Mega Learning Experiment – Part 4 - Mystery Writing, Fashion World and Poetry Reading

I jump into a Mumbai local train with over a 100 people stuffed into one compartment on 5^th February, 2014. It was 12:30 pm  the afternoon at a busy railway station in Mumbai.

Insights from a Mystery Writing Workshop

I reach Kalaghoda by 1 30 pm, for a workshop on Mystery Writing by Mr Zac O Yeah. This was the second time I go to attend Zac’s workshop. Some of the main learning give aways were,

1.  As a writer think about what you want to write for the next ten years.

2.  Create separate cardboard boxes for your ideas. One for thriller, one for for horror, and whenever you get an idea, write it on a paper and put it in the box.

3.  Reading is as important as writing. You need to read hundreds of books if you want to be a good writer.

4.  Get inspiration from different fields. For instance he described how to write good crime fiction he read love poetry because it gave him a good understanding of human emotions.

5.  For a writer, ideally when a person finishes your first book, he will want to buy your next book.

6.  He shared with us how all great fiction was tragedy and crime novels work because they have a combination of tragedy, conflict and satisfactory  endings.

7.  As a writer skip the parts the reader will anyways skip.

8.  Write about topics that scare you.

9.  A great novel has entertainment and is aesthetically good.

After the workshop I walked around Kalagoda, for a while. By 5 pm, I decided to go for a workshop on the world of fashion by a former super model and current fashion choreographer, Mrs Achla Sachdev. There was a crowd of about forty peole at the Artisans center in Kala goda for the event. The session by Mrs Achla was just brilliant, and there were so many gems of wisdom that she shared with us in that two hour talk. It was an inspiring two hour session on the fashion industry and the various careers available there.

A Poetry Reading Under The Stars

By 7 30 pm in the evening, I walk out of the Artisans center after the wonderful fashion workshop by Mrs Achla Sachdev. I go through the schedule and see that there is a poetry reading at the David Sassoon Library close by. Some of India’s best poets Ranjit Hoskote, Gerson D’Cunha, Gieve Patel, Anju makhija and many more were there. The event started at 5 pm and was going to go on till 10 pm in the evening.

I came in by 7 30 pm and sat there till 10 pm. Every half an hour a new set of india’s best poets came on stage and shared their work with the audience. The ambience at the back lawns of the David Sasoon library was invigorating. There were lanterns hanging from the trees above. Chairs were scattered all around with grass below to cushion it. The sound of Mumbai’s traffic with the horns and conversations could be heard in the distance. But for those three hours, you were lost in words, places and thoughts through the poems being narrated.

I met a student who had come for the festival from Delhi. We got into a conversation and he told me he was passionate about music and had dropped out of college to pursue his interest. Another man, I met there was a Gujrati businessman. He had a shop in Grant road were they sold electric components. But he was one of the most delightful souls I ever met. He was smiling throughout, had a love for knowledge and described how you can find friends anywhere. We spent barely five minutes together, but I would remember him for a very long time.

Let us Learn Together

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