We traveled back home this week, and before we could settle in, we got bad news: Amber’s grandmother passed away. She was 96 going on 97, and had a very particular brand of joie de vivre about her that one can only hope to emulate. Amber traveled to be with his family for a few days, while I tried to make sense of pending housework in his absence. It is not how we imagined this week would end, but that’s life.
WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING
1.
Earlier in the week during the regular TypeTogether call, our new intern Sondos Abdellatif, shared her undergraduate degree project, Qeyas, with the team. Qeyas was conceptualised as a basic tool and set of guidelines for digital publishers that work with Arabic in order to help them create properly typeset layouts for online use. During her presentation, she talked about not finding any books about contemporary Arabic grids, layouts and typesetting, and what a challenge that was. Her complaint really struck a chord with me, in the context of what we experience with Indic scripts.
2.
Reopening my online shop has come with tonnes of extra administrative work that I abhor. For a few months now, I’ve been trying to set up international payments because there has been a lot of interest in buying the zines from outside India. The bureaucracy and poorly-documented technological solutions have been very discouraging. While we were still in Goa, Amber and Prateek helped me get some building blocks in place, and I have my fingers crossed that this will get resolved soon.
3.
Jane, who I didn’t get to meet in Goa this time, sent some newspapers she had collected for me on her travels along with a surprise: an old Letraset catalogue. I’m curious about how she got her hands on it (a story, hopefully, for another time) and can’t wait to go through the catalogue properly when I have some time.
4.
Most of all, this week has been about preparation: for my trip to Bangalore, especially the new printed things I want to carry with me; for an interview I have to conduct in coming days for an essay series I’m writing; for my next newsletter issue; and for completing TypeTogether’s year-end publishing targets for Primarium.