Thanks for kindly correcting my incorrect Hindi. Your other stories look great! You seem to have a wide range of things to write about. And unintimidated strong people write about teddy bears. 🧸 You seem to have a great collection already started which would make a great first book.
Thanks for the kind words, Larry. Teddy bears are nice. I need to work on better stories to have them published. To be honest, till you pointed it out, I hadn't even thought about getting a book of collected stories. And now, I am mentally preparing to write good ones for that.
I think that in your stories you are gradually finding and developing your own voice, your own particular point of view on everything. And the more stories you write, they will get better and better. In writing, your voice and your own sense of what makes your story a "good one" is most important. And if you want to write about teddy bears do that. They can be however you want them to be. Because any character you write is their own self and can be and do whatever they want. My favorite fictional character is Jack Reacher because he is very unpredictable and does whatever he wants. He is totally himself. You could write a teddy bear story about a teddy bear who is totally finished with how most people are so condescending towards teddy bears. And this teddy bear totally changes some person's viewpoint forever about teddy bears. Be bold. Lee Child, who wrote the Reacher novel series has a great piece of advice on this.
Believe in yourself
Trust yourself as a reader. Trust yourself as a writer. And if you’re happy with what you’ve written, then lots of other people will be too. That’s the perpetual message. You are writing for people exactly like you. Allow yourself to listen to the reader half of your brain. If the reader half is getting restless, pay attention to it, satisfy that need, and carry on.
This is great advise. I must listen to the reader half of my brain, and sometimes quieten the editor part. Thanks, Larry. I always appreciate readers like you. Kind and generous people like you are hard to come by. Hope you have a great time.
And the many more will be better and better. I have benefited not only from the advise of Lee Child but from Substack writers who are kind and generous so I enjoy passing forward any excellent advice. And thanks, I do have a great time writing, which gradually improves as I write more. Self-published my first novel last September, am working on a sequel to hopefully self publish this coming September and a third in the series to write and publish the following September. On Substack, there are authors who serialize chapters of their novels (like Charles Dickens did) get all the feedback to rewrite and revise with a good editor and publish best final versions of them. So there is much to read and learn from. All the Best on your writing journey!
Love this story because it automatically makes anyone think of their favorite India food and how good it makes you feel. I like simple stuff like aloe mattar peas and potatoes in masala spice sauce or chicken tika masala with the creamy sauce that looks like the color of lobster. My favorite dessert is rice with flecks of color in a sweet clear thin syrup of cardamom. It was available at a tiny restaurant reached by walking up a steep set of stairs perched over a tiny mosque. This was cooked by uncle or chacha who was a huge man with lots of hair and a kind heart who knew how to make India food that always tasted great. The dessert is usually eaten cold with a spoon but sometimes he had just pulled it out of the oven and though warm it tasted just as good. There was bindi (okra) in a thin masala sauce or Gobi (cauliflower) in a masala sauce and it was so good but hot. It was so hot that an elephant would turn red after eating it. This is imaginary but to me it revealed how hot India food can be, nowhere near as hot as it can be at it's hottest. Your story made me think of this little place with it's wonderful India food. It was in an old brownstone three story that must have been built in the 1800s in Murray Hill or the Curry Hill part of New York City. The little place had to shut down although the mosque is still there, barely. The very old dilapidated building will be demolished to make room for a huge tall skyscraper mixed use building with the mosque rebuilt inside on the third floor. The huge lot that stretches from the north front of 23rd to the south back of 24th street has been dug out but it has been almost four years and nothing more has been done. Your story of India food brings that all back for me. Amazing what memories it may stir up in the minds of anyone who loves India food. Not for nothing is India often called Mother India, especially because of how great the food is. Hope you receive a lot of great feedback from this story. If you put together a collection of your best stories in a book, this would be one of the best of them.
Thank you so much, Larry! Not only for your kind words but the time you took out to tell us of your own experience. It felt like I was with going with you to eat at that small place. People like you make me want to continue writing.
You're welcome. Yes. Definitely continue writing. And when you are ready, write and publish your first book. There's lots of help for doing that from many of the really awesome writers here on Substack. Just one other thing. That little place was named Chadni or moon. As though you could always go to the moon for some awesome India food if it was zarut or necessary or it was just a good idea.
This made me miss my grandmother's cooking. I did had to learn how to make some of her dishes myself, but I never did learn how to make all of them. . .Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Words cannot really describe the feeling of being home and eating food made by Amma and Paati (Achamma). Still, I loved this read, got me emotional and nostalgic to think I can no longer eat the food made by my Amma. The aroma alone is enough to cure homesickness and any other disease. My comfort food when I am down with fever has always been piping hot rasam, rice, aloo fry. Thank you for sharing this post. Please cherish your loved ones always
Thanks for kindly correcting my incorrect Hindi. Your other stories look great! You seem to have a wide range of things to write about. And unintimidated strong people write about teddy bears. 🧸 You seem to have a great collection already started which would make a great first book.
Thanks for the kind words, Larry. Teddy bears are nice. I need to work on better stories to have them published. To be honest, till you pointed it out, I hadn't even thought about getting a book of collected stories. And now, I am mentally preparing to write good ones for that.
I think that in your stories you are gradually finding and developing your own voice, your own particular point of view on everything. And the more stories you write, they will get better and better. In writing, your voice and your own sense of what makes your story a "good one" is most important. And if you want to write about teddy bears do that. They can be however you want them to be. Because any character you write is their own self and can be and do whatever they want. My favorite fictional character is Jack Reacher because he is very unpredictable and does whatever he wants. He is totally himself. You could write a teddy bear story about a teddy bear who is totally finished with how most people are so condescending towards teddy bears. And this teddy bear totally changes some person's viewpoint forever about teddy bears. Be bold. Lee Child, who wrote the Reacher novel series has a great piece of advice on this.
Believe in yourself
Trust yourself as a reader. Trust yourself as a writer. And if you’re happy with what you’ve written, then lots of other people will be too. That’s the perpetual message. You are writing for people exactly like you. Allow yourself to listen to the reader half of your brain. If the reader half is getting restless, pay attention to it, satisfy that need, and carry on.
I will write many more.
This is great advise. I must listen to the reader half of my brain, and sometimes quieten the editor part. Thanks, Larry. I always appreciate readers like you. Kind and generous people like you are hard to come by. Hope you have a great time.
And the many more will be better and better. I have benefited not only from the advise of Lee Child but from Substack writers who are kind and generous so I enjoy passing forward any excellent advice. And thanks, I do have a great time writing, which gradually improves as I write more. Self-published my first novel last September, am working on a sequel to hopefully self publish this coming September and a third in the series to write and publish the following September. On Substack, there are authors who serialize chapters of their novels (like Charles Dickens did) get all the feedback to rewrite and revise with a good editor and publish best final versions of them. So there is much to read and learn from. All the Best on your writing journey!
Thanks. Best of luck in your publishing journey too.
Thanks so much.
Love this story because it automatically makes anyone think of their favorite India food and how good it makes you feel. I like simple stuff like aloe mattar peas and potatoes in masala spice sauce or chicken tika masala with the creamy sauce that looks like the color of lobster. My favorite dessert is rice with flecks of color in a sweet clear thin syrup of cardamom. It was available at a tiny restaurant reached by walking up a steep set of stairs perched over a tiny mosque. This was cooked by uncle or chacha who was a huge man with lots of hair and a kind heart who knew how to make India food that always tasted great. The dessert is usually eaten cold with a spoon but sometimes he had just pulled it out of the oven and though warm it tasted just as good. There was bindi (okra) in a thin masala sauce or Gobi (cauliflower) in a masala sauce and it was so good but hot. It was so hot that an elephant would turn red after eating it. This is imaginary but to me it revealed how hot India food can be, nowhere near as hot as it can be at it's hottest. Your story made me think of this little place with it's wonderful India food. It was in an old brownstone three story that must have been built in the 1800s in Murray Hill or the Curry Hill part of New York City. The little place had to shut down although the mosque is still there, barely. The very old dilapidated building will be demolished to make room for a huge tall skyscraper mixed use building with the mosque rebuilt inside on the third floor. The huge lot that stretches from the north front of 23rd to the south back of 24th street has been dug out but it has been almost four years and nothing more has been done. Your story of India food brings that all back for me. Amazing what memories it may stir up in the minds of anyone who loves India food. Not for nothing is India often called Mother India, especially because of how great the food is. Hope you receive a lot of great feedback from this story. If you put together a collection of your best stories in a book, this would be one of the best of them.
Thank you so much, Larry! Not only for your kind words but the time you took out to tell us of your own experience. It felt like I was with going with you to eat at that small place. People like you make me want to continue writing.
You're welcome. Yes. Definitely continue writing. And when you are ready, write and publish your first book. There's lots of help for doing that from many of the really awesome writers here on Substack. Just one other thing. That little place was named Chadni or moon. As though you could always go to the moon for some awesome India food if it was zarut or necessary or it was just a good idea.
The moon is called chand, and the moonlight, chandni. So yes, it must be good food.
I am working on different kinds of stories right now. Hope you read and like my other stories too.
This made me miss my grandmother's cooking. I did had to learn how to make some of her dishes myself, but I never did learn how to make all of them. . .Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Glad you could connect with the story, Maya.
Words cannot really describe the feeling of being home and eating food made by Amma and Paati (Achamma). Still, I loved this read, got me emotional and nostalgic to think I can no longer eat the food made by my Amma. The aroma alone is enough to cure homesickness and any other disease. My comfort food when I am down with fever has always been piping hot rasam, rice, aloo fry. Thank you for sharing this post. Please cherish your loved ones always
Glad to see you could connect with the story. Thanks for sharing your feelings. It was my hope to capture the nostalgia and homely feeling.