions,” says Pooja Thacker, medical
- [GuestPost: Five tips to smash that writer's block](https://shwetawrites.com/tips-writers-block/writing/) - Do you suffer from writer's block? I've been thinking of taking a break because writing is coming tougher to me nowadays for various reasons. A friend mentioned maybe it was a writer's block. Since I've never fallen for the whole idea of a wall blocking your creative side, I thought I will write about it.
- [Come over to Bangalore LitFest to swap ghost tales](https://shwetawrites.com/come-blrlitfest-swap-ghost-tales/news/) - I'm heading to the Bangalore LitFest this weekend for a fantabulistic workshop. The thing that excites me the most. Ghosts! What else? Come over peeps, swap tales of the paranormal and share your experience of the supernatural. Listen to kids and adults as they share their stories and even write a letter to a ghost
- [Mamallapuram's drowned temples](https://shwetawrites.com/mamallapuram-drowned-temples/traveltales/) - A long time ago, seven granite temples stood on the beach of Mamallapuram near Chennai, a port at that time. Myth has it that lord Indra, the god of thunderstorm became so jealous of the town’s beauty that in his anger, he brought out a great storm from the Bay of Bengal, gobbling six of
- [Five signs that say you might be depressed](https://shwetawrites.com/five-signs-say-might-depressed/articles/) - You’ve been sad for a while now. At first you think it’s just a phase, you lose interest in everything, don’t want to eat, are forgetful and lack motivation. According to World Health Organization research, updated in April, an estimated 350 million people of all ages suffer from depression. “Depressive episodes could be mild, moderate
- [Make time travel with time-lapse video apps](https://shwetawrites.com/make-time-travel-time-lapse-video-apps/articles/) - A sunset crunched in 3 seconds. A party shortened to a few minutes. Time-lapse videos used to be a pain to shoot but now with smarter apps they’re as simple as, well, taking a selfie. Here are a few apps to turn you into a video pro. Hyperlapse If you’re an Instagram workhorse, Hyperlapse is
- [6 gadgets to replace your old-fashioned switches](https://shwetawrites.com/6-gadgets-replace-old-fashioned-switches/articles/) - Dim the lights, set the mood and prepare for sparkles that you can control with your voice or a smart device. There are lights that help you sleep, lights that act like burglar alarms and fairy lights that twinkle in rainbow colours. We tell you of the best gadgets out there that can help you
- [The media on my latest novel on Manipal](https://shwetawrites.com/media-latest-manipal-novel/news/) - I'm always both excited and panicked when a new novel is launched. It's out there, with a lovely cover, and you don't know if it'll do good or sink in, if readers would enjoy it or frown while reading. It's panicky, but then what's an author's life without it? Sharing a quick listing of all the lovely
- [How much should I ask for a freelance assignment?](https://shwetawrites.com/much-ask-freelance-assignment/writing/) - Writing is a tough profession and a lot of authors get by with getting freelance gigs on the side to pay for their writing time. I’ve freelanced almost all my life, negotiating with corporations, adjusting to different work ethics, chasing payments, waiting for payments and getting them. Freelancing is a tough, competitive, variable market where
- [A new begging scam on the streets of Bangalore](https://shwetawrites.com/new-begging-scam-streets-bangalore/articles/) - A few weeks ago, I’d just come out of my gym in RT Nagar when a couple with a child, looking vaguely from somewhere rural approached me. Both of them spoke on how they’d come to Bangalore on train from somewhere in Bihar, called on a job by a contractor had cheated them. Now they
- [Can't sleep? Give your phone some snooze time](https://shwetawrites.com/cant-sleep-give-phone-snooze-time/articles/) - Log out of your email and apps and keep your smartphone on silent mode to improve efficiency, concentration and sleep. Here are some benefits of keeping away from your smartphone at work. You’ll get more sleep Feeling fatigued or exhausted at work? Using a smartphone after 9pm increases the possibility of you being less engaged
- [8 things to do while stuck in traffic](https://shwetawrites.com/stuck-traffic-make-best/articles/) - If you are reading this while you are stuck in traffic, here’s what you can do. Be patient One of the stress triggers is impatience. Having to wait for the traffic to move or dealing with the mistakes of other motorists on the road can lead to resentment, anger, road rage, all culminating in stress,
- [What not to do on your office PC](https://shwetawrites.com/not-office-pc/articles/) - Whether it’s buying groceries online or downloading porn, your company can track your data. Here's what you should definitely not do on your office PC. Porn’s the obvious one Just because you’re opening the website in the Incognito mode of your browser (Chrome, Firefox, etc.), or it’s really late in the night, or you’re in
- [Bad habits you need to avoid at work](https://shwetawrites.com/bad-habits-need-avoid-work/articles/) - Picture this: In your 20s, you skip breakfast to reach office early. Once the meeting is over, you have coffee and two-three biscuits. You work till late evening. A decade later, you struggle to work, for your shoulder and neck are stiff from slouching in front of the computer for too long; you are overweight,
- [Seven quick and nutritious breakfast fixes](https://shwetawrites.com/seven-quick-and-nutritious-breakfast-fixes/articles/) - Looking for a recipe of a perfect breakfast? Most traditional Indian meals, like poha, upma and idli, are high in starch and calories, which is great if you need a shot of energy— but what you also need is a healthy dose of protein to keep you going for the day. Choose what Madhuri Ruia,
- [Apps for the last minute parties](https://shwetawrites.com/apps-for-the-last-minute-parties/articles/) - New Year’s Eve brings with it stress. And last-minute parties to arrange. So we’ve put together a list of apps and sites you can use to get everything you need to prep for a party at the last minute, from venue to balloons. Sorry, last we checked, ordering an elephant and booze is still illegal
- [Real life ghost stories I’ve heard](https://shwetawrites.com/real-life-ghost-stories/writing/inspiration/) - Have you heard a real life ghost story? Whenever I’m travelling and meet someone new, this is the first thing I ask people. Have they seen any ghosts that have jumped onto them from spooky corners or any hazy female figures dressed in white that they saw shimmering on a lonely, dark road? I write
- [Go green to counter pollution](https://shwetawrites.com/go-green-counter-pollution/articles/) - Eight plants that can help you counter pollution, improve the air quality in your home and office, and breathe better ----- Most of us try to block outdoor pollution by closing doors and windows and by using air conditioners and air purifiers. But a simpler solution would be to opt for a few plants, says Anand
- [I stole a few ghosts from Manipal](https://shwetawrites.com/steal-ghosts-manipal/news/) - It's a paranormal adventure, full of romance, jealousy, gadgets and ghosts, set in the beautiful university of Manipal. And it has the craziest name you've heard of. Welcome to my latest title with Juggernaut Books. Tadaaa! The only way Twinkle Kashyap can win Rohit Dandi’s heart is by becoming the best paranormal investigator
- [What does the Iyer ghost look like?](https://shwetawrites.com/ghost/writing/inspiration/) - Is it a kite? Does it look like a pretty handkerchief or a old Nokia phone? Does it have five hands or three feet? Does it wear striped yellow socks, have a pot belly or does it have long, flowing red hair which smell like a running gutter? What does the Iyer ghost look like?
- [Award-winning author Jim Crace on how to win a literary award](https://shwetawrites.com/author-jim-crace-win-literary-award/writing/) - I had a chance to attend a talk of the award-winning English writer Jim Crace in Chichester University when I was there for a writing fellowship. He was marvellously witty, charming and brutally honest about the publishing industry and how to keep an eye out for things that destroy writing. His latest novel Harvest, won the 2015 International IMPAC
- [Neil Gaiman's handwritten notes](https://shwetawrites.com/neil-gaimans-handwritten-notes/writing/) - Call me old fashioned, but there's something in notes that are handwritten. So I salivate after notes of my favourite authors, trying to find bits and pieces of handwritten marvels from them, when they were constructing my favourite books. So imagine my sheer bliss at having discovered Neil Gaiman's notes on his book American Gods. of that's
- [The djinn-saints of Delhi](https://shwetawrites.com/djinn-saints-delhi/traveltales/) - There’s a djinn that lives next to the Feroz Shah Kotla cricket stadium in Delhi. His name is Laat Waale Baba (The Pillar Saint) and he’s older than the stadium and older than the British rule. Some whisper he’s even older than the city-fort which was built by Sultan Feroz Shah Tuglaq in 1356, after
- [A few good Khasi tales](https://shwetawrites.com/good-khasi-tales/traveltales/) - In the beginning of things, there was vast emptiness. God created two beings out of it – Ramew, the guardian spirit of Earth and her husband Basa, the patron god of villages. They had five children, the Sun, the Moon, Water, Wind and Fire. The family provided for Earth, giving it rich soil, fruits and
- [Author Ursula Le Guin on how to start a story](https://shwetawrites.com/author-ursula-le-guin-start-story/writing/) - There’s a germ of an idea in your head which craves to be built up into a novel. It urges you to fill copious amounts of empty pages with plot lines, character sketches, scenes and more. All this while, you’ve not written even a single piece of your book. Where do you start? How do
- [Gond Ramayani: Ramayan in tribal comic format](https://shwetawrites.com/gond-ramayani-tribal-comic/traveltales/) - I found my first Gond story in a Gond painting exhibition by Indra Gandhi National Centre of the Arts in Bangalore. The series of paintings, in ten by ten feet frames, was a graphic narrative like I'd never seen before. And I was wowed. It’s Ramayana, I exclaimed, a story I knew, peering to understand
- [Did Jesus backpack through India?](https://shwetawrites.com/jesus-backpack-india/traveltales/) - Hemis Monastery stands inside a gorge, a lone ranger surrounded by vast swathes of red and brown mountains, bare valleys peppered with poplar trees and a vivid blue sky. I reach the courtyard of the monastery after a steep climb, my city lungs working overtime in the thin Ladakhi air, wondering how it would’ve felt
- [Your smartphone is a memory machine](https://shwetawrites.com/smartphone-memory-machine/articles/) - Here are some apps to help you remember everything—from billion-dollar ideas to baby-diaper changes --- Constantly juggling meeting schedules, travel dates and hotel stays on business tours, Mumbai-based Rajesh Nambiar, a business-to-business tour operator, was beginning to lose track— so he started looking for a solution. “All my time was being spent in checking my
- [Revisit your digital past with these photo memory apps](https://shwetawrites.com/revisit-digital-past-photo-memory-apps/articles/) - Do you remember what you did last summer? Now you can relive your past, one photograph at a time, with these apps ---- Take a deep breath and try to recollect what you did last year—which flower you photographed, how a mundane Saturday became beautiful because you sighted a sparrow, or that dessert you ate
- [Free ways to automate your posts](https://shwetawrites.com/free-ways-automate-posts/articles/) - Tired of updating your social media accounts individually? These apps will do the work for you ---- You wake up in the morning with a tweet-worthy topic. But it’s still early and no one will be checking their Twitter accounts for a few hours. So your spectacular construction of 140 characters could get lost in
- [The rainbow diet](https://shwetawrites.com/the-rainbow-diet/articles/) - Include colourful fruits and vegetables in your diet to maximize your nutrient intake ------ A salad of orange, watermelon and pear in summer. A side of beans, carrots, corn and broccoli. There’s something about three or more colours on a plate that immediately lifts one’s mood. But it’s more than that. “The more vibrant the
- [Log off from the internet, step by step](https://shwetawrites.com/log-off-internet-step-step/articles/) - A 101 on removing your personal data from the Internet. But be warned: it’s a painful exercise --------- Had enough of selfies, tweets, posts and searches? Tired of bots tracking and predicting every move of yours? If you want to get back to being anonymous, here’s how you can systematically delete personal information from the
- [Boss trouble? Take charge](https://shwetawrites.com/boss-trouble-take-charge/articles/) - Is your manager a terror? Before you think about quitting, try standing up for yourself, make a work buddy, and exercise regularly ---------- Every morning, you are filled with dread—you don’t want to go to office and face your boss, who is critical of your work, disorganized, impulsive, disoriented, and has anger management issues. Basically,
- [Virtual assistants, on your phone](https://shwetawrites.com/virtual-assistants-phone/articles/) - Your smartphone can now act as your butler. Here are some virtual assistants you can download to make life easier ---- Love Jarvis, the virtual assistant that Iron Man keeps snapping orders to? Would you like to have a virtual assistant? Now you can set up one on your phone to help you get your
- [Time to wake up with these apps](https://shwetawrites.com/time-wake-apps/articles/) - Can’t wake up on time to exercise or get to work? Here are some apps that don’t stop ringing till you are up and about =========== It’s March and you have done little about your new year resolution to wake up early and exercise or reach office on time. You can’t seem to wake up
- [Eating fat is good for you](https://shwetawrites.com/eating-fat-good/articles/) - Dietitians and nutritionists agree with your grandmother: ‘Ghee’ and oil are good for vitamin absorption as well as the muscular and skeletal systems ----------- Think you’re living healthy by avoiding fats? Think again. The 2015 dietary guidelines issued by a panel of nutritionists in the US for the agriculture department earlier this year have recommended
- [The zero-baggage webapps](https://shwetawrites.com/zero-baggage-webapps/articles/) - Smartphone users are tired of downloading and updating apps. It’s time for businesses to think about Webapps Gunjan Jain, a Delhi-based media professional, spends most of her time on her iPhone 5s, which has 16 GB space, with no memory card slot to add more. To save battery, she has switched off the auto update
- [7 health boosters from your gym](https://shwetawrites.com/7-health-boosters-gym/articles/) - You may have been working out at a gym for years, but we’re willing to bet you haven’t heard about these little secrets ----------- If you thought you’ve mastered all the techniques of using a dumb-bell, treadmill, exercise bike, stepper, upper body and kinesis stations, think again. New studies show that gym equipment might be
- [A million ways to read](https://shwetawrites.com/million-ways-read/articles/) - Share your book, read an unlimited number of them or just pay for one chapter. E-book publishing is becoming flexible in a bid to suit individual needs ----- In 2015, Ramakrishnan Krishnan, an event consultant for indie music bands based in Bengaluru, read 53 books, 45 of them read digitally. It was a dramatic difference
- [Doctor at your fingertips](https://shwetawrites.com/doctor-at-your-fingertips/articles/) - Medical apps are proving to be a win-win for both doctors and patients. They provide immediate help and appointments as well as recommendations ==== In May, Shwetha Narayanan, 33, had a severe throat infection and urgently needed to see an ENT specialist. “I didn’t have any recommendations from friends and when you can’t speak, you
- [How to stay cool during summer](https://shwetawrites.com/stay-cool-summer/articles/) - Struggling with soaring summer temperatures? Here are nine natural ways to keep your body cool and healthy ----- The sun is good for us in a lot of ways. Numerous studies show that it lifts our mood, relieves stress, improves sleep and provides the essential vitamin D. “Too much of it, however, like a deadly
- [Travel](https://shwetawrites.com/travel/writing/inspiration/) - Like a dash of lightening On a monsoon hotbed A flash of naked limbs converted To eternity and rest Not with the baggage Of rickety buses and potholes Red streaks in wind-blown brown hair A naked breast held invitingly For comfort suckles Saunter alone Through intricately woven threads Of lost lanes Where a blinking
- [Battle of the Epics – Iliad and Mahabharata](https://shwetawrites.com/epics/writing/inspiration/) - Recently caught the movie Troy again one evening browsing through channel. Iliad, the epic poem by Homer, which is one of the stalwarts of classical literature, has been interpreted and reinterpreted from its original form innumerable times through the centuries which succeeded it. (Download the Samuel Butler translation here or just take a look at Wikipedia). The
- [Old Friend](https://shwetawrites.com/old-friend/writing/inspiration/) - Old friend A drop of elixir Last night's dew A sighing heart When I last met you Whispering songs From distant, dreamy lands Tapping and frolicking All night long Ticks from a clock Endless healers On invisible scars Of remembered past Wiser eyes Look across Wrinkles of time In watery smiles (c) Shweta Taneja, July
- [Plastic Doll](https://shwetawrites.com/poem-7/writing/inspiration/) - Plastic doll I blink my eyes Fluttering my curvy lashes My sigh-worthy, limpid Fake pools of desire. My perpetual Red-lipped, toothy smile Teases and invites Insipid fires. My cheap plastic hands Are servile and inviting With chipped helpless nails Painted to perfection My legs are long; Peaking breasts Curved without a crease Smooth, endless, synthetic.
- [Haiku Experiments](https://shwetawrites.com/poem-6/writing/inspiration/) - Money The inviting Minty haze Of papery greens And China dolls. Talk Words. Ringing in At every corner, Converting vapid moments To memories. (c) Shweta Taneja, July 2009
- [A word's journey](https://shwetawrites.com/poem-5/writing/inspiration/) - A Word's Journey Hesitant She resides On a quivering, moist lip. From the broken, beating, dying heart To the boiling cortex lobe Through an ignited stimuli, To the barking voice box. She came with lightening-speed Grabbing on-edge, electric nerves An angry flash from the larynx Tornado-speed to the brink Of the quivering, moist lip. She
- [Review: Movie WANTED](https://shwetawrites.com/review/writing/inspiration/) - Let me negate some facts before I begin. This is not a rant. This is not about the movie which had Ms Big Lips Jolie and another guy I cannot remember the name of. I am talking about the comic book. It was with pleasure that I welcomed WANTED, a limited edition comic book series
- [Rant of a writer’s block](https://shwetawrites.com/writers-block/writing/) - Blank. Blank. Blank! How will I ever finish my novel and get it to be published if I just can't write? I should quit. Should for sure, quit and take up a cushiony job of an editor somewhere and criticize other people's writings. Maybe the writer in me is dead and the only way to
- [An obituary to my ghosts](https://shwetawrites.com/ghosts/writing/) - It's painful to sacrifice ghosts. I don't mean it allegorically in a past baggage sort of a way but rather literally. Let me begin in the beginning. I have been working on a kids' story for the past eight months trying to get it approved with a publisher. The story, which I was very excited
- [Writing horror](https://shwetawrites.com/writing-10/writing/) - Trying to write a horror story but the characters keep bringing in more drama in than a horror requires. Controlling the people is becoming a problem. An extract I will most probably delete from the story: 'Oh my Gawd! Are you smiling Mr Mishra!' Mohan looked up with a start. He had been so deeply
- [Death of books on dead trees?](https://shwetawrites.com/ebooks-2/writing/) - Yes, I know it's too poetic and dramatic. That's the reason for that question mark there. What do you expect from a writer who is just chartering into an industry which by the looks of it is on its death throes? Let me start from the beginning. I used to be a journalist. Then one
- [Be smart about your smartphone](https://shwetawrites.com/article-be-smart-about-your-smartphone/articles/) - Did you know rice can save your phone? Here are some simple ways of keeping your smartphone up and running, without repeated visits to the service centre Date: 14/09/2010, Mint, Business of Life section Shweta Taneja A harried customer came to TVS E-Service Tech because the touch screen of her HTC Touch was not working
- [Keeping it short and sweet](https://shwetawrites.com/writing-9/writing/) - A friend tweeted about her company's requirement of mobile content creators. Now the term is understandable if rather pretentious (like using sales executive rather than the obvious salesman). But what I want to talk about here is what these content creators are actually doing and getting paid oodles of money for. What does a person
- [Heart of the Matter](https://shwetawrites.com/heart-of-the-matter/articles/) - Smoking, stress and a sedentary lifestyle have ensured that heart attacks are no longer affecting just the elderly. We tell you why even the smallest signal should ring alarm bells, and what you can do to manage your heart better Shweta Taneja & Benita Sen Changing lifestyles, irregular diets and chain-smoking have made heart diseases
- [Fortify your online avatar](https://shwetawrites.com/fortify-your-online-avatar/articles/) - At a time when you're under constant threat from viruses, malware and phishing, these simple precautions can help you browse the Net securely Shweta Taneja On receiving an email about a lucrative moneymaking scheme, Sri Kumara registered as a member for free on the website www.legend-mails.com. The idea was simple—get paid to receive emails. To
- [The (Anti) Salt March](https://shwetawrites.com/the-anti-salt-march/articles/) - Excessive salt intake can cause cardiovascular diseases and is especially harmful for those who have a sedentary lifestyle. It's time to go easy on that pinch Shweta Taneja Kanwal Batra, 50, a Delhi-based businessman, was in a dilemma when his naturopathy doctor told him to avoid salt till the eczema eruptions on his body were
- [Blogging with www.digitalnatives.in!](https://shwetawrites.com/digitalnatives/news/) - I came across this interesting ongoing project called 'Digital Natives with a Cause' which is a collaboration of youngsters and internet addicts from across the world and how they are using the online space to change their lives and the lives of those around them. Since I am a curious cat, I wanted in. After
- [Why non-gamers should rejoice](https://shwetawrites.com/why-non-gamers-should-rejoice/articles/) - Get off the couch, jump, shout and wave your hands about. Playing games is fun and easy says Shweta Taneja Preview | Kinect for XBOX 360 Every time I try to play a video game, I give up in 5 minutes flat. I thought most video games required gruelling Six Sigma skills, a deeper understanding
- [The slow killer called sitting](https://shwetawrites.com/the-slow-killer-called-sitting/articles/) - Studies suggest that even if you exercise for 30 minutes daily, you are prone to heart disease and spinal problems if you spend a large part of your day sitting. By Shweta Taneja Rakesh Mehta, a 32-year-old business manager with a consultancy, spends most of his workday attending meetings, taking calls and writing instructions through
- [Express Workouts](https://shwetawrites.com/express-workouts/articles/) - Bid your flabby body goodbye. Our celebrity fitness experts create 10- to 15-minute workouts with one aim in mind: a fab body for you in 2011. By Shweta Taneja "All you need is 15-20 minutes of any hot and sweaty exercise to keep yourself fit," says Delhi-based Reebok fitness trainer Nisha Varma. If it is
- [Unshackle the idiot box](https://shwetawrites.com/unshackle-the-idiot-box/articles/) - The latest gadget in your home to open up to apps is the oldest one. Your television set is all set to get more interactive and smarter with Internet connectivity and browsable apps. Shweta Taneja Google TV, for instance, allows you to browse the Internet, search videos and, yes, download apps via the comfort of
- [My first graphic novel with Campfire](https://shwetawrites.com/graphic-novel-with-campfire/news/) - Just discovered my debut novel's cover on the Campfire website. Here's a sneak into what the beautiful book, illustrated by Rajesh N, will look like. I am so, so excited about it! The best part is that you can PRE-ORDER the book now! It costs Rs 195 and delivery worldwide is free! Click here to
- [Reinvent your virtual life](https://shwetawrites.com/reinvent-your-virtual-life/articles/) - The World Wide Web is a fast-changing, fast-moving space. Forget plain old email, Twitter and Facebook; now your online life is also shaped by the kind of apps you use (or don't use). If you're not in touch with what's the latest in the world of app stores and on the Net, you will soon
- [The photograph which was selected for Haptic 2011](https://shwetawrites.com/haptic/news/) - About the photograph: It was during a recent trip to Ajanta Caves that I clicked this. The Ajanta caves which were excavated during 2nd century BC to 5th Century ACE, are a series of Buddhist monastery sites, still beautifully preserved. In one of the caves stood these tall sculptures of Buddha which are more
- [Waking up to your online avatar](https://shwetawrites.com/waking-up-to-your-online-avatar/articles/) - Do you blog, check your email or tweet as soon as you wake up? A tongue-in-cheek look at what your morning Net rooster says about you. By Shweta Taneja Traditional Private Ryan Your first window: Your personal email Your medium of connection to the world is your personal inbox. Every morning, at home or
- [Be a gym gentleman](https://shwetawrites.com/be-a-gym-gentleman/articles/) - Are you a regular on the fitness floor? If you want to earn a reputation for courtesy rather than boorishness, adhere to our gym etiquette guide. By Shweta Taneja You might have been rocking the gym for years now and know all there is to know about weights and postures, but are you “that” guy?
- [Iron those wrinkles away](https://shwetawrites.com/iron-those-wrinkles-away/articles/) - Botox and fillers are fast becoming a way of life in the high-flying corporate world from Mohali to Mumbai. By Shweta Taneja Rajesh M., a marketing manager based in Mumbai, constantly got into arguments with his colleagues and juniors because they found him too critical. Then one day, he was told by a friendly colleague
- [Ancient copies in a copyright world](https://shwetawrites.com/copyright/writing/) - Touring the Vatican museum, the audio guide informed me that a beautiful Roman time statue I saw in front of me (that of a marble woman, her curves delicately hidden by a flowing gown) was in fact a copy of the same figurine of a Greek sculpture, now destroyed. Copycat! I shouted, gleaming at the
- [Werehouse out in the papers](https://shwetawrites.com/comic-4/news/) - The excitement is building up for the May end release of Werehouse-The house of monsters. One of the three horror stories in the anthology are mine and I am quite excited about it as it’s my first horror comic coming out. Here’s what the Mumbai Mirror journalist had to say: Endangered fury A graphic novel
- [Were House Volume 1 released!](https://shwetawrites.com/comic-3/news/) - My first comic short story it out in the market. It’s a horror comic anthology of three authors with artist Vivek Goel. You can order it online at Flipkart Would love to hear some feedback on it!
- [Take charge of Facebook](https://shwetawrites.com/take-charge-of-facebook/articles/) - Want to take control of your data and the way you use your Facebook account? Then try these tricks. By Shweta Taneja When Tejas Pande, a 23-year-old Bangalore-based information technology professional, heard about a workshop called Facebook Resistances at the Centre for Internet and Society (www.cis-india.org) in the city, he signed up without thinking
- [Preview of my upcoming comic anthology](https://shwetawrites.com/comic-2/news/) - This one is completely my baby as a writer with artist Vivek Goel. Comprising of five short stories, this anthology is a new take on a mythology. That’s all I can tell you right now, more will come laters. Oh, and it’s going to release next year during summer holidays. Hope some kids out
- [Will robots become the new slaves?](https://shwetawrites.com/robots/writing/) - Last night, I started to re-read my fave guy, Isaac Asimov. This time, I am re-hooked to his short stories on robots. Then in the morning papers, I saw this. It’s a story about Justin the robot, who serves you coffee. It’s a cute squiggly looking bright blue robot, made by the German air and
- [While online, thou shalt not...](https://shwetawrites.com/while-online-thou-shalt-not/articles/) - Be it Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, follow these 10 commandments of social networking etiquette Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have their share of boorish people who jump into other people’s conversation, generally create a ruckus or bombard your Wall with their gaming updates—and don’t know when to stop. Here’s a list
- [FB page for Skull Rosary](https://shwetawrites.com/comic/news/) - Just a few months ago, I announced my upcoming graphic novel The Skull Rosary. To build up some excitement (not only for you guys, but also for myself!) I have just launched its FB page! If you read this, and click on the FB link too, I hope do press that all important LIKE button.
- [The great big online sale](https://shwetawrites.com/the-great-big-online-sale/articles/) - Forget those favours from friends abroad for the just launched iPad 2. Now a simple click can get you the latest and best gadgets at your doorstep Shweta Taneja A few months ago New Delhi-based Rina Bhardwaj, 31, was running around the Capital’s infant shops looking for a baby monitor. “I wanted it before my
- [The circles of social networking](https://shwetawrites.com/the-circles-of-social-networking/articles/) - The virtual giant has done it yet again, with the Google+ Project. The latest rage, it is fun, easy to use and gives you a next-generation experience Shweta Taneja It is a little more than two weeks old, in beta stage, and already has two million users across the world. It has already crashed
- [Powerhouse in your palm](https://shwetawrites.com/powerhouse-in-your-palm/articles/) - The smartphone is bored. Day in and day out, we connect to the Internet, answer some emails, post a tweet or two and play Angry Birds. Sometimes we have long chats with friends or text angry messages to our boy/girl friends when they are late. However, most of us don’t realize the power we
- [Tweaks for tweets](https://shwetawrites.com/tweaks-for-tweets/articles/) - Are endless tweets giving you a pain in the neck? We list some cool apps and websites that guide, curate and arrange the massive sea of information into bite-sized pieces for you Time was when life was simpler. When all you had to do was reach office in the morning, check your emails, read
- [Caught in the net](https://shwetawrites.com/caught-in-the-net/articles/) - Try these smart ways to keep a check on your Internet addiction. By Shweta Taneja It’s a connected world out there. So much so that most of us cannot think of life without a phone or access to the Internet—even when on holiday. Take control: Learn how to disconnect from the online world and
- [Bye, Bye my 1st baby!](https://shwetawrites.com/novel-2/writing/) - It’s a rather pretty day today, have you noticed? I did, after a long, long time! If any of you avid readers of my blog wondered what I have been up for almost a month of my absence from the online world, it’s editing. Two of my biggest projects which I had set out to
- [Pinch and swipe](https://shwetawrites.com/pinch-and-swipe/articles/) - Looking for a tablet? Here is how you can go the touch-screen way with devices that cost less than Rs. 15,000 Touch screens have transformed the way we browse the Internet and entertain ourselves. In fact, now we don’t click and type, but pinch, zoom and swipe. It has been almost a year since the
- [In the right direction](https://shwetawrites.com/in-the-right-direction/articles/) - These GPS navigators are custom-made for Indian streets, so you won’t need to stop and ask about the route any more Shweta Taneja A map in hand is worth two on line when you are driving, says Amit Prasad, founder and CEO, SatNav Technologies, a Hyderabad-based GPS map-making company. “You don’t need a
- [The battle of the smartphones](https://shwetawrites.com/the-battle-of-the-smartphones/articles/) - Apple’s iPhone 4S or the Samsung Galaxy Nexus - which smartphone is smarter? The two most hyped phones of 2011 are about to enter the Indian market. There’s the iPhone 4S with its magical personal assistant Siri, who listens to you and finds what you are looking for as soon as you ask for it.
- [Of writing, language and search for muses](https://shwetawrites.com/writing-8/writing/) - I have just finished the fourth story of The Skull Rosary, a graphic novel which if all goes well, would be out in mid 2013 in the market. This particular story was about a blind demon , but ironically it was I who was blind to him. I couldn’t see what he wanted to tell
- [Stream home the cinema](https://shwetawrites.com/stream-home-the-cinema/articles/) - Better Internet connections and increased video content are making it easier than ever to order or watch Indian and Hollywood movies online, legally It was a weekend and instead of going to a mall to watch an expensive movie, Uttara Narayanan, 29, a social activist, decided to rent the latest Bollywood flick and watch
- [Plug in, and tune out everything else](https://shwetawrites.com/plug-in-and-tune-out-everything-else/articles/) - Looking for headphones? Don’t make do with the free pair you get with your gadgets. Get a pair that suits your needs Earphones are being used with every gadget today: a tablet, a smartphone, an MP3 player or even a wireless set with the TV if it is in a bedroom. “Most of us
- [Time to pitch is now!](https://shwetawrites.com/writing-7/writing/) - Finally the day has come. And what can be better than the start of the new year to do something that you have cringed from all of last year? I am going to close Mystery of the Iyer Bungalow (yes, dear readers, it’s still not published. The reason is that it’s still being edited
- [Muses are like opportunities](https://shwetawrites.com/writing-6/writing/) - Muses are like opportunities. They come knocking on your door at unexpected times. Sometimes you have been waiting impatiently, looking at your cellphone screen’s right hand side corner for that precise moment to strike, tapping your fingers on the side board. At times like those, you open the door without waiting or wondering who it
- [A guide to online data plotting](https://shwetawrites.com/a-guide-to-online-data-plotting/articles/) - When you’re dealing with complex data, visualization tools can help you simplify it and, more importantly, spot key trends and gain new insights Shweta Taneja Sales figures, consumer behaviour and market research - the work we do often involves understanding and communicating a lot of complex information. To make good decisions, you need
- [Message across the e-ocean](https://shwetawrites.com/message-across-the-e-ocean/articles/) - The nerdiest romantic proposals of all time—any geeks out there who can top these this Valentine’s, do write in In April, Aayush Jain, 27, an engineer, proposed to Ambika Bumb while dancing in a flash mob to Bhangra tunes at Pier 39, San Francisco, US. Called the “Bollywood-Bhangra Flash Mob Proposal”, the video of his
- [Tale of Hem Vayanattu Kulavan Theyyam, the toddy bhuta](https://shwetawrites.com/tale-of-hem-wayanada-theyyam-the-toddy-bhuta/traveltales/) - Shruti and Smriti are two wise sisters. Smriti or Memory comes to you while you are reading things. You remember her wise lines long after she’s gone. Shruti or Listening comes to you anytime, on the road, in a movie, while you travel. She tells you secret things brought from the Wells of the Wise.
- [A personal trainer at the press of a button](https://shwetawrites.com/a-personal-trainer-at-the-press-of-a-button/articles/) - Technology is changing the way people get in shape. Here is a round-up of fitness gadgets that can help you look good Actor Hrithik Roshan apparently has two expat personal trainers to help him shape his already fab body for Krrish 3. It is rumoured that Aamir Khan has also hired an expat trainer
- [I wanted to blog about an author, but I don't remember his name](https://shwetawrites.com/author/writing/) - My memory. It was stolen. Just a few seconds ago. Just when I opened a new window to write this blog. I wanted to tell you about this author, a popular guy, a Nobel prize winner, whose work I have never read. His few written words inspired me, ignited me, made me smile, helped me
- [Dialling for the doctor](https://shwetawrites.com/dialling-for-the-doctor/articles/) - Your cellphone might have a convenient service for medical help, but how reliable is it? Acouple’s sleep is disturbed in the middle of the night. Their nine-month-old child is crying in pain, and has fever. The couple try to call their family doctor but can’t get through. The mother suggests calling a health helpline
- [Your favourite books, on the digital highway](https://shwetawrites.com/your-favourite-books-on-the-digital-highway/articles/) - Forget just reading—now you can experience books with soundtrack, videos, animation and games After 244 years, the Encyclopaedia Britannica announced earlier this month that it would stop publishing its 32-volume print edition. Forever. A month ago, in February, a digitally enhanced version of the Game of Thrones, the first book in the much-touted fantasy
- [8 ways to total transformation](https://shwetawrites.com/8-ways-to-total-transformation/articles/) - Convert that smartphone into a superphone with these useful little accessories and add-ons All of us know the importance of that one-second conversation just before the cellphone battery dies on you. And when have we not wished that our phone would not lose signal in the middle of an important negotiation? If you are
- [What's your gadget update?](https://shwetawrites.com/whats-your-gadget-update/articles/) - Techie socialist or flighty fashionista? The gadgets you carry say a lot about you Cellphones, laptops and all the other stylish electronic paraphernalia are fast becoming like jewellery and clothes—a personality statement. “I stereotype people and their gadgets,” says Nilofar Ansher, 28, a communications analyst from Hyderabad. “If someone sports a flashy, brand new gadget
- [Hear that book](https://shwetawrites.com/hear-that-book/articles/) - Relive stories in your mother tongue with audiobooks in Indian languages A month ago Bangalore-based Ranjita Bhagwan, a researcher with Microsoft Research India, was thrilled to discover Shonakatha , a website set up in 2010 that sells Bengali audiobooks. “I didn’t know this kind of a website existed. This is great for people like me
- [Share a ride](https://shwetawrites.com/share-a-ride/articles/) - Concerned citizens are creating city-specific online innovations to connect people who want to carpool. Time you hitched a ride? When 51-year-old Neena Goindi’s office shifted to Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi, six months ago from RK Puram, her first thought was about the stupendous increase in her commuting cost from her home in Faridabad. She had
- [Death and the desire for immortality](https://shwetawrites.com/immortality/writing/) - I so don’t like Death. I cringe everyday when I read about it in the newspaper. It happens to a stranger, unexpected when she’s just eating her food. It happens when someone is happy and shopping. It happens after a prolonged, wearisome illness. Every time I read it, I imagine scenes of violent (and can
- [The smartphone recovery guide](https://shwetawrites.com/the-smartphone-recovery-guide/articles/) - What to do when you can’t find your personal supercomputer-phone, and why it is important to inform the police When Charneeta Kaur, an assistant professor at the Pearl Academy of Fashion, Delhi, realized she had left her Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro in a car showroom, the first thing that struck her was not
- [BBM without a berry](https://shwetawrites.com/bbm-without-a-berry/articles/) - You can enjoy instant connectivity even without a BlackBerry - and across platforms BBM (or BlackBerry Messenger) is popular and cool. According to Ranjan Moses, carrier product manager, Research In Motion (RIM), India, it has over 55 million users worldwide and is one of BlackBerry’s most popular services. “The reason for its popularity is its
- [Vague stats of my new novel](https://shwetawrites.com/novel/news/) - Vague stats of my new novel, originally uploaded by Shwetawrites.
- [Krishna, Defender of Dharma!](https://shwetawrites.com/krishna-defender-of-dharma/writing/) - Oh, what a long, long wait! My first graphic novel with Campfire India is about to be released. Just heard of the announcement and bang on Janamashtmi too! Countdown begins to September 10! Tentative date of release :) :) If on Facebook, do like its page here. You can pre-order from the site from
- [Breathe easy](https://shwetawrites.com/breathe-easy/articles/) - You may be forced to take in the world’s most polluted air, but these simple steps can still help you save your lungs It’s ironic, really. Even though India is the land where Pranayam (the art of breathing) originated, studies show it’s one of the worst places for human lungs. India was ranked last in
- [Freelancing with friends](https://shwetawrites.com/freelancing-with-friends/articles/) - Find freedom from a 9-to-5 job with a little help from social networks In April, when sisters Sunitha, Mariamma and Soumya Thomas started their online business of selling handcrafted dresses for girls, they found they could not afford the cost of designing and hosting a website. So they decided to go in a different
- [Launch of Krishna, my graphic novel!](https://shwetawrites.com/krishna-graphic-novel/news/) - Campfire will be launching my first graphic novel Krishna in the first Comic Con in Bangalore! It’s happening over the second weekend of September (8-9 September 2012) at Kanteerava Stadium. The launch starts is on Saturday, 8 September, 2012 at around 7pm. I would love to have any of you out there reading this with
- [At ComicCon with Krishna](https://shwetawrites.com/comic-con-krishna/writing/) - I had been living with oodles of butterflies this past few days because of the impending launch of my graphic novel Krishna, Defender of Dharma. For anyone who has written or made anything for public consumption, the living fact of putting something you worked on, which has bits of your flesh and blood clinging to
- [Third-party Twitter](https://shwetawrites.com/third-party-twitter/articles/) - Fed up with the official Twitter app? Want something better? Get more with the right apps Twitter’s rise to one of the most popular social networks was driven in part by the open nature of the service, helped along by a number of third-party apps to access the network. This started changing last year though
- [Krishna's beautiful video](https://shwetawrites.com/krishna-4/news/) - This video of Krishna’s awesome graphics by artist Rajesh N was shown at the launch of the graphic novel. Check it out! If you would like to pick up the book, it’s available online on Campfire and Flipkart as well as in the stores across the country. Like it? Or hate it? Tell
- [The right app(roach) for writing](https://shwetawrites.com/the-right-approach-for-writing/articles/) - Do you find it hard to actually get down to writing? Some of these apps and websites may be of help Got the feeling that you too could write a book if you had the time? If you harbour a secret wish to become a writer, we have a solution for you—technology aids which
- [Villains are not evil, just different](https://shwetawrites.com/villains/writing/) - Don’t you think so? I have always enjoyed figuring out my villains and why they do things that they do. Are they inherently evil or are they just misled? What is it they are fighting? Because fight they do, constantly, against social norms and status quos. During writing Krishna, I met many villains, each with
- [Me on Krishna](https://shwetawrites.com/krishna-3/news/) - Made this video for Comic Con India where Krishna was announced. My first attempt at trying to make a video. Slightly embarrassed! Hope you can see the humour in it or well, you can always laugh at my horrid attempt of video making, can’t you? :) Go on, see it! Thanks to Uthara
- [Krishna tweetathon](https://shwetawrites.com/krishna-2/news/) - Krishna commands you to come out with all the weird questions about Krishna: Defender of Dharma and ask them on Twitter. I will be there as will be the talented artist of the graphic novel, Rajesh N (@rajeshcolors) and Campfire (@campfireindia) to talk about how we created this marvelous book. Join us at #krishnacampfire tomorrow
- [Take time out to customize Timeline](https://shwetawrites.com/take-time-out-to-customize-timeline/articles/) - Have you been switched to Facebook’s Timeline? Here’s what you can do to protect your privacy In its early days, Facebook was an intimate space where people were off guard and goofed around with close friends. Then it became bigger, and before you knew it, you had your family, colleagues and even your boss
- [The end is here!](https://shwetawrites.com/writing-5/writing/) - 120 days of daily of writing One year of planning 1,17,835 words 132 pages of words 472 kb size of a word document Like I always believed. Numbers don’t tell you anything about the story. It is a beautiful story, btw, this one, of magical pubs and other places, creatures, people, humans and blood and
- [Gaiman's 8 rules of writing](https://shwetawrites.com/writing-4/writing/) - Without any godmother/father or anyone to guide, writing a book has been a process of running, walking, crawling and creeping through a huge black room without any walls and a floor which is potholed. It just wouldn’t have been possible if I hadnt had the wonderful world of Internet by my side, and endless gyan
- [Who's got the remote?](https://shwetawrites.com/whos-got-the-remote/articles/) - TV addiction is harmful for both body and mind. Here are smart ways to end your love affair with the idiot box Every morning, as soon as her husband leaves for work and child for school, Ruchika Bhutani, 30, a part-time counsellor and homemaker based in Delhi, switches on the television in her bedroom. From
- [Going virtual for real networking](https://shwetawrites.com/going-virtual-for-real-networking/articles/) - Location-based networks and apps to connect with people in the neighbourhood who share similar interests When Bangalore-based IT professional Pankaj Dugar settled in his third house in a new city in three years, he was left without any buddies to bike with. “It seemed like way too much work to ask around in the neighbourhood
- [Fall of the great Indian editor](https://shwetawrites.com/editor/writing/) - I gifted a recently launched book to my husband who loves to read breezy novels. This one was published by a top publishers in India and written by an established author who happens to be a famous Mumbai socialite. After reading, my husband pointed out how a character in the book who was supposed to
- [Beyond Instagram](https://shwetawrites.com/beyond-instagram/articles/) - Looking for image-editing apps to share your photos along with your tweets? Skim through our list. Twitter and Instagram might have started off as a match made in heaven, but over the last couple of months, signs of a break up have been showing. First, Twitter deactivated the ability to transfer your Twitter friends’ list to Instagram, and
- [How to fortify your stomach](https://shwetawrites.com/how-to-fortify-your-stomach/articles/) - In this season of partying and eating out, the digestive system can go for a toss. Take precautions like avoiding salads or having an early dinner before heading out Our stomach might be able to bear partying once a week but an every night affair plays havoc with it. “Eating rich food that too
- [Boring party survival 101](https://shwetawrites.com/boring-party-survival-101/articles/) - Bring in some cheer at a lacklustre get-together with the help of your smartphone It’s that time of the year again—when long-lost aunts, bosses you can’t stand for more than 5 minutes in a day, and colleagues whose names you don’t remember invite you to parties you cannot always refuse to attend. So
- [What's your Facebook face?](https://shwetawrites.com/facebook/writing/inspiration/) - Mine is a cheerful character who travels a lot, is a net activist, discovers and does new things in the city she lives in and makes happy, smiley faces for the camera. Oh and is also a newbie writer fast crawling up the ladders of success. On Facebook as in public, most of the people
- [Who will come first?](https://shwetawrites.com/competition/writing/inspiration/) - You can’t really miss it. Competition or rivalry for supremacy or a prize is at the heart of what construes our social set up. All of us are rivals—for food, for water, for the same flat, for the same job, for love. That’s how we have been shaped by our parents, leaders and society. At
- [Revealed! The awesome cover of Skull Rosary](https://shwetawrites.com/skull-rosary1/news/) - Finally I can talk about it :) This is the main cover for my upcoming 100 page graphic novel The Skull Rosary done by acclaimed artists Lalit Kumar Sharma and Jagdish Kumar with colours by Holy Cow Entertainment’s own Yogesh R Pugaonkar. The cover is going to be launched as a poster in the
- [The coolest compact options](https://shwetawrites.com/the-coolest-compact-options/articles/) - Digital cameras are doing more than ever before—from printing instantly to recording your life or a giving first-person view of sports Smartphones are taking over the role of basic point-and-shoot digital cameras, but the camera industry is reinventing itself and a number of new devices really push the limits of what was possible for
- [Love clicks](https://shwetawrites.com/love-clicks/articles/) - Online dating ideas for couples stuck in different cities on Valentine’s Day Harish Atharv Thakur, 26, is an entrepreneur based in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. His girlfriend, Anjali Suryavanshi, 23, works as a physiotherapist in Jabalpur in the same state. In the last few years, they have only been able to meet sporadically. “But we don’t
- [The Bank always wins](https://shwetawrites.com/monopoly/writing/inspiration/) - I haven’t really ever played Monopoly while growing up, so me and husband bought one and brought it to our home on a Sunday with loads of fanfare. It took about six months to get the wrapper off the game and about three more months to actually playing it. (Well, in our defense, we are
- [More for less](https://shwetawrites.com/more-for-less/articles/) - These budget tablets actually deliver on performance as well. From Google to Apple to Acer and our home-grown Micromax, Karbonn and Zync, every tech company is hell-bent on putting a touch screen in your hands. According to a report by the Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (Mait), the country’s tablet PC market is
- [Review: The War Ministry by Krishan Pratap Singh](https://shwetawrites.com/review-the-war-ministry-by-krishan-pratap-singh/writing/) - I and the husband had been waiting desperately to read the third in the explosive political trilogy called the Raisina Series by Krishan Pratap Singh. So much so, that I used my research skills and managed to dig up the online-shy KP Singh’s email ID to spam him a demand email on it. He was
- [Review: Bring up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel](https://shwetawrites.com/review-bring-up-the-bodies-hilary-mantel/writing/) - I come across Mantel only after she won her second Man Booker prize (the first being Wolf Hall, the first book of the same series). Usually an award doesn’t push me to read a book, since I believe each one of us reacts to a book differently, reading them with our past experiences. Will I
- [Behead the rapists!](https://shwetawrites.com/rapists/writing/inspiration/) - We, the women, we have suffered so Since centuries, since decades, Since years, since days. Since minutes, since seconds. In villages, in farms, in cities, in dark alleys In buses, in call centre cars, in discotheques, in rallies. We have suffered long enough. And now we demand our share of blood. We
- [Why are ebooks so expensive?](https://shwetawrites.com/ebooks/writing/) - It’s a question that came to me and a friend over coffee when we started to discuss Flyte, the newly launched ebook section of online Indian giant Flipkart. Ebook is not a physical book, it’s not printed on paper, it does not take more money to produce more numbers. It does not need distribution channels
- [Beam me up, in HD!](https://shwetawrites.com/beam-me-up-in-hd/articles/) - You have a movie on your smartphone and want to stream it on your television and watch it with friends. Six months ago, the only option you had to do this wirelessly was to go with a branded ecosystem. And there too it was a handful of choices—you needed the right receiver and the right
- [Great gadgets for the traveller](https://shwetawrites.com/great-gadgets-for-the-traveller/articles/) - Whether it’s a computer-in-a-wristband, a fleece jacket with 23 pockets or a sound system that uses solar panels, these gadgets can add that extra zing StormFly This nifty device can work wonders for travellers who have to go without Internet’s cloud services and miss the computer back home. StormFly is a handy computer-in-a-wristband
- [Terror strikes back with Holi](https://shwetawrites.com/holi/news/) - It made me feel giddy and all ‘holi’ writer-like on Holi yesterday when a Blue Dart courier arrived at my door with a colourful book. Called Celebrate! Holi, the book is an anthology of fiction, activities and legends about the colourful festival of Holi by Hachette India. I have written one of them. When
- [Share ship: How coworking works](https://shwetawrites.com/how-coworking-works/articles/) - Small co-working spaces are mushrooming across the country in a bid to cater to new-age entrepreneurs and freelancers Earlier this year, Shitij Malhotra, who runs a small children’s education firm in Delhi, converted his office to The Studio, a co-working space where people from different professions can gather and work from. “I have
- [Look in coworking spaces for soulmates](https://shwetawrites.com/coworking-soulmate-spaces/articles/) - Be it guidance, inspiration, contacts or greater efficiency, people who work out of shared spaces tell us why this is the best option for them When Ramesh Kumar V. moved his start-up from Salem, Tamil Nadu, to Bangalore, he chose to work from Jaaga rather than renting an exclusive office. “I want to expand, find
- [Time to augment your world](https://shwetawrites.com/augment-your-world/articles/) - Augmented reality apps raise the bar by putting a virtual layer of information over your real world. You see the Taj Mahal, point your phone at it, and facts about it come up on screen. Or, through the screen, virtual spaceships and robots can dance in your empty living room. You can also take pictures
- [How to keep your gadgets cool](https://shwetawrites.com/how-to-keep-your-gadgets-cool/articles/) - Like you, your gadgets too fry in the heat. Here’s how you can keep them cool It was March and financial consultant Dilip C.G. was riding his Royal Enfield in Mumbai when his new iPad, strapped to the petrol tank, shut down with a warning: “iPad needs to cool down before you can use
- [Monsoon-proof gadgetry](https://shwetawrites.com/monsoon-proof-gadgetry/articles/) - From phones that work underwater to cloaks that will protect your devices in a deluge, we’ve got you covered The skies rumble ominously. You look up in terror, knowing that this rain is sure death for the little black gadget in your hand. With panic, you hide your smartphone, coming between it and the rain,
- [How to be invisible online](https://shwetawrites.com/how-to-be-invisible-online/articles/) - In an age when we’re slowly losing our privacy, here’s what you can do to hide your tracks The days of privacy online are fast coming to an end. In April, the Union government quietly began rolling out the Central Monitoring System (CMS), a one-stop surveillance service that will monitor not only your cellphones
- [Tech up your loo](https://shwetawrites.com/tech-up-your-loo/articles/) - Filled every room in the house with the latest tech? Don’t forget the bathroom Our bathrooms haven’t really changed much over the years despite all the advancements in technology. Hot and cold water, possibly a fancy showerhead, and you’re done. But that seems set to change, because there are a number of new gadgets available
- [What happens when a dream comes true?](https://shwetawrites.com/dream/writing/inspiration/) - I had been waiting for it to happen since almost a year. Ten years if you count it to the year I might have started to think on this dream: to get a book published. When it did happen, it happened on a rather unremarkable day. (Though the weather was beautiful, which is not surprising
- [An auto driver's story](https://shwetawrites.com/auto-driver/writing/inspiration/) - I don’t really know his name. Never needed it I guess. The conversation with him happens because we cannot find a parking spot. It is eight in the night on a road near Commercial Street. The shops are still open and cars fill the tiny road. Me and husband are hungry and want to buy
- [Hacking: How to deal with the menace](https://shwetawrites.com/hacking-how-to-deal-with-the-menace/articles/) - The ways in which people can get at your private data, and how you can prevent it. At a conference in July, researchers from the Georgia Tech Information Security Center in the US demonstrated how an iPhone can be hacked in less than a minute using a malicious charger. Though Apple claims to have fixed the issue in iOS7,
- [Click to vote](https://shwetawrites.com/click-to-vote/articles/) - Apps to crowdsource advice quickly and easily. Cornflakes or eggs, Samsung or Micromax, or just picking the right kind of chair for the study desk—our lives are filled with choices. Some of the choices are easy to make, for some we need advice from our friends and family. That’s where social polling apps fit in.
- [Reviews for GHOK, 16-23 Sep](https://shwetawrites.com/book-review3/writing/) - Sometimes ponder-worthy, sometimes wine-worthy. Reviews for The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong are beginning to pour in. This is just my way to share and track for myself all the goody thoughts I am getting. If you wouldn't like to hear other opinions and instead, read it yourself, head to read bits of the book on
- [Piecing it back after mental trauma](https://shwetawrites.com/piecing-it-back-after-mental-trauma/articles/) - It is Mental Illness Awareness Week (4-10 October) and a key learning during this period is to know and realize that asking for help to cope with trauma is not a bad thing... You’ve faced something terrible recently—maybe an accident, sexual assault, or witnessed a bloody fight. Your heart palpitates, the vision just does not
- [The charge of the portable brigade](https://shwetawrites.com/the-charge-of-the-portable-brigade/articles/) - Does your smartphone’s battery run out at all the wrong times? These portable chargers and battery packs will keep you powered up, always Asupercharger that can juice up your phone in 30 seconds? No, we kid you not. Eesha Khare, an 18-year-old Indian-American science student based in California, came up with the idea of a
- [Book reviews -  Oct 8](https://shwetawrites.com/book-review2/news/) - It's always nice to read good things about the book you have written. And no, you can just not get enough of it. At least I can't. If you have had enough of it, please skip this blog :) I am putting this in for my reference! “The story is extremely spell binding and the
- [Setting up online retail 101](https://shwetawrites.com/setting-up-online-retail-101/articles/) - Looking for ways to succeed in the online retail space? Here are four ways you can reach out to customers According to a recent report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India, the e-commerce market in the country grew to $9.5 billion (around Rs.57,950 crore) in 2012 and is expected to reach $12.6 billion
- [Diwali and book reviews](https://shwetawrites.com/book-review1/news/) - Ahh that time of the year again when one feels that she has just been churned out in a mixie and then put into a washing machine without washing powder. The only thing that was keeping me sane was that I was in the mountains. When I got down into the plains, these lovely reviews
- [A ghostly detective workshop schedule](https://shwetawrites.com/detective-workshop-2/news/) - Kartik, Opus and Tashi, the three curious kids in the book The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong have many adventures. Unfortunately, the printed form of a novel could contain only one. Since the three kids have solved many other mysteries in my head since then, I thought, why not use different mediums to explore them? So
- [The garbage amongst us](https://shwetawrites.com/the-garbage-amongst-us/writing/inspiration/) - Not so early in the morning, I look down from my third floor apartment. There’s a lady sweeping the dead-end road. I know her, though I don’t know her name. She wears the official BBMP coat and she collects garbage from each of the apartment building. Sometimes I see her, while walking, from a car
- [Making detectives of children](https://shwetawrites.com/children-detective/writing/) - Let me confess something first. I might have written books (one novel and two graphic novels) for kids, but till now hadn’t interacted with them much. Not the ones who are in the 9-13 years of age. Actually, not many at all. For writing, I had used the kid inside me. So when I committed
- [My first detective workshop](https://shwetawrites.com/detective-workshop/news/) - I plan to write things I have learnt in these workshops about me and about children, but this blog is about someone else’s experience. The multitalented Yirmiyan Arthur, a volunteer for Bookaroo In the City who helped me in my first workshop at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Delhi, has written a beautiful piece about the
- [My most cherished review](https://shwetawrites.com/my-most-cherished-review/news/) - It’s great to see your book’s reviews and your interviews in the media. It’s good for the ego. But what brought tears to my eyes was not a mention in the papers, but an email. It is a special email for me. It’s from almost 11-year-old Medha, a student of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya. She attended
- [Digital star wars](https://shwetawrites.com/digital-star-wars/articles/) - Celebrities are fast realizing the power of social networks and are working hard to engage their fans. Here are some lessons you can learn from them… Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan has over 8,117,186 fans on Facebook and 7,550,474 on Twitter; at any given point when he logs in to a social networking site, at least
- [The necessity to talk of things taboo](https://shwetawrites.com/writing-3/writing/) - I recently went to Comic Con Mumbai to launch my graphic novel The Skull Rosary. The week before it was maddening; last minute edits, waiting, back and forth and the general nervousness before anything goes to press. The one thing that struck me, and struck me hard again and again was a sense of self-censorship
- [The Skull Rosary, oh yeah!](https://shwetawrites.com/the-skull-rosary/news/) - 2013 has been spectacular for me in many ways. Krishna launched in 2012 and has been flying off the shelves in 2013. My debut novel, The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong released earlier this year in August and is getting young fans. And I finish the year with the launch of my graphic novel, The Skull
- [Advice from the baffling publishing industry](https://shwetawrites.com/publishing/writing/) - It’s been three years since I began writing stories as a profession. I have had three books published so far: The Skull Rosary, The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong, Krishna. Two of these released in 2013. Needless to say, I feel good. I started writing without any knowledge on how to write, how to edit, what
- [Rajnikanth's birthday, with love](https://shwetawrites.com/rajnikanth/writing/inspiration/) - Around 9am on Sunday morning as I walked to my nearby slum where I teach yoga to superbly enthusiastic kids every week, I saw a poster hanging at its entrance. Rajnikanth’s smiling face jumped out of the poster. Alongside were two words in English: Happy Birthday. It was a small poster, about A3 size, strung
- [The Skull Rosary nominated for two awards!](https://shwetawrites.com/comic-con-awards/news/) - There are times when you write for the heck of it. And then there are times when you are forced to write just so that you can somehow, somewhere collect, announce, record, and remember all the awesome things that have been happening to you. This one is a latter kind of a post. A lot
- [Supercharge for office](https://shwetawrites.com/supercharge-for-office/articles/) - More and more people are using their cellphones as computers, and if you’re carrying a “computer” in your pocket, why not put it to work? A phone isn’t always a good replacement for a computer—good luck filling in giant Excel sheets on a 4-inch screen—but there are some ways in which phones can really simplify
- [Rearrange your online life](https://shwetawrites.com/rearrange-your-online-life/articles/) - Click. Share. Like. Comment. Post. Redo. If keeping pace with your multiple virtual lives is getting too much for you, use these tools to reorganize them and get back to your real one. Believe us, you will thank us for it. Swayy This one is for the share hogs—the ones who would like to read
- [Guest post: A tryst with author RK Narayan](https://shwetawrites.com/author-rk-narayan/writing/) - I have always had a soft corner for stories real, or make believe. So after much pondering over and ideating, I announce the launch of Creative Chat series for my website, where I will share experiences of authors meeting other authors, artists, storytellers and creative people. I am SO excited to present author Aditi De’s
- [Meeting artist Paul Fernandes](https://shwetawrites.com/artist-paul-fernandes/writing/) - Till last year, I didn't know who Paul Fernandes was, though I had seen his artwork all over Bangalore, occasionally colourfully covering up a bland restaurant wall or even an old space. I loved his work, without realising it was his work. Then, on a day walking during lunchtime, I stepped into his shop at
- [Brain or the sexy body?](https://shwetawrites.com/madanasundari/traveltales/) - Sexuality simmers in ancient tales of India. While I was researching for my current book (a series based on tantrism), I came across the lovely tale from Vetala Panchavimsati, an older version of Vikram-Betala stories. In a temple in the city of Shobhavati, through the favour of Goddess Gauri, Prince Dhavala marries Madanasundari, the daughter
- [The story of us](https://shwetawrites.com/the-story-of-us/articles/) - There’s nothing more romantic than remembering the things you did together as a couple, be it something as simple as holding hands or jumping off a plane to skydive. This Valentine’s Day, we suggest you put together your memories in a beautiful personal story for your partner. Here are the apps that can help you
- [Wordless](https://shwetawrites.com/wordless/writing/inspiration/) - My words are gone Only a trembling remains In my hands, slight epilepsy In my eyes, a silent burst Of emptied mind Of thoughts no more. For gone are the words Flung away letter by letter Torn off, screeching, screaming Taken to the recesses Burnt alive Hacked to pieces Crushed and then buried.
- [The rape of Meghalaya](https://shwetawrites.com/meghalaya/writing/inspiration/) - Eight hundred dumper trucks filled to the brim with coal and limestone stand on the Indian side, patiently waiting to cross the border into Bangladesh and dump their load. That’s all they do, day in and day out. Pick up limestone and coal, dug out from the mountains of Meghalaya, head to the border at
- [Why I am shunning Women's Day](https://shwetawrites.com/womens-day/writing/inspiration/) - A day before Women’s day, I got a press release pitching an idea about women tweeting in the Twitter-verse. An idea meant for Women’s Day. And this is how it began. I write to you on behalf of my client, Twitter and a possible tech feature on Women & Social media for Women's Day edition.
- [Songs of travels](https://shwetawrites.com/travels/writing/inspiration/) - Found a perfect picture to go along with this poem I first scribbled on my Facebook wall somewhere. My hair's not right My skin breaks out I am tanned, darkened, spotted and sore My muscles ache, my lips are torn My back hurts and my stomach growls But my shoes are dirty And they
- [Articles written in March](https://shwetawrites.com/articles-written-in-march/articles/) - An app for a hobby Write more, sing a better song, take a spectacular photograph or sketch something quickly. Take your hobby to the next level with these aids VSCO Cam 3.0 Started by a group of people who love taking pictures, VSCO Cam comes with delightful features and its tools give you manual control
- [The importance of failing to write](https://shwetawrites.com/writing-2/writing/) - Failure. That fear that makes all of us run, constantly hurrying in the rat race, getting less sleep, tossing and turning in bed at night, worried, worried that we might fail in making it to our dreams, our goals, fail our children and parents’ expectations or worse, our own expectations from ourselves. Failure is a
- [Letters of love](https://shwetawrites.com/letters-of-love/news/) - It's a trickle really, but with three books out in the market, I have slowly started to get letters from readers who've enjoyed my work. I wanted to share them as a blog today because, well these letters (emails really) make my heart sing. Write to me, dear readers and lovers of books! I quite
- [The dentist nightmare](https://shwetawrites.com/nightmare/writing/inspiration/) - One early morning, while I was sleeping, a premolar fell off my upper set of teeth. It fell into the dark abyss of my mouth and lay there like a hardened piece of rock. ‘Go back to sleep,’ I told myself. ‘It’s just a nightmare.’ Always happens after or before a dentist visit is due.
- [Comic fundas at Bookalore festival](https://shwetawrites.com/bookalore/news/) - Here it is #Bangalore. Have been roped in to give comic fundas to kids (9-13 yrs) in the upcoming Bookalore event by the amazingly sweet children books author Asha Nehemiah (whose sheer number of books can shame Jack and his tall beanstalks!). The workshop is all ready with a spine-tingling scene from The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong. I will
- [Teaching comics at Bookalore](https://shwetawrites.com/comics-bookalore/news/) - Making comics is such a difficult task. I have always appreciated the dedication and the love of comics in artists that i meet every day online and offline. So it took me a while to say yes to the kind people at Bookalore when they suggested that I do a comics workshop in their July
- [Free books at Goodreads](https://shwetawrites.com/goodreads/news/) - I am giving away free author-signed copies of The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong! To participate, all you got to do is sign in with a Goodreads account and click. It's that simple really. And Goodreads is a beautiful place to meet people who love books and find new books for yourself! Connect with me on Goodreads!
- [Story of my three book contract](https://shwetawrites.com/book-contract/writing/) - Earlier this year, I signed on a piece of paper with a trembling hand and suddenly, I was an author with a series contract with Harper Collins India. My transformation left me with nothing but a sense of giddiness and sweaty palms. As the elation vanished, I realised that I had only written one of
- [The secret of Thillai Nataraja](https://shwetawrites.com/thillai-nataraja/traveltales/) - The legend goes that once, long ago, before time was clocked, Shiva came strolling into the Pichavaram mangrove forest. In those days, magicians who thought that gods can be controlled with rituals and mantras, lived there. Shiva decided to test the sages and took the form of a bhikshuk, a mendicant seeking alms. Inspite of
- [A detective workshop at Bangalore Literature Festival](https://shwetawrites.com/detective-workshop-bangalore/news/) - I love doing my detective workshop with tweens. When I created the mystery (which is loosely based on The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong), I had no idea it would be such a blast for not only the kids but also for me, to do it again and again, to see the stories that the kids built up
- [Detective workshop heads to Legacy School](https://shwetawrites.com/national-library-week/news/) - Last year, during a detective workshop at the Hippocampus library in Bangalore, I met Vimala and her team, the super gals who run the Hippocampus School Library Services, which is all about setting up beautiful, readable, exciting libraries in schools. I’ve always loved the musty smell of books, much like coffee, heady and imaginative and
- [Photoblog: Chandni chowk and Jamia Masjid](https://shwetawrites.com/photoblog/writing/inspiration/) - What can be more fun than walking in the bylanes of an old market, peeping into antiques? Here's a few pictures from my Instagram feed.
- [Looking to pay through your mobile?](https://shwetawrites.com/looking-pay-mobile/articles/) - Try these apps Turn your smartphone into a wallet. Here are some apps you can try Pay for petrol, buy lunch, shop for groceries—without taking out your wallet. All you need to do is tap or click on your smartphone. In a country where many users are going online through mobile, digital wallets could well
- [Twitter toes the line](https://shwetawrites.com/twitter/articles/) - The redesign of the microblogging site reflects the changing user profile of social networks—but the look is very similar to that of its competitors In February, for the first time in Twitter’s history, chief executive officer Dick Costolo acknowledged that Twitter needed to reach a larger and more varied audience. “By bringing the content of
- [Apps that mean business](https://shwetawrites.com/apps-mean-business/articles/) - Travelling for work? Download these apps to keep you on track Are you the incessant air-mile collector like George Clooney in the 2009 Hollywood film Up In The Air? The kind of business traveller who’s more at home at airports across the world rather than back at home? If yes, these apps might help you
- [Manage the cloud](https://shwetawrites.com/manage-cloud/articles/) - Finding it difficult to remember if your presentation was uploaded on Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive? Here are apps to consolidate your free cloud storage Our lives are scattered in the cloud, distributed across online storage accounts. A few gigabytes on Dropbox, a few more on Microsoft’s OneDrive and a few gigs on Google Drive
- [7 silly things we do with smartphones](https://shwetawrites.com/smartphones/articles/) - Among them, using abbreviations to send text messages, shooting videos incorrectly, and letting apps eat into battery life Ever run around like a headless chicken in search of a socket, to plug in your dying smartphone? Or been told off for talking too loudly on the phone in a public place? The first brands you
- [Shield your Android](https://shwetawrites.com/shield-android/articles/) - Is your ‘droid’ device protected against increasingly devious virus attacks? If not, here are some life-savers Of all the new threats against mobile operating systems in the second half of 2013, 97% were targeted against Android, according to the “Threat Report” released by security research firm F Secure Labs in March. It doesn’t end
- [Putting a stop to mobile addiction](https://shwetawrites.com/mobile-addiction/articles/) - Can’t help pressing the mobile screen button every few seconds? Here are apps that will track your mobile use and help reduce phone dependency In May, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (Nimhans) opened a first-of-its-kind clinic in the country—a centre to treat teenagers’ obsession with social networking, instant chatting apps,
- [Are stories real?](https://shwetawrites.com/stories/traveltales/) - This story was recently carried in Swarajya magazine and got over 150 shares online. Thrilled! Editing this a bit and resharing. ========== Of stories, Oh muse speak to me. Some time ago, I took a friend and her nine-year-old daughter to Bull Temple in Bengaluru. It’s the place with one of the country’s largest monolith bull, in
- [Build apps, the budget-friendly way](https://shwetawrites.com/build-apps/articles/) - You don’t need to be a coding champion. With a little perseverance and the right tools, you can create an app sitting at home—these five options will help GoodBarber If you want great design templates for your app, head to GoodBarber. The platform has a strong focus on app design and offers more than 50
- [Guest blog: The Study of Nirmal Verma](https://shwetawrites.com/author-nirmal-verma/writing/) - It's a lucky day for me! Just a few weeks ago, well-known author Zac O'Yeah, who has been kind to me without any reason really, agreed to send me a guest blog for my Creative chat series. As a young Swedish writer in the mid-1990s, Zac visited India and met one of the stalwarts of Hindi literature Nirmal
- [Anantya in Tehelka: 'My Protagonist Is A Fearless Woman'](https://shwetawrites.com/fearless-woman/writing/) - #Fearless. #Woman Many a times, when you write, you don't really know why you're writing this particular story and what it is that you want to say or experience through it. It's instinctive, this desire to write a story. Which is why I was quite surprised to get to know something about me recently. I've been
- [Holidays can be a breeze](https://shwetawrites.com/holidays-can-breeze/articles/) - Do you break into a sweat at the thought of drawing up travel itineraries? Turn to these vacation-planner apps It’s always the same story. Holidays should help you relax but sometimes organizing the minutest detail can be a nightmare. Tickets, hotels, what to do once there, what not to do, how to reach from point
- [Champion or pawn: What does your firm want?](https://shwetawrites.com/official-socialmedia-account/articles/) - Why are companies eyeing their employees’ social media accounts? Two years ago, as part of its social media strategy, HarperCollins Publishers India Pvt. Ltd asked its editors to use their personal social media accounts to tweet and post about the books they were working on. There was a social media training session at their office
- [How to click the right panoramas](https://shwetawrites.com/great-panoramas/articles/) - Can’t fit everything in one photograph? These apps can help you click some good-looking panoramas Many smartphone cameras come with the ability to take decent panorama shots, but usually some or the other element is missing. For one, you can’t put the phone in auto-mode to take a panoramic selfie, which is the thing
- [Meeting cheat-sheet: Apps to help take notes](https://shwetawrites.com/apps-to-take-notes/articles/) - Too lazy to take notes in a meeting? Switch on these apps and let your mind wander If you feel it’s becoming more and more difficult to focus on that presentation and somebody might notice, press a button and rest. One of these apps will do the recording for you. Dictadroid If you want an
- [Five procrastinations of writing (and how to strike them down)](https://shwetawrites.com/five-procrastinations-writing-strike/writing/) - Writers are natural born procrastinators. We all know that feeling, the one which comes just before you actually start to write: Let me have another cup of tea, another day, another book, another little salty chip and then I will start. When I began my journalist career more than a decade ago, I was sure
- [Roped in to judge a haiku competition at IITK](https://shwetawrites.com/iitkanpur/news/) - Earlier this year, I spent three weeks at the lovely IIT-Kanpur campus all thanks to some work my husband had there. There were many new experiences involved in it for me, including living on a campus, cycling from home to work and interacting with faculty and students who talked more engineering and science that philosophy. (I
- [Cult of Chaos available on preorder](https://shwetawrites.com/cult-of-chaos/news/) - I just came back from a lovely holiday in Orissa and knocked on my neighbour's door with glee. Reason was a package of books they'd received for me when I was holidaying. Nothing unusual, except, these books were the ones I had been working on since the last two years. I am so thrilled, so bummed
- [My two bits on crime fiction in Asian Age](https://shwetawrites.com/crime/writing/) - Recently, a kind guy who loves icecream, called Vishav, contacted me for my point of view on the rise of detective and crime thrillers in the English language space. The result was a really good article collating thoughts of authors like Kishwar Desai who is spearheading the first Crime Writers Festival in Delhi later this month
- [The making of a gadget free party](https://shwetawrites.com/gadget-free/articles/) - This month-end, throw a bash out of kilter by unplugging your friends and family To make sure your guests know that you are serious about your gadget-free party, ask them to switch off the phones, or even confiscate their phones, politely. Parties nowadays are chock-a-block with screen scrolling, the selfie-mafia and people who can’t talk
- [How to remove that awkward feeling while exercising](https://shwetawrites.com/exercise/articles/) - Many of us feel embarrassed about exercising because our bodies are less than perfect. Here’s how you can face those fears Adhiraj Singh, 26, an assistant editor in a children’s magazine based in Mumbai, is cripplingly conscious about his man-boobs and the way his tummy jiggles when he jogs. “I just don’t like shaking it
- [Guest post: Four commandments of narrative](https://shwetawrites.com/writing-narrative/writing/) - Since last year, I've been interacting with author Sharath Komarraju who has become a guide and a friend over Google chat. He furiously pens down books and blogs on writing, mythology as well as money. Here's his fab post on narrative. Take his advice, he's good. Fiction is made of two kinds of writing: narrative and dialogue. That is the most simple
- [The Skull Rosary in The Hindu (Tamil)](https://shwetawrites.com/skull-rosary-hindu-tamil/news/) - The Skull Rosary, a graphic retelling of Shiva's darkest stories, whizzed past me in between the launch of The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong and completing Cult of Chaos. I couldn’t even tell my friends about it much, or think about how lovely the book turned out to be. I still quote it every now and then,
- [Guest Post: The relevance of fantasy](https://shwetawrites.com/payal-dhar-fantasy/writing/) - I met Payal at last year's Chandigarh Children Literature Festival. At the official dinner thrown to us, she was this unassuming, quiet person in the rather chatty crowd. We didn't talk much and when we tried to exchange contacts, she told me she isn't on Facebook or most of the social media networks. Finally, we exchanged
- [Cult of Chaos: Free over at Goodreads](https://shwetawrites.com/free-giveaway/news/) - Starting today, am holding a series of free giveaways of Cult of Chaos over at Goodreads. Apply to get a signed-copy for free. Doesn't get any better than that! Goodreads Book Giveaway Cult of Chaos by Shweta Taneja Giveaway ends January 22, 2015. See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter to win If you love
- [Blogging at HuffPost India (+interview)](https://shwetawrites.com/huffpostindia/news/) - HuffPost India runs an extensive blog section and I had to get in. To start it, this week, I have posted an updated version of the blog about Rajnikanth and a community that lives near my home. Next week, something sinister is coming up. Keep a track :) Marketing for my book has taken over
- [Cult of Chaos excerpt in DNA](https://shwetawrites.com/cult-chaos-excerpt-dna/writing/) - Oh this is fabulous! DNA carried this excerpt from Cult of Chaos on their online worlds this weekend. This is from the first chapter on the book in which Anantya has gone on a blind date. Of course, it ends bloody. :D ============= This is why I rarely accepted cases from my own species and
- [What Happened to Narasimha After He Killed Hiranyakashipu?](https://shwetawrites.com/narasimha-hiranyakashipu/traveltales/) - The sun is high and hot, slashing the skin, but the breeze and the swaying coconut trees soften it, scattering shadows and cooling the meandering unpaved path I follow. The long, deceiving coconut leaves suddenly move to reveal the monolith I search for. Six and a half meters tall, the monolith of Narasimha, an avatar
- [Relationships on the run](https://shwetawrites.com/relationships-run/articles/) - Forget pubs, cafés, golf courses and cinema theatres. Dating, therapy, networking—it’s all happening as you sprint to fitness Two years ago, Genieve Bodiwala saw Sandesh Shukla, 31, at a runner’s bash in Mumbai and fell in love. “I knew I wanted to marry him at that moment. From then on, I plotted to make him
- [Interviews in Economic Times, Business Standard](https://shwetawrites.com/interviews-economic-times-business-standard/articles/) - Isn't this quite cool? I didn't know that business dailies would show interest in picking up this story for their magazine sections. So the same interview, conducted by this really sweet lady from PTI, was carried over at two of the major financial dailies: Economic Times and Business Standard. Here's the interview in its full
- [Cult of Chaos to launch with a quiz](https://shwetawrites.com/occult-detective-quiz/news/) - For the launching of my book, Cult of Chaos, which is a thrilling, quirky journey through the supernatural underworld of Delhi, I didn't want to do a humdrum book launch, one where I invite another author or a celebrity, ask them to formally launch the book and then talk about things. I mean if you
- [Become the boss of birding](https://shwetawrites.com/birding/articles/) - There are two kinds of birdwatchers—those who feel birding is an outdoor activity that needs just a pair of basic binoculars, and others who believe technology can enhance the whole experience. Certainly, binoculars are essential for that rare spotting of the whimsical crimson-backed sunbird, a tiny bird found only in the forests of the Western
- [Interview and giveaway @KiranManral's site](https://shwetawrites.com/free-giveaway-2/writing/) - I know author and blogger Kiran Manral since the days when she was a freelancing writer based in Mumbai and me, a fulltimer in Femina, based in Delhi. We didn't ever meet, we still haven't but we interacted over email and kind of kept in touch for all those years. She's a very popular blogger in
- [Cult of Chaos Review @Dehradun Post](https://shwetawrites.com/cult-chaos-review-dehradun-post/news/) - Don't know where to put this one in, so just adding it in the 'review' category. Dehradun Post did an article on Cult of Chaos recently. I found it just by chance by name-browsing on Google Search. (There, confessed!) And was quite happy with it. What do you think? Here's the article. In December last
- [Why tantriks sit on top of a dead body on a new moon night and meditate](https://shwetawrites.com/tantriks-sit-top-dead-body-new-moon-night-meditate/traveltales/) - I don't like death. I cringe everyday when I read about it in the newspaper. It happens to a stranger, unexpected, when you're just eating a burger in a café. It happens after a prolonged, wearisome illness. It shockingly and violently happened to those little innocent children in Peshawar last month. I cringe every time I
- [Cult of Chaos launched in Atta Galatta with an occult quiz](https://shwetawrites.com/atta-galatta-occult-quiz/news/) - Never knew that a standalone event, where people are coming just to meet you, to celebrate your book, can give one such jitters. So it was that I had had a sort of a stomach churning, a week before my first ever book launch was about to happen. I adore Anantya Tantrist, the tantrik detective of Cult
- [Book excerpt: Cult of Chaos in New Indian Express](https://shwetawrites.com/book-excerpt-new-indian-express/news/) - Cult of Chaos is not an easy book for anyone to like, as in anyone from traditional media. Some say no, because it’s a tantrik book, a fiction supposedly encouraging superstition (without having read it of course). Which is weird really. It’s fiction, created stuff! Some of them have said no to the book because it’s too violent,
- [Fangirling with Samit Basu and litfests](https://shwetawrites.com/author-samit-basu-2/writing/) - Warning: a bit of gushing ahoy. Ten year ago, in a small bookstore (which has shut down now) in Delhi, I was introduced to Samit Basu’s first book, the first in the Gameworld trilogy, and was instantly jealous of him. I hadn’t read the book yet. I just stood in the bookstore, remembering that I
- [Four reasons your book got rejected](https://shwetawrites.com/four-reasons-book-got-rejected/writing/) - Early morning, you open your email box and out pops yet another rejection from a publisher you had your heart on. You fume, you wither, you get depressed and angry and want to hit someone. Everyone is against your voice. And you feel one of these things: - Your writing isn’t good
- [Interviews: Mail Today, New Indian Express, NewsNation](https://shwetawrites.com/interviews-mail-today-new-indian-express-newsnation/articles/) - Phew, Anantya seems to be getting a lot of attention. In a good, good way. Last week, three interviews came out about her. New Indian Express called me after the book launch and did a huge interview on the book without misquoting me, except in one place (atleast the spellings were all correct). Thank you for kindness,
- [When The Hindu saw me laugh](https://shwetawrites.com/the-hindu/writing/) - Recently at a wedding related puja, I giggled at something inane when an uncle came upto me and said, 'Don't laugh!' I was rather cheeky to the prim-dhoti clad old man and answered, 'But uncle I laugh at everything!' Someone else gave me a well-meaning 'tip' over at Facebook: "You've written a dark, occult book, perhaps
- [Reviews that made me blush](https://shwetawrites.com/book-reviews/news/) - Reviews of Cult of Chaos are pouring in on Facebook, over at Twitter, Goodreads, in blogs and media. So many places to find little cuddles of happiness for Anantya. These few in particular made me blush with happiness. Some are from friends who have no reason to be nasty or nice for that matter. And some
- [Going digital for love](https://shwetawrites.com/going-digital-love/articles/) - Come 14 February, these apps may be able to help men and women find a date, while offering women some sense of privacy and security A new crop of dating apps is building in features that are women-friendly and hopes to protect them from fakes, trolls and potential harassment. Some offer only friends of friends
- [Interviews in Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle](https://shwetawrites.com/interviews-asian-age-deccan-chronicle/writing/) - Having been part of media for a long time, I know how easily and how fast people working there tend to forget you, moving on to the next thing they haven't covered. But oh my, isn't it fabulous to have that 15 seconds of attention? I feel like that now, when I post two really, really
- [Yogini, menstrual blood and its power](https://shwetawrites.com/yogini-menstrual-blood-power/traveltales/) - When I first opened a Facebook page for Anantya Tantrist, the female tantrik protagonist of my fantasy series, I got a well-meaning advice from a ‘friend’ who informed me that Anantya can’t be a tantrik. His reasoning? Tantriks are all males. Women at best are support systems for them or their muses or powers. As
- [Winners and importance of gifting books](https://shwetawrites.com/winners-and-importance-of-gifting-books/news/) - As part of spreading the word around about Cult of Chaos and Anantya Tantrist, I've been hosting giveaways of the book at various spaces, online and offline. As a result of buying copies of my own book to giveaway to a few people I know or do not know, I've realised how important it is to
- [Anantya in Business Std, DNA, Telegraph....](https://shwetawrites.com/anantya-in-business-std-dna-telegraph/news/) - Bits more of coverage for Cult of Chaos. Business Standard and DNA ran a preview of my book launch with an interview. DC Books Editors added it into their Editor's Picks. While this is what Telegraph had to say. While this was sinking in, She The People, a fabulous website on women achievers, approached me to
- [Terry Pratchett on the need for fantasy](https://shwetawrites.com/terry-pratchett/writing/) - More than a decade ago, when author Terry Pratchett won the Carnegie Medal award for The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, he talked about fantasy and how it was so important as a genre to explore society. I've been heavily inspired by this fabulous author's work and everything he says is gospel truth for
- [Five tips to a spectacular book pitch](https://shwetawrites.com/five-tips-to-a-spectacular-book-pitch/writing/) - First of all, congratulations of writing down your dream work! That’s a huge achievement. Now you’ve to do something that might be much more difficult. You have to summarise your book, which can be anywhere between 50,000 to more than a lakh of words, into a little, nightmarish thing called a ‘pitch’. A cover letter
- [On the front page of The Hindu](https://shwetawrites.com/the-hindu-review/news/) - Oh my. This is the fourth time the kind girls over at MetroPlus, the magazine of The Hindu, have done a story on me (see here, here and here) . And I remain amazed at how everyone I seem to know reads this newspaper in Bangalore. I am flooded with messages, tweets, emails and phone calls
- [Witches and vamps attack Delhi this Saturday](https://shwetawrites.com/witches-delhi/news/) - Oh. So much excitement. It was an experiment to launch Cult of Chaos, an Anantya Tantrist mystery, with an occult quiz in Bangalore. The format worked so well, that my publishers, HarperCollins wanted to do it in Delhi too. So I'm super excited to announce Anantya Tantrist is heading to Oxford Bookstore, Delhi this Saturday to
- [Fab launch for Cult of Chaos in Delhi](https://shwetawrites.com/fab-launch-for-cult-of-chaos-in-delhi/news/) - #Delhi #Booklaunch #Rocked Super duper excitement happened while I was in Delhi. First of all, I saw spring come alive in the city after six years. It’s fabulous, by the way, that end of winters before they crash into the searing hot summers. The city was blushing and blooming with colours all over, Fall tussling with
- [Six kinds of people you meet at book clubs in Delhi](https://shwetawrites.com/book-clubs-delhi/traveltales/) - 'You're everywhere,' cried a guy who came to three of my Meetups in Delhi over the same weekend. Yes, I was. Two weeks in Delhi and I wanted to meet, chat and listen in to what the crowd in the capital city was reading. What kind of book was it buying and what kind of writing
- [Anantya goes in Femina](https://shwetawrites.com/anantya-goes-in-femina/news/) - Ten years ago, I was working full time in Femina. Ten years later, someone from Femina did an interview about me. It's a moment of a kind. Femina has shaped the earlier me. I worked three years there, three years full of travel and meeting the most fabulous people I could imagine. So, I'm a bit stumped.
- [Tantric Tales: A documentary, real life stories and an occult quiz](https://shwetawrites.com/tantric-tales-a-documentary-real-life-stories-and-an-occult-quiz/traveltales/) - 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),
- [How to fortify your lungs against air pollution](https://shwetawrites.com/how-to-fortify-your-lungs/articles/) - 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
- [Anantya makes it to Top Ten at various places!](https://shwetawrites.com/bestseller-books/news/) - 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
- [Cyber bullying: Nip it in the bud](https://shwetawrites.com/cyber-bullying-nip-it-in-the-bud/articles/) - Don’t over-share, don’t get into an altercation, collect evidence—a few ways to stop online bullies from browbeating you ------------------ 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
- [Ten secrets to marketing your book - 1](https://shwetawrites.com/ten-secrets-marketing-book-1/writing/) - 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
- [Tantric tales: a relaxed Sunday with supernatural](https://shwetawrites.com/tantric-tales-a-relaxed-sunday-with-supernatural/news/) - 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
- [Ten secrets to marketing your book - 2](https://shwetawrites.com/ten-secrets-to-marketing-your-book-2/writing/) - 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
- [Five myths about an author](https://shwetawrites.com/five-myths-about-an-author/writing/) - 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,
- [Why aren’t there more women in comics?](https://shwetawrites.com/why-arent-there-more-women-in-comics/writing/) - Before you tag this post as that fashionable F-word, hear me out. I’ve been working in comics since a few years now. Much more than their western counterparts, the Indian comic industry is welcoming to both genders, across board. They’re open to story ideas which go beyond fanboy or superhero fiction. I’ve worked on two
- [Seven creepy sights at ComicCon Bangalore](https://shwetawrites.com/seven-creepy-sights-at-comiccon-bangalore/articles/) - 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. ================================================= Sweet’s gone dead Girls and women turned out at Cosplay not in demure, girly costumes but in kickass ones. Manga
- [Get termed geek and non-intellect in same blog. Check.](https://shwetawrites.com/geek-and-non-intellect-in-same-blog-check/news/) - Aaand it's done. Polka Cafe, who've made a mark with listicles around books (read here, here and here), have included this one in a listicle of interesting comic geeks that live in Bangalore. Not only that. This is what they say about Cult of Chaos: Her novel 'Cult Of Chaos' is about a female tantrist, that has
- [Joined a NGO for a bit](https://shwetawrites.com/communication-for-an-ngo/news/) - This was in the making for a while. I started off as a communication professional and I love devising angles and language for a brand. So when I came across an opportunity to work with a social organisation, how could I refuse? So I am so glad to tell you all that I'll be working
- [Dona Paula and her lovers](https://shwetawrites.com/dona-paula-and-her-lovers/traveltales/) - Seven kilometers from Panaji, Goa’s capital city, as the moonlight hits the crashing waves at the rocky Dona Paula beach, an apparition rises, floating to the shores, crying in its anguish. She’s a lady, stately and elegant, wandering and lost, gliding on the rocky shores of the hammer-shaped headland that divides the Zuari and Mandovi
- [Low-cost superfoods](https://shwetawrites.com/low-cost-superfoods/articles/) - Get healthy on less than Rs10 a day with these nutrient-packed foods. Superfoods don’t necessarily have to be expensive or exotic. Many of these healthy foods are readily available at affordable prices. Here’s a list of foods that are loaded with nutrients and don’t cost much. Watermelon: Rs.3* for 100g This fruit, which is about 92%
- [How do you escape a box created by bots?](https://shwetawrites.com/how-do-you-escape-a-box-created-by-bots/writing/) - When I was little, I used to visit a bookstore in my neighbourhood, stand facing a daunting line up of books in a random alley, close my eyes and just like that, pick up a book, at random, open it on a random page and read the first line that caught my eye. It was
- [Nine ways to stay safe and dry this monsoon](https://shwetawrites.com/nine-ways-to-stay-safe-and-dry-this-monsoon/articles/) - The sky is grey, rumbling; the streets are full of puddles of stagnant water, a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. “Malaria, dengue, chikungunya cases rise during the monsoon,” says Amitabh Parti, senior consultant, internal medicine at the Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI) in Gurgaon, adjacent to New Delhi. The change in weather rings in viral
- [How to stay safe online](https://shwetawrites.com/how-to-stay-safe-online/articles/) - In the first week of June, Bengaluru-based make-up artist Dipthi Aashok opened a video link on Facebook, “What my sex”, that a friend had posted on her timeline. Before she knew it, the video had been posted on her friends’ timelines. “I was shocked,” says the 37-year-old, “the video didn’t even open and I was
- [Horrible plots to avoid in science fiction](https://shwetawrites.com/plots-avoid-science-fiction/writing/) - Strange Horizons is a fabulous online speculative fiction magazine. I've been going there for ages, hogging on the freebies, including fiction, poetry, reviews of new books and articles on fantasy, horror, science fiction and its various sub-genres. While exploring the site, I found this useful list of things that the folks at Strange Horizons have seen
- [Celebrity diets: fad or fab?](https://shwetawrites.com/celebrity-diets-fad-or-fab/articles/) - Celebrities can do just about anything to stay in shape. Earlier this year, American TV series Mad Men actor January Jones revealed that she ate her own dehydrated placenta in the form of capsules, to fight depression and fatigue. Ashton Kutcher only ate fruits while making the 2013 film,Jobs. We look at some weird diets
- [What's your social media type?](https://shwetawrites.com/whats-your-social-media-type/articles/) - Just about everyone is hooked to social media. Every morning, we check notifications, read suggestions from friends, chat with some and comment on people’s travels. If you can’t help but log into your Facebook timeline while in the loo, or can’t wait to click group selfies and post them when out with friends, here’s a
- [Ready to ride the startup wave?](https://shwetawrites.com/ready-to-ride-the-start-up-wave/articles/) - If you want to start a company, this may be a good time to do it. For venture capital (VC) funding for Indian start-ups has increased by a whopping 261% in one year, according to a November analysis by PrivCo, a financial data platform that analyses business trends. Several factors are pushing this growth: India is
- [Five ways to make your character real](https://shwetawrites.com/five-ways-to-make-character-real/writing/) - The most hyperreal character I created till now is Anantya Tantrist, the tantrik detective and the heroine of my latest, Cult of Chaos. She has made me schizophrenic. I know her voice so well, that I can hear her talk in my head, can tweet as her and myself at the same time, having conversations over
- [Charge your gadgets on the move](https://shwetawrites.com/charge-your-gadgets-on-the-move/articles/) - Had enough of wires and sockets? Here are the latest, more elegant, ways to power your gadgets Scientists are trying to ensure you don’t have to be anxious about that dreaded beep that signals a low battery or, worse, dead battery in your smartphone. In future, you may be able to charge your device simply
- [Tracking the trainer](https://shwetawrites.com/tracking-the-trainer/articles/) - Trainers are everywhere. On the Internet, suggested by friends, with specific expertise, in gyms, even at parties. They say impressive things, have certificates with complex acronyms and promise you a body like actor John Abraham’s in a few months. But finding the one that’s right for you is not an easy task. The key: Begin
- [Talking about Indian comics in London](https://shwetawrites.com/indian-comics-london/news/) - I'll be giving a talk on Indian comics at the Cartoon Museum in London later this week. This post is about how it happened. It's a good story, do read it! Early in May I attended a workshop on British comics, full of comic scholars in London, led by the marvellous Paul Williams from Exeter University. There I
- [Why SEO is bad for your writing](https://shwetawrites.com/why-seo-is-bad-for-your-writing/writing/) - I was writing the piece on Shantala, the Hoysala queen, a lyrical post which talks about her life, what she achieved and how she did it through the art she knew, dancing. I was about to post it on my Wordpress when my Yoast SEO plugin suggested this: The copy scores 56.8 in the Flesch
- [Three breasts and their stories](https://shwetawrites.com/breast-stories/traveltales/) - Everything to do with a woman’s breasts is taboo in our society, even though most of us have drunk milk from our mother’s breasts for the first year of our lives. The word ‘breast’ itself is a bleep on Indian television and cleavage mostly is blurred. I had attended a theatre workshop some years back,
- [Shantala, the Hoysala queen](https://shwetawrites.com/shantala-the-hoysala-queen/traveltales/) - “This is the most famous sculpture of the Chennakeshava temple,” says the guide, pointing at a voluptuous dancer, etched in the ceiling of the entrance. “Shantala, King Vishnuvardhana’s main queen, built the surrounding spaces of this temple. She was a genius at mathematics and a gifted dancer and musician.” The details, as far as our
- [Poem: Home by Warsan Shire](https://shwetawrites.com/guest-poem-home-by-warsan-shire/writing/) - It was at the time when the dead Syrian baby splashed across the web and media that I found this poem by poetess Warsan Shire (Twitter). It not only touched me, but crushed my heart and squeezed tears out of my rather cynical eyes. So here it is in all its glory. Hope to see more of
- [Guest post: Is Vanity Publishing Author Exploitation?](https://shwetawrites.com/guest-blog-vanity-publishing-business-model-or-author-exploitation/writing/) - Rasana Atreya is the author of Tell A Thousand Lies (shortlisted for the 2012 Tibor Jones South Asia prize), The Temple Is Not My Father and 28 Years a Bachelor. UK’s Glam magazine calls Tell A Thousand Lies one of their ‘five favourite tales from India.’ Valley Isle Secrets is her first foray into fan fiction set
- [How to be a pest at a party](https://shwetawrites.com/the-party-pest-guide/articles/) - Use your smartphone smartly and your host will never invite you again (you can thank us later) Got invited to a party by your boss which you just can’t get out of? Or that pesky aunt has sent her pre-Christmas dinner invitation yet again? Instead of grumbling away the evening in a corner, smiling politely
- [Allergen-proof your home](https://shwetawrites.com/allergen-proof-your-home/articles/) - From keeping your surroundings clean, to turning off the air conditioners—some ways to rid your home of pesky allergens. If you’re suffering from an allergy, the cause could well be hidden within the four walls of your home or office. Homes that are closer to traffic-heavy areas or near an industrial belt in a humid
- [Guest fiction: The Last Answer by Isaac Asimov](https://shwetawrites.com/the-last-answer-by-isaac-asimov/writing/) - Thought should start the new year with something smashing. Here's a short story by my ever favourite author Isaac Asimov to inspire you (and me) to write some good science fiction this year. ================================================= The Last Answer by Isaac Asimov — © 1980 Murray Templeton was forty-five years old, in the prime of life, and
- [How not to get phubbed](https://shwetawrites.com/how-not-to-get-phubbed/articles/) - Getting phubbed and fighting with each other because of your phone, tablet and laptop? The same devices, which create a rift, can also help couples bond when used effectively In 2012, Australia’s Macquarie Dictionary coined the word “phubbing”, which describes the habit of snubbing someone in favour of a mobile phone. Today, the phenomenon is
- [How to write an application for a writing fellowship](https://shwetawrites.com/how-to-write-an-application-for-a-writing-fellowship/writing/) - Am so thrilled to share with all of you that I’ve just received the Charles Wallace India Trust writing fellowship for speculative fiction. Yup, speculative fiction. You know the one which has monsters and aliens and spaceships and rakshasas and cool things that stay away from the so called ‘serious’ writing? Which means I get
- [Why speculative fiction may be the best way to depict reality](https://shwetawrites.com/why-speculative-fiction-may-be-the-best-way-to-depict-reality-2/articles/) - In 2001, while receiving the Carnegie Medal for his children’s bookThe Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, author Terry Pratchett said, ‘We categorize too much on the basis of unreliable assumption. A literary novel written by Brian Aldiss must be science fiction, because he is a known science fiction writer; a science fiction novel by
- [Party](https://shwetawrites.com/party/writing/inspiration/) - In a sheen of sparklers;Broken, sharded jazzBlack night knights Intersperce with Dull lightMingling, hobnobbingWith polite, elite nods.Guzzling, sparklingSharp crystal barbs Behind the air kissVenum moves.Desperately seeking eyes;Genteel, jealous smiles.Light to dark,Dark to light.(C) Shweta Taneja, July 2009
- [The politics of Facebook](https://shwetawrites.com/the-politics-of-facebook/articles/) - With the social media becoming an important political battleground, is Facebook affecting friendships and trying to influence our political leanings? When social activist Uthara Narayanan, 32, posted an innocuous article link on the Gujarat riots on Facebook in January, she was in for a surprise. An old friend from college fiercely defended Gujarat chief
- [Two’s company](https://shwetawrites.com/twos-company/articles/) - Ditch your multiple handsets for a sleek, popular dual-SIM cellphone, but be wary of dubious build quality. By Shweta Taneja & Krish Raghav Three years ago, Mumbai-based entrepreneur Anun Charan decided to separate the phone numbers he needs for work from his personal contacts. Since he hated carrying more than one phone at a time,

## Pages

- [About](https://shwetawrites.com/) - Shweta Taneja is an award-winning, bestselling author who writes science and fiction for all ages. With seven novels, one science book and many short stories and articles, she is a leading voice in feminist science fiction and science communication. Her latest novel is Kungfu Aunty Versus Garbage Monsters. Her science fiction story The Daughter That
- [About](https://shwetawrites.com/about/) - Shweta Taneja is an award-winning, bestselling author who writes science and fiction for all ages. With ten books and hundreds of articles and short stories, she is a leading voice in science communication and feminist fiction. Her latest book is The Big Book of Wild Poop, a hilarious science book for middle grade. Her science
- [The Big Book of Wild Poop](https://shwetawrites.com/the-big-book-of-wild-poop/) - The Big Book of Wild Poop is a hilarious science book on wild animal poop and how it cools our climate.
- [Books](https://shwetawrites.com/novels/) - Science: THE BIG BOOK OF WILD POOP A hilarious science book for middle grade learn about climate change and ecological relations through wild animals and their poop. Fiction: KUNGFU AUNTY VERSUS GARBAGE MONSTERS Turn children into climate warriors with this rollicking sci-fi adventure. Kungfu Aunty Versus Garbage Monsters is India's first ecopunk. Buy on Amazon.
- [Contact](https://shwetawrites.com/contact/) - Shweta has build her career with kindness and support from a community of writers and is always available to guide, help or generally connect with upcoming authors and writers. For questions on how to write, read her writing advice or email her meATshwetawritesDOTcom.
- [Kungfu Aunty Versus Garbage Monsters](https://shwetawrites.com/novels/science-fiction-for-kids/) - Turn your children into climate warriors with this rollicking sci-fi adventure. Kungfu Aunty Versus Garbage Monsters is India's first ecopunk for kids.
- [Short stories](https://shwetawrites.com/short-stories/) - Spurts of unexpected creativity Upcoming Science Fiction > Mars Triathlon: A courageous story of a girl who wants to win the triathlon on Mars. Unnamed Anthology, Harper Collins India (TBP) Comic > My Zombie Babe: A brand new caper for detective Anantya Tantrist in a 20-page comic with amazing artwork by Devaki Naogi. Part of Necrobaba,
- [They Made What? They Found What?](https://shwetawrites.com/science-book-for-kids/) - This is a unique two-in-one book on science and scientists for kids. Read stories of contemporary Indian scientists, their struggles, their work lives and why they push the boundaries of science and of themselves to discover or invent something (Batty Cat who plays a pivotal role in the book, suspects the brainwave happens thanks to
- [Science < Fiction](https://shwetawrites.com/india-fantasy-science-fiction/) - < NEW RELEASE Do scientists wear lab coats? Are they assisted by robots? Can they ever fail at maths? Meet India’s brightest scientists and read all about real-life incredible inventions and daring discoveries in They Made What and They Found What. A first-of-its-kind flipbook for kids. Buy now! < NOVELS Anantya Tantrist Mysteries A unique,
- [The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong](https://shwetawrites.com/ghosthunters/) - The book is about three children, Kartik, Opus and Tashi who live in the small town of Kurseong in West Bengal and what they do when they come up against the angry Iyer ghost who has the whole town scared. Published by Hachette India. Buy from Amazon REVIEWS "The story flows smoothly and Kartik’s detective skills keep
- [The Skull Rosary](https://shwetawrites.com/theskullrosary/) - Five artists came together in this graphic novel to bring out five transgressive stories out in black and white. A fantastic experiment for me. On top of it, it was nominated for The Best Writer and The Best Cover in the Comic Con India 2013 awards! Buy from Amazon, Flipkart, Holy Cow Website This is a 100-page graphic novel
- [Krishna, Defender of Dharma](https://shwetawrites.com/krishna/) - In this graphic novel, I have tried to amalgamate Krishna's tales from the Bhagawata Purana, Hari Vamsa, Mahabharata and folk tales about Hindu's favourite blue god. The graphic novel is a 150-page whopper and great for anyone who wants to read his complete story. Pick it up for the amazing blue-tinged art by artist Rajesh
- [The Rakta Queen, an Anantya Tantrist Mystery](https://shwetawrites.com/rakta-queen/) - Anantya Tantrist is all that stands between Delhi and the forces of darkness.A Kaula tantrik is brutally murdered by his chandaali slave. The same night, a group of university students lose their minds and perform an orchestrated orgy in front of the Vidhan Sabha metro station. To get to the truth, Anantya Tantrist, unofficial consultant with
- [The Matsya Curse, an Anantya Tantrist mystery](https://shwetawrites.com/matsya-curse-anantya-tantrist-mystery/) - Tantrik detective Anantya Tantrist is back, smart-ass comments, dark mantras and all In Banaras, Bhairava, a black tantrik, sets out to win control of life through mass murder, aided by an army of pretas.In Delhi, a tribal supernatural melts to death in a five-star hotel on the same night that an ancient demonologist is murdered. All this while, the government
- [Cult of Chaos, an Anantya Tantrist mystery](https://shwetawrites.com/cult-chaos/) - The first urban fantasy to come out of India, this bestselling novel is the first in Anantya Tantrist Mysteries and features a female tantrik detective who solves supernatural crime In Delhi. It was listed in top ten in Asian Age, Oxford Bookstore, WH Smith Bookstores and Bahrisons Bookstores. BLURB The tantriks are now overground. They
- [How to steal a ghost @ Manipal](https://shwetawrites.com/manipal/) - Delighted to share a ghost hunting caper (my favourite kind) based in the Manipal University. It's a crazy university adventure, full of intrigue, first loves, jealousy, folklore, horror, action and B-grade humour. You'll love it. Leaving you with some reviews and media coverage of the book. The only way Twinkle Kashyap can win Rohit Dandi's heart is by becoming the
- [South Asian Spec-Fic Working List](https://shwetawrites.com/south-asian-sff-list/) - Dear fans, readers and fellow writers Thanks for dropping by to The List. I’m Shweta Taneja, a fantasy and science fiction author from India. I have been writing speculative fiction since years now and have five novels and two graphic novels to my name. A few of my books are available in the Western markets
- [Media Coverage](https://shwetawrites.com/media/) - Interviews - International media The Galactic Imaginarium Podcast - In conversation with Romania's biggest SF fanzine. (In English)Nederlands Contactcentrum voor Science Fiction - Interview about Shweta Taneja's life and work. (Jpg) Interviews - Traditional media Hindustan Times - Indian mythology meets the supernatural world in this fantasy thriller The Hindu - Shweta Taneja’s latest fantasy
- [Anantya Tantrist Mysteries](https://shwetawrites.com/anantya/) - Anantya Tantrist Mysteries is a bestselling urban fantasy series based in an Indian mytho-world. It's been called a feminist thriller and a hilarious rollercoaster ride into the supernatural underworld of Delhi. At the heart of the series is Anantya Tantrist, a sassy, expletive-spewing 23-year-old tantrik detective who roams the streets of Delhi solving supernatural crime. The intensive
- [Events, talks and workshops](https://shwetawrites.com/events-talks-workshops/) - I quite enjoy interacting with people, both adults and kids and have created super fun detective workshops, occult quizzes and done talks on trends in Indian comics. Here's where you'll find me next. UPCOMING EVENTS Women's Writers' Fest 2017, BFlat, Bangalore (24th August 2017) Book on the Beach, Kovalam (Nov 10-12, 2017) PAST EVENTS Love bites: Discussion on love
- [Social Sector projects](https://shwetawrites.com/social-sector-projects/) - Centre for Internet and Society: Worked on a research book ‘Digital Natives for a Cause?’ as its executive editor. It was an amalgamation of three years of international research with 40 research papers, in partnership with Hivos. Details. Janaagraha: Strategised outreach tactics, build up social media presence and set in place analytical tools for Jaagte Raho. Buzz India: On
- [Other stuff](https://shwetawrites.com/projects/) - Other than long fiction, I write short stories, comics, articles and guest posts. I also take up communication projects with organisations in the social sector that excite me. This page has links to all my other things scattered across this site and the web. Enjoy :) SHORT FICTION It's a dog's death is a short fantasy-horror comic
- [Home](https://shwetawrites.com/homepage-2/) - I am an author, graphic novelist and journalist based in India. My weakness is to create, retell and listen to stories full of magic, fantasy and non-human thingummies. That and tea of course. I've written six books and two hundred articles in a career spanning fourteen years and I continue to write madly, passionately. I'm
- [The Occult Quiz](https://shwetawrites.com/occultquiz/) - For the launching of my book, Cult of Chaos, which is a thrilling, quirky journey through the supernatural underworld of Delhi, I didn't want to do a humdrum book launch, one where I invite another author or a celebrity, ask them to formally launch the book and then talk about things. The idea stuck and
- [Comics making workshop](https://shwetawrites.com/comics-workshop/) - Making comics is such a difficult task. I have always appreciated the dedication and the love of comics in artists that i meet every day online and offline. So it took me a while to say yes to the kind people at Bookalore when they suggested that I do a comics workshop in their July
- [Ghostly detective workshop](https://shwetawrites.com/ghostly-detective-workshop/) - Kartik, Opus and Tashi, the three curious kids in the book The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong have many adventures. Unfortunately, the printed form of a novel could contain only one. Since the three kids have solved many other mysteries in my head since then, I thought, why not use different mediums to explore them? So
- [Articles](https://shwetawrites.com/articles/) - Thanks for your interest in my articles! Before I charted out on to the frustratingly fascinating journey called storytelling, I used to be a journalist for many years (eight to be precise for those who like numbers). I still continue to write for HT Mint on health and technology and Discover India on travel. Here you
- [The ghost hunting contest is still running!](https://shwetawrites.com/iyerghost/) - Is it a kite? Does it look like a pretty handkerchief or a old Nokia phone? Does it have five hands or three feet? Does it wear striped yellow socks, have a pot belly or does it have long, flowing red hair which smell like a running gutter? What does the Iyer ghost look like? Participate
- [It's a dog's death](https://shwetawrites.com/werehouse/) - It's a dog's death is an experimentative comic in the horror genre. It's a futuristic story about a weredhole in the year 2312. It has all elements that I love compressing together: fantasy, sci-fi, horror and human sensitivity. The story is part of a 50-page anthology titled Werehouse - the house of Monsters drawn by artist Vivek Goel. The
- [Terror strikes back](https://shwetawrites.com/holi/) - Waterballoon expert Terror is confident that he's the best in his colony till he is challenged to target the mysterious Pagla Miyan. Terror takes the challenge, but how do you hit an old man who is never seen in daylight and is rumoured to be a vampire
- [Subscribe](https://shwetawrites.com/subscribe/)
- [Digital AlterNatives with a Cause?](https://shwetawrites.com/dn/) - The Centre for Internet and Society, in collaboration with the Knowledge Programme @ Hivos, conducted a scouting study of scholarship, practices, policies, anecdotes and attitudes towards digital natives. They have consolidated their three years of research in a four book collective Digital AlterNatives with a Cause? I worked as an Executive Editor for this
- [Short e-horrors](https://shwetawrites.com/horror-e-stories/) - A friend once was surprised at finding my thoughts so full of the grotesque and macabre (considering I look quite positive, upbeat mostly). Darkness in all its shadows has always fascinated me. It's the area which lies hidden under the carpet, which makes your hair follicles stand up at night, which make your heart race

## Categories

- [Blog](https://shwetawrites.com/category/writing/inspiration/) - Steady stream of ideas about life, the universe and the spark of creativity.
- [Travel Tales](https://shwetawrites.com/category/traveltales/) - Travel tales are urban legends, oral stories, folklore and myths that I have collected during my extensive travels in India and abroad.
- [Articles](https://shwetawrites.com/category/articles/) - Articles published by Shweta Taneja in major newspapers and magazines. Read how the future of technology will be and the latest on what the startups are doing in India.
- [Writing Advice](https://shwetawrites.com/category/writing/) - Writing advice, secrets of penning down books and experiences of authors. Come here for free intensive writing workshops.
- [News](https://shwetawrites.com/category/news/) - Latest news on Shweta Taneja’s upcoming novels, short stories, events and other things related to her work.
- [Fiction](https://shwetawrites.com/category/fiction/)

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