Fertilize your imagination with research, Kunal Basu tells aspiring writers

[email protected] (CD Network)
February 24, 2016

Mangaluru, Feb 24: “Good stories are a product of daydreaming and to be a good writer one needs to continuously feed the daydreaming mind,” said internationally acclaimed author Dr Kunal Basu. He was addressing the delegates of National Seminar on Dislocation, Identities, Multiculturism and the Diaspora' organized by the Post Graduate Department of English, St Aloysius College in association with Pan Macmillan India publishing house.

farmers 1

Speaking on the creative process involved in writing, the author of five critically acclaimed novels including the recently released bestseller Kalkatta' said writing has no formula or standardized tool kit.

“Writing is a discipline developed on one's own. So I cannot tell you how to write, only how I write,” he said, “For me writing comprises three things – Impulse, Method and Appraisal. In order to generate fodder for my imagination, I expose myself to unfamiliar experiences in a planned manner. The excitement and curiosity create stories in mind, which I then put on paper.”

In exposing oneself of unfamiliar experiences, it important that one is not judgmental, he added. “I try to be more accepting of the world around me and the research in turn fertilizes my imagination.”

Besides being an author, Dr. Kunal Basu is a management educator presently serving as University Reader in Marketing at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford and a fellow of Green-Templeton College.

Earlier in his welcome address, Dr. Lourdusamy Arputhem, the chairman of the Post Graduate Department of English, said, “As teachers, we should know the undercurrents and nuances of the author, which may not be known to the lay reader.”

Dr Kunal Basu also released Scribblings', an anthology of poems written by the department students.

Fr Swebert D'Silva, Principal of the college presided over the inauguration ceremony of the seminar. Dr AM Narahari, Registrar of the college and a seminar resource person Dr Padma Baliga, Associate Professor of English, St Joseph's Autonomous College, Bangalore officiated on stage during the inauguration.

Another resource person Dr Rajalakshmi NK, Associate Professor of English, University College, Mangaluru and Vasant Kamat, Head of Product at Pan Macmillan India were present on the occasion. Dr Melisa Goveas proposed vote of thanks.

farmers 7

farmers 2

farmers 4

farmers 5

farmers 6

farmers 8

farmers 9

aloysiusBook 1

aloysiusBook 2

aloysiusBook 3

aloysiusBook 4

aloysiusBook 5

Comments

Honest
 - 
Thursday, 25 Feb 2016

Dear Writers,
Please read the QURAN atleast once in your life time. There are many helpful thoughts to you and the society which U and the society can benefits.

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
January 9,2020

New Delhi, Jan 9: A total of 10,349 people involved in the farming sector, including 5,763 farmers or cultivators, committed suicide in 2018, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)'s report on 'Crime in India-2018' reveals.

The annual data was released around three months after the government released the NCRB report on 'Crime in India-2017'.

As per the latest data, of the 10,349 persons, who committed suicide in 2018, 4,586 were agricultural labourers.

The number of suicides in the farming sector in 2018 accounted for 7.7 per cent of the total suicide-victims (1,34,516) in the country, the NCRB data said.

Suicides in the country in 2018 rose to 1,34,516 from 1,29,887 in 2017.

The rate of suicides was up from 9.9 per cent in 2017 to 10.2 per cent in 2018. In 2017, a total of 10,655 farming sector-suicides were reported.

West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Goa, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Puducherry reported zero suicides of farmers or cultivators and agricultural labourers during 2018, said the report.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 25,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 25: Orange vendor Harekala Hajabba, popularly known as 'Akshara Santha' (the saint of alphabets), who went on to build a school at Newpadpu village on the city’s outskirts in 1999 is among this year’s Padma Shri awardees.

When Hajabba received the call on being nominated for the award, he was standing in a queue to buy rations.

As he is not fluent in Hindi, Hajabba handed over the phone to an auto driver, who conveyed the news that the Padma Shri award will be conferred on him.

The unlettered achiever set up a primary school from his meagre savings of Rs 150 per day,  selling oranges in Mangaluru. 

“The first time I felt bad for being an illiterate was when a foreigner enquired about the price of oranges in English. I did not know what he meant. So, I decided to start a school in my village,” Hajabba had said during a felicitation programme.

When Hajabba decided to start a school, he did not get any support. He started the school with 28 children.

The school today has been upgraded to a composite high school and is catering to the educational needs of hundreds of children in and around Newpadpu.

He ran from pillar to post in the Zilla Panchayat to make his dream come true. All cash awards he had received went into building the school. The United Christians Association, moved by the sight of his dilapidated house, built a 760-square-foot house costing Rs 15 lakh for him. 

Hajabba’s life was prescribed for the syllabus of three universities - Davangere, Kuvempu and Mangalore. His success story is also included in a Tulu textbook.

He won the Karnataka Rajyotsava award in 2013, Real Heroes award from TV channel CNN-IBN.

Hajabba, when contacted, said he could not believe his ears when told about the award.

New dreams

The frail vendor, in his 60s, humbly declared that he could achieve all this because of the support of all. Hajabba now dreams of upgrading the school into a full-fledged PU college.

Comments

Meethal Kasaragod
 - 
Sunday, 26 Jan 2020

A big Salute to him!

Great effort,

fairman
 - 
Sunday, 26 Jan 2020

Where there is will, there is way

May God help him.

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 17,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 17: Amid rising COVID cases in the past two weeks, the Karnataka government is planning to increase testing capacity to 25,000 samples a day, said a minister.

"Due to increase in cases in the last two weeks, the government is trying to scale up testing to 15,000 to 25,000 samples per day," said Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar.

He said people living in crowded places, sanitation workers, street vendors, healthcare workers, police and other frontline staff would be extensively tested.

"It has also been decided to mandatorily test all those who have symptoms of Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI)," he said.

Similarly, all people over 50 with ILI symptoms will be tested.

The health department will also randomly test samples in old containment zones to make sure that the infection is not recurring.

Currently, there are 72 Covid testing labs in the southern state, 41 government operated and 31 private labs.

However, for a few days, the number of Covid tests in the state have plummeted.

On Monday, the health department has tested only 5,362 samples across the state.

Likewise, on Tuesday, only 7,936 samples were tested, diverging from earlier weeks when around 10,000 cases were tested on an average.

In all, 4.57 lakh samples have been tested so far, of which 4.39 lakh have tested negative.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.