India’s expansive embrace of the Gulf since 2014 under the Modi-Jaishankar doctrine is a reflection of Gujarat’s long duree relationship with the region. Mercantile aesthetics and sensibilities matter. Lutyens Baba Log are the elite types, and Bania mentality is passe at at least for them, that is itself a relic of the past . #Gulf

This book is unique as a book of fiction and literature it is also as much a work of history and social commentary on Oman. As a cultural insider, this books inner humanity shone bright as the ‘Sadiyyat Al Qamar’. Beautiful writing and translation on Oman by SQU academic Jokha Al Harthi and Oxford Don Marilyn Booth.

The references to Wadi Aday and Sib, made my eyes tear up. Better sociological writing than any western scholar can pen. An International Booker Prize Winner which should be read by all Gulf watchers.

Not everything we do well, which have an inherent business model ready. However, we can do it well, to create a ripple to get paid. Markets mutate, as do gate-keeping networks and ‘aapna time aayega’.

Reading Dr Suraj Yengde’s interview to Columbia CSSAME and his other public advocacy, with his powerful book which ruptures status quo of academic gatekeepers is an inspiration to all writers who are attempting to write a ‘history for the future’

There was a paradigm shift in my writing career in 2020 even prior to the pandemic as I started writing regular columns from December 2019 onwards. I wrote a weekly column from December 2019 to August 2020 for The Tilak Chronicle, before I decided to take a pause to work on my book project. 40 plus articles for The Tilak Chronicle has been a joy. I also have written 4 articles on Migration and the Gulf for The Empire Diaries too. I have written two articles each for The Asian Geek on tech & society, and Intangible Mag (in Spanish by translation).

I wrote an article for The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington DC which was a milestone intellectually. In expanding the conversation on humanising ESG I wrote a series of 6 articles for the Yahya Engineering Blog, where I do my private sector advisory work in the Gulf. I contributed an article to an upcoming Gulf Media Initiative in Doha.

This year of writing has been truly the joy of intensely researching my book project on the Invisible Gulf, where I have written half the draft which is an ethnographic counter archive.

I continue to aggressively pitch to media outlets knocking for opportunities while making a living as an independent writer and researcher this year, thanks to the pandemic pause.

Such a powerful book on how oral/life history and ethnographic work can unthread multiple strands on double diaspora experiences for the Lusophone imperial sphere.

Mental and Emotional Geographies of Belonging are different from present physical cartographic reality.

My talk at the Global Migrant Festival 2020 where I speak on the design of a migrant counter archive where the hopes and frustrations of a migrant can be housed with dignity.

The Link: https://youtu.be/FB7qOKybNmU