My husband has been asking me to keep my posts brief. That is very difficult for me. I am a meticulous writer, always editing and rewriting, looking at my write ups at different times just to be sure that it sounds right always. It is a painful process taking a lot of time. When I am writing I have the file open for hours, writing in snatches and also engaging in odd jobs like floating fresh flowers in the bowl of water, watering the pots of plants on my terrace, staring at the crimson heart of my large hibiscus. My writing involves all this — the restless meanderings are the mainstay of my writing activity. So it naturally takes a very long time, many days by the time I finish my first draft. And that is not the end, I am many drafts and hours away from the finale!

You see to comply my husband with a brief post is very difficult, for I believe that to write briefly I should be able to write at one sitting. One sitting is already up now. I am just about to get up and read a passage from Naipaul’s Literary Occasions. And there is nothing much that I have said as yet in my post. I have not yet started writing how I go about my next drafts. That is for another post. Now it is time for Naipaul.