Interview: Aditi Sowmyanarayan on 'Thus She Rose'   Print.Able: Aditi, I read your novel Thus She Rose almost as soon as it became available on Amazon and, as usual, I have my three questions for you.   But before that, let me say I really liked Pooja Sakhlani’s cover – the colours of the winter sky, the snow and fir trees in the background, and Zooni with the pretty top (lovely colour), the tattoo, and the thin gold chain. And now, my questions: Print.Able: A chalk and cheese difference in style and content between Gobble Thy Prejudice and Thus She Rose .   I enjoyed that. Very serious, hardly any humour, unexpected twists, including at the end – did the story just come to you in entirety or did you have to work a lot to put it together? Aditi: Thank you! I love the cover design too and it’s the wallpaper on my phone! So, let me just give you a bit of background about how the idea for this novel came about. This was right after my short story collection, Small S...

  Music: Pratik S   Print.Able spoke to Pratik S, a talented young musician. We asked him about his goals and the difficulties he faces in achieving them. He answered as follows:    'My ambition is to become good in data processing and multimedia. I also want to get confirmed and settle down working in a good company. The challenges I face are expressing myself, following multiple instructions, focusing and anxiety. Music and specifically playing the keyboard has helped me relax, stay focused and overcome anxiety to a good extent. Giving musical public performances both solo and in group has boosted my overall confidence. I also recommend music to others to overcome similar challenges.'   We also have a clip of Pratik playing the keyboard , which you can find below!   

    Yellow Watermelons  by Ajit Chandrasekhar   Yellow watermelon with four servings on steel plates   Mahadev was a farmer. His farm was near Gopalpur on the Orrisa-Chatisgarh border. The nearest town was Rourkela which is about one hundred kms away. He had a family. His wife was Sharada, and he had two children, a son, Harish, and a daughter, Nisha. He grew vegetables, fruits and even some grain such as wheat and rice. One year, the entire Orrisa State was faced with a severe drought. There was very little rain. Most of Mahadev’s crops failed, except a few watermelons which were saved. There was a severe water shortage and most people had very little to eat. Mahadev gave his watermelons to his neighbours, and as he was giving the last watermelon, his wife Sharada was very angry. ‘How can you give all the watermelons away. What about me and my children? You should have kept at least one watermelon for the family.’ Mahadev tried to explain to...

The Watermelon Story: Interview with Ajit Chandrasekhar  on 'Yellow Watermelons'   Read the story here. Print.Able: Good Morning Ajit. Thank you for sharing the story about the farmer’s family in Orissa. We have some questions for you.   Print.Able: Why did you set the story in Orissa? Ajit: Long ago, when I lived in Mysore, someone told me a story about watermelons in Orissa.   Print.Able: Have you ever yellow watermelons? Ajit: Yes I have. Print.Able: Did you like them? Do they have a distinctive flavour? Ajit: Yes, I liked them a lot. They taste very different from the pink watermelons. Print.Able: Are the weather phenomena, the drought and the cyclone you write about in the story based on fact? Ajit: Yes, that is quite common in Orissa. Print.Able: Have you ever visited Orissa? Ajit: Yes Print.Able: Where did you go, and when? Ajit: We went to Bhuveneshwar, Puri and Konarak and also saw the battlefield at Dhaulagiri on the banks of the Daya River where Ashoka f...

  Art Gallery: Art by Gyan Unni     Gyan was introduced to Print.Able by Dr. Vijay Raghavan, Honorary Director of the Centre for Autism and other Disabilities Rehabilitation, Research and Education (CADRRE). Gyan is currently enrolled at CADRRE and was recently in Bengaluru as one of the live artists for the Spectrum of Art event held at the Bangalore International Centre. Gyan loves colours and dislikes junk food.    Featured below are some samples of his artwork made for the event.