Week 29/2024

The soft landing of the last few days transformed into anxiety before I could really enjoy it, but overall, it was a week of balance and I’m grateful for that.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING

1.

I woke up on Monday with a headache that didn’t really leave me all day, and it kept returning through the week. I blame it on my still-awry sleep cycle, which is finally showing signs of much-needed improvement.

2.

On the work front, I spent a lot of time fighting an untenable, self-imposed deadline. It took the calmness of the weekend to realise that I was becoming agitated for nothing. Hopefully, on Monday I will be able to calmly assess the situation once more and do what’s feasible and keep my eyes on the bigger picture. That aside, I prepared a lot of delivery files for a project that is coming to its conclusion. I’m behind on a third project, where I have hit a bit of a creative block, something that I will have to breakthrough in the coming week and produce work to share with the client.

3.

Amber and I met our financial advisor, as well as my accountant on Wednesday. Both long-overdue meetings that I am happy I can cross of my list.

4.

After several inordinate delays, I finally sent a set of three new zines for printing. I should have them in my hands by mid-next week, when I will start the process of photographing them and preparing a newsletter issue and my online shop so I can finally share them with the world. As it turns out, they will probably be in an exhibition and art sale before any of this, and I am hoping to have that sorted out soon as well.

5.

The weekend was leisurely. On Saturday, we met Noopur and Rasagy who were visiting from Bangalore. We met for lunch at Guppy, and then went to The Bookshop Inc next door. Amber and I picked up a few books, and I placed a request for Sadak.

After that say be said bye to Rasagy, and the remaining contingent headed to Akar Prakar for an exhibition of printmaking from Bengal. The exhibition had some some beautiful artworks on display, but I wish there was more contextual information alongside. I fell in love with Ramendranath Chakravorty’s woodcuts. Sunday was spent at home, mostly catching up with reading. I finished the Phryne Fisher mystery I had picked up mid-week, after reading Julie Delporte’s Portrait of a Body. Now to return to Hindi Imperialism once again. I’ve already polished off three books during my struggle to finish it.

6.

There is some worrying news on the parental health front, and we’re waiting for test results. Serious, but nowhere as bad as these things can be.

Week 28/2024

It feels so good to have had an ordinary week at home.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING

1.

I had a soft landing into the everyday with a work week that was quite manageable. There was enough to do, but it never bled into the evenings, or god forbid, the weekend. It was also a nice balance of type design and OpenType features along with some graphic design and writing.

2.

After my monthly accountability call with Prateek, I decided that I would send in a proposal for a short talk to a conference happening in October. I’ve had a little germ of an idea for it some weeks, and chats with Amber and Rasagy helped me polish it up. Now, I need to make a video proposal, which honestly feels like a lot to do. When did text proposals become passé?

3.

Amber and I started listening the That was Us podcast, and selectively re-watching bits and pieces of This is Us. That was our entertainment regimen for the past few days.

4.

We cooked at home regularly this week, so we happily went to Carnatic Café for brunch on Friday. It was both a nice treat, and a well-deserved break from kitchen work. On Sunday morning, we made our way to Sunder Nursery early in the morning. It was humid, wet and really quite still to either walk around or sit on the grass, but we enjoyed the weekly market, eating breakfast there and picking up some small odds and ends. We found five varieties of mango there that neither Amber nor I had eaten before — Gulab, Fajri, Aaliya, Haya and Mehtab. With these, the tally of mango varieties we would have sampled this year has risen to twenty. That is the most varieties I have ever eaten in one summer.

5.

Earlier in the summer, Noopur and I set out to do a year-long art project together, but I have been woefully behind in making my monthly artworks. I’m still behind, but during the weekend, I planned and prototyped my collage for June. I also spent some time typing out folk songs that I’ve been goading my Mom to put down on paper.

6.

I’ve struggled to make much headway into reading Aladi Aruna’s Hindi Imperialism, despite being rather invested in the subject. The writing, or maybe the translation, is rather stilted, and I’ve found it tough to stick with. I didn’t let that stop me from picking up Lisa Wool-rim Sjöblom’s graphic memoir about interracial adoption, Palimpsest, and finishing it in one sitting. What with re-watching This is Us, the timing felt very apropos.

Week 27/2024

Talk about dropping the ball — I haven’t written or posted these notes in almost three weeks. In my defence, there was a lot of life to be lived and not enough time to document it, but I am happy to have a quiet moment to reflect today, and get this week notes train back on track.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING

1.

It was Amber’s birthday this past weekend, and despite being quite tired, we tried to make the most of it. On Saturday, we ate brunch at Fig at Malcha, a restaurant we had been thinking of revisiting for months, and then made our way to The Bookshop Inc. and Bahrisons Booksellers for an afternoon of book browsing and purchasing. We finished a couple of errands from our to-do list, grabbed a coffee and then headed back home. On Sunday, we had my parents and Purneetha over for a snack and some cake. Purneetha ended up spending the day with us, and we capped if off with some chaat and samosas at the local market.

2.

Through late June and early July, I was in Penedès, about an hour away from Barcelona, for the annual TypeTogether get together. Like always, it was an intense week or so of work and socialising. I liked the house we were staying in. It had lots of spots for working together and alone, and an open courtyard that was perfect for al fresco dinners. Building on the tradition that Elena started last year, I put together a quiz for everyone one of the nights, which was fun. As was watching football, and even a spot of cricket during the World Cup final. I find that as the years go by, I am more comfortable with being myself at these long meetings, even when it means hitting the sack when everyone is still drinking and chatting.

I saw two lifers in Penedès — the European bee-eater and the Common Starling.

There were a lot of midges at the house and I’ve come back home with dozens of bites. Unsurprisingly, I had an allergic reaction to the bites, and I am still on a medication regimen to manage the itching and burning sensation that has continued to persist.

3.

I was not looking forward to the flights to and fro from Barcelona since there is no direct connection between India and Spain, and it turns out all my fears were well-founded. I was flying Lufthansa, and I don’t think I’ll be doing that again. Each of my four flights was delayed. I had to be rebooked on one of the connecting flights, and barely made it for my flight from Frankfurt to Delhi. Frankfurt airport was a nightmare with its multiple security checks and long immigration queues for non-European travellers. The whole experience was very stressful, and I wouldn’t want to put myself in one of these situations again.

4.

I’ve been back home for a few days now, and it is nice that the monsoon arrived while I was away. It is such a relief after the terrible heatwave, and we’ve been trying to spend some time outdoors every evening. My sleep cycle is still messed up, and I am hoping that it will be fixed by the weekend. I had to jump right into finishing a grant application that was due soon after my return, so I haven’t had the kind of rest I would have liked. That doesn’t take away from my joy with eating home-cooked food again. Not that food at the TypeTogether get together is bland, but it definitely doesn’t pack the flavour punch I am used to.

5.

Time away from home always makes me think about everyday life with some much-needed distance.

I need to think clearly about the rest of the year and how much work I want to take on, apart from my regular TypeTogether hours. The first half of the year has been a lot, and if I want to stay sane, the second half cannot be anything like it. I’ve agreed to take on a couple of small writing assignments, but I’m saying no to some events. I have, however, been struggling to make a decision about a conference whose call for proposals ends next Friday.

While contemplating a move away from Delhi that didn’t end up happening, I feel like I had focused a lot on the negatives of living here in the last five or six months. I am looking forward to reorienting my thinking now, otherwise I’ll just be miserable. The monsoons, I find, are a great time to do that. To make myself fall in love with the city once again, I picked up Bulbul Sharma’s Sunbirds in the Morning, Grey Hornbills at Dusk last weekend, and scarfed it down in a couple of hours. Sadly, the book was terribly underwhelming. But then again, I probably don’t need a book to remind me how I have discovered my love for nature while living in Delhi.

Week 24/2024

This past week was a bit of a whirlwind, just like I was expecting it to be. There was lots of catch up on after being out sick for several days.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING

1.

I had not one but two talks/workshops at TypeLab Asia, which concluded yesterday. On Friday, I presented a new talk about India Street Lettering that delved into the approaches I take for annotation and archive building, and how this collection catalyses different aspects of my practice. That was followed by a Devanagari TypeCooker drawing session the next day that I co-ran with Namrata.

Some results from the Devanagari TypeCooker workshop

Having lost the last week, I felt under a lot of pressure to prepare for these. Thankfully, I was able to ready all the material for both a day in advance, and that helped with nerves and getting on with life otherwise. Ultimately, I think the talk and workshop went better than I was expecting. I had a lot of fun delivering them, and some of the messages and comments I received afterwards were downright heartwarming.

I have done a lot of public-facing activities this year, more than I have ever done, to be honest. And while it has been an exhilarating experience putting each of them together, it has also taken a lot out of me. With TypeLab Asia over, I am hoping for a couple of months of quiet before I jump into organising type walks in Delhi.

2.

A client and I had a deadline at the end of this week to send some files over to the production vendor, and I am happy to report that everyone worked quite hard to make that happen. It is not often that clients are so responsive in a crunch situation and carry their weight so admirably.

3.

I tried and failed to make plans to see Harshay and Purneetha this week, and that was terribly demoralising. Hopefully, next week will fare better, and I will get to spend some time with them before I ship off to Spain. Amber and I, did however, spend a couple of fun evenings with my parents. Just sitting around and chatting, without any pressure. It was my Dad’s birthday last week, but we couldn’t really celebrate since he had a series of long meetings that he had to go some distance away for. That celebration will now have to wait for July.

It has taken us long enough, but Amber and I finally made plans for some days off in July to visit Mayank and Tanya. I cannot wait.

4.

The India Street Lettering zines are now sold out at both Champaca and The Bookshop Inc.

5.

In the run-up to my travel, I started putting together a solid reading list that should tide me over the long flights. This is what I have got so far: Ruben Pater’s Caps Lock and The Politics of Design, Fredrik Backman’s Anxious People, Julie Delporte’s Portrait of a Body, Luke Healy’s Self-Esteem and the End of the World, and Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom’s Palimpsest.

Week 23/2024

I wish there was much to report about last week, but I was unwell for most of it and spent time recuperating.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING

1.

On Monday, I was beginning to feel the effects of the heat. Little did I know that it won’t be that but a botched dental procedure that would leave me in pain for days. I went in for a tooth extraction where the local anaesthesia didn’t work as expected. The procedure had to be called off midway and I came back home in a lot of pain and in serious shock. The physical effects have worn down, but I think my mental health will take longer to recover.

2.

The Lok Sabha election results were announced on Tuesday. While they weren’t exactly what I would have liked, they were more in the realm of what best I thought we could expect. At least they keep some hope alive.

3.

During my sick leave, I made a new household record for Jenga with a tower that was 31⅓ levels tall, besting our previous best of 26⅔.

4.

I was feeling well enough by Saturday afternoon that Amber and I planned an early morning visit to Sunder Nursery the next day. We made it there by around 7:45 am to comfortably do the rounds at the weekly market. At one of the fruit and vegetable stalls, we found two varieties of mangoes we hadn’t eaten this summer: mallika and amrapali. Add that to another variety called zardalu that we found at our usual grocers, and we have three varieties to eat in the coming week. We read a little, ate some delicious kheer, and then headed to Masjid Nursery for some plant shopping and Khan Market for breakfast. The India-Pakistan fixture of T20 Cricket World Cup was also on Sunday night. I had hoped to catch it, but was ultimately too tired to watch the delayed game. India won a close match.

5.

I received some beautiful mail from Ankush — zines about life in Kolkata, and a holiday in Goa.

Week 22/2024

The week has been a bit of a bummer: some news, which Amber and I have been waiting for months, finally arrived, but didn’t go our way. We were disappointed, sure, however, it is also a relief because at least we know now.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING

1.

I had a lot of client meetings and presentations last week, and now I am waiting to hear feedback and comments to move forward with a couple of projects. I made reasonable progress on the project I was falling behind on, and thankfully, the back-and-forth has been quick, so we’ve moved work along even if we are not quite there yet.

2.

I had a video call with Tanya on Wednesday. It had been a really long time since we had a catch-up like this, and I am glad we finally did it. Our main agenda was to discuss a potential Typostammtisch workshop around India Street Lettering, and we were able to flesh out the core of the idea. I am excited to facilitate this once she gets the monthly events running again.

Noopur and I also met online for a chat to plan an art project we want to do together. We’ve made a plan we like, and we start this month.

3.

One mid-week afternoon, there was a storm and some showers that brought temperatures down, if only temporarily. As soon as the rains stopped, Amber and I rushed to our neighbourhood park for a walk and some birdwatching. We saw about 20 species, and I was especially happy to have seen a pair of black winged stilts, and some wire-tailed swallows. The highlight, though, was a greater coucal that we were able to observe properly for a few minutes before it went back into hiding.

4.

In preparation for applying for a grant, I took stock of my newspaper collection. I am not sure when or how it really happened, but the collection is over 600 strong now, and around half of them are newspapers from around India. I only managed to catalogue the Indian newspapers last week, but hope to work on the rest soon, maybe during my summer break.

5.

I’ve been feeling very anxious about my flights to and back from Barcelona, which are less than a month away now. There are no direct flights between India and Spain, and I hate layovers, and the stress that comes with check-in luggage. I am trying to see if I can pack for the entire trip in my large backpack and keep it all under 7.5 kgs. After a bit of a trial, that does seem possible, but let’s see.

6.

On the weekend, Amber and I went for a screening of Luis Buñuel’s surrealist film El Ángel Exterminador (The Exterminating Angel) at Red House, a relatively new arts venue that I have been keen on checking out. The movie was intense, and the food delicious. I hope we make it back there for more events.

Week 21/2024

The heatwave continues and I am trying to make the post of my time spent indoors these days.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING

1.

It was a steady work week. I didn’t have a lot of meetings, and so I managed to move things along on a couple of projects. Over on the TypeTogether front, my colleague, Joancarles, breathed some cool OpenType life into a Devanagari project I am working on, and I am very excited to see where that’s headed.

2.

I find that I’ve dropped the ball on the social media front lately, having missed posting the results of my workshop at IIHS two weeks ago, as well as some new work that I had planned to share this year. I also have not managed to come up with a concrete plan for how I want to use social media for India Street Lettering. Instagram is a pain, but I realise that I have got to share work there to stay on people’s radars and generate more business. Knowing this doesn’t always act like the motivation I need it to be, though.

3.

Amber and I were back at swimming pool this week, and it has been good to spend alternate evenings swimming. The summer has put running and birdwatching completely out of our schedules, but I am thankful that we at least have this.

4.

I took up two LEGO print making projects: one alone to make a small Devanagari print that spelled out गर्मी, and another one with Amber, where we made a white-throated kingfisher. With a push over the weekend, I also finished reading A Gentleman in Moscow.

5.

For one reason or another, work on the next batch of India Street Lettering zines has been delayed for the past couple of months. I put in some time over the weekend and if all goes to plan, I should be able to send them out for test prints before the week is up.

6.

Along with the solo card games I play regularly, this week Amber and I have been playing cooperative Jenga. Our best so far is 26⅓ levels, but more importantly, we’ve been having a lot of fun. Interestingly, we have done better when we haven’t strategised beforehand. Just goes to show that we really haven’t got the pulse of the game yet.

Week 20/2024

It is 45°C here, and I am cloistered indoors trying to escape the heat. It has been a quieter, slow week and I am grateful for that. I think the Bangalore trip and a break from home helped me reset my mental health a little, and be bit more at peace. I even managed to do a bit of embroidery on Sunday afternoon.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING

1.

We started the week with our bedroom airconditioner bust. It had been giving trouble since last week but the sudden rise in temperature made it pretty difficult to sleep without it. We slept in my old room at my parents’ one night and our own guest room for a couple more before it was fixed.

2.

I got the last of my dental work done, and my smile has become less crooked. I had chipped one of my incisors in a little accident at home years ago, but a combination of fear and failure of finding a good dentist had kept me from getting it fixed. While it is not odd to see myself look different in the mirror, I am still getting used to having something new and alien in my mouth.

3.

The meeting I was nervous about last week went well. The client asked some pertinent questions, and had very valid feedback. Now I am waiting for more inputs from them before I can prepare a new draft of the design. The project extension I had pitched for also got green-lit, and I spent a couple of hours brainstorming ideas. Over at TypeTogether, I can see the end of the tunnel for a writing and editing exercise I have been involved with for the last few months. Even though I know we will start addressing other parts of the same project right after, I’ll be glad when this component is finished. Finally, I’ve been drawing Art Deco letters for a commission, and that is giving me a lot of joy.

4.

We had my parents over on Saturday night for a potluck dinner, and to play the demo of Fishbowl together.

5.

On Amber’s recommendation, I started reading Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow. So far, so good, but I can sense that the writing style will begin to grate as I go on. I’m also watching Monk on Netflix. It is the perfect kind of show to fill the silences while I work to keep me from getting distracted. The IPL is reaching its end, and this year, despite myself, I have become deeply invested in the fate of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, and so I am delighted that they’ve beaten the odds to make the play-offs.

Week 19/2024

I am bone tired and the week hasn’t even begun. But I want to take a moment to mark the fact that this is my twenty-sixth week writing these notes. Sure I missed a fortnight due to a family health scare, but I am rather proud of sticking to this habit for half a year.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING

1.

Most of last week was a daze as I was trying to catch up with work. I felt over-extended, fragile and desperately needing a break. I started work on the first round of a new lettering commission, and began putting things together in a presentation for the client. In the last couple of years, I’ve got better at communicating what I am doing during meetings and I want to keep that up. I have a nagging feeling that exchanges with this particular client could prove to be challenging so I really don’t want to miss the mark in my preparation. I also did some more work on a project that started a couple of weeks ago, expanding the character set and refining the composition and illustrations. Despite feeling quite stuck, I kept at it longer than I usually would have and I think I made some breakthroughs.

2.

Despite myself, I prepared and shared a quote for some graphic design and typography work to go with a couple of typeface families I am designing. I am desperately craving a break from work, but it seemed too good an opportunity to let go. I would, after all, love the chance to make my typefaces sing, if I can.

3.

The highlight of the week was my super short trip to Bangalore. I was there for less than two days, just enough time to attend the speakers’ dinner for City Scripts, facilitate my workshop at the festival, and grab coffee with some friends. I was quite nervous about the workshop because it was a new idea, but I think it went well enough. In hindsight, I feel like my introduction could have been more focused on what we were doing rather than on the general shortcomings of the design canon. I also wonder if I can introduce some materials in the workshop that help participants understand the history they are reinventing a bit better. It was excellent to have the Aksharaya calligraphy manuals on hand, though, and I am thankful that Sarang was able to send me a new set at very short notice. The folks at IIHS had already set up my little exhibition before I got to Bangalore and it was gratifying to be able to see it in person. When I went, more than half the free film zines that were up for grabs were gone and that made me super happy. There was so much excellent stuff happening at the festival, and I wish I could have spent more time there attending talks and panels, and meeting folks.

4.

I finally met Pooja and Yadu at the festival, and ended up spending quite a bit of time with Yadu and Namrata at the dinner, which was lovely. I also got the chance to have a small chat with Heta Pandit, and I met Hari, who works with her and helps run the Champaca store in Goa. Hari immediately reminded me of one of Amber’s closest friends and that was nice.

After the workshop, and before heading off to the airport, I squeezed in a coffee with Noopur and Kenneth. Even though Noopur and I worked together on making the Pixel/Play workshop happen last month, we hadn’t had a chance to just hang out and chat, and it was wonderful to be able to do just that. While at Nerlu Café, we ran into Aarika, Pratul and his parents, which was a happy coincidence. I hadn’t been able to figure out a way to meet them on this trip, and in a way our serendipitous run-in was even better than a planned rendezvous. It made me feel that even though we live in different cities, maybe that is not so far after all.

With Pooja, Namrata and Yadu at City Scripts

5.

The two solo flights I took were the perfect time to get some reading in. On my way to Bangalore, I read Jordan Mechner’s graphic memoir Replay. I was hesitant to read about the holocaust right now, but he tells the story of his family beautifully. I only wish there was more about his game making journey in the book. I sort of made up for that by reading Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow on the way back. Video games and game design has been on my mind a lot lately, and for good reason. Rhea and Prateek released the demo for their game Fishbowl last week, and I’ve been telling anyone who’d listen to go play it.

Week 18/2024

I started the week on the back foot, succumbing to a fever on Wednesday afternoon. I had been feeling off-colour for days so it wasn’t unexpected, but it sure was badly-timed. For weeks now, I can sense that I am over-worked but there are a few projects simmering away right now, so an overhaul of the balance of things will have to wait at least a couple of months.

Running a part-time independent practice is hard, and I think it becomes harder when there are multiple small-to-medium sized projects running together rather one large one. The code-switching between projects keeps becoming progressively harder, even if they technically require the same number of work hours. Make no mistake, I am very grateful for the work that has come my way in the last year or so. They have all been projects that I whole-heartedly wanted to do, but keeping so many balls up in the air has been tough, and has become tougher as the months have gone by. It has also taken all the time away from my self-initiated work, like the newsletter and zines. I realise that it is all a champagne problem, especially because I already have a stable income irrespective, but I want to build better frameworks for myself for the future. Rest and play are more important to me now than they were, say, ten years ago. As is quality time spent with loved ones.

While I was sick, I listened to quite a few episodes of Hello, Type Friends and Ohno Radio. Hearing about other folks dealing with similar challenges of work-life balance and building financially and creatively sustainable practices was a small comfort.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING

1.

Right before I fell sick, I was able to announce my workshop at City Scripts on social media. Quite honestly, I was overwhelmed by the response I received, and it made me feel like I, perhaps, will be able to run this workshop more than once, which was my hope for the idea.

2.

Alongside the workshop, I am also putting together a display of photographs and provocations from India Street Lettering in the form of a small exhibition, which will also have a station to watch Letter by Letter, the film that Harshay and I made about the street lettering around MG Road. Thankfully I had done most of the preparation work early so I was able to send off the exhibition material to IIHS on time.

3.

I had a couple of dental appointments. The one that I was dreading went absolutely smoothly, and the one I was wholly unafraid of had a hiccup. So it goes, I suppose. I am supposed to go back one last time this week to round off all the overdue dental work I had been postponing.

4.

On Saturday, the wood type I had purchased last week arrived. It all came in one carton and mixed up, so I have to slowly make time to organise and catalogue all of it before I can think of a fun mini-project to do with them. Maybe it can be something that my Dad and I can work on together.

5.

Some of my working hours this week have gone into drawing alternates and writing OpenType features for a script face that I am working on. Working on that was a sobering reminder that my health is not quite back yet.

6.

I spent an excruciating couple of hours doing tax-related errands: resending documents for my digital signature renewal, addressing my accountant’s queries about the book-keeping from the last financial year for the upcoming tax filing, and preparing materials for the monthly GST filing. Over the last two years, I have tried to be as meticulous about these things, trying not to let this administrative work get sidelined entirely. I have even tried to find some joy in doing it was a monthly ritual where I bring order to chaos. But it just has not stopped being a gigantic pain that I constantly feel behind on.