84 - How the Day Begins
mornings at the jain household
👋 Hello, readers.
In my family we start the day with words. Every morning, a tray is carried up to the terrace, bearing the first cups of tea, a bowl of sprouted beans and vegetables, and another bowl of dry fruits and nuts. Also, the day’s newspaper.
Straightaway, we open to the page with the crossword and word jumbles. We don’t waste time on headlines or the front page. It’s a morning ritual I miss all the days that I spend away from home. Sometimes I help my parents solve clues over a video call. This month and next, I am once again part of it. Lucky me. 😁
In this week’s issue, a glimpse from this life, and exciting news.
🗞 Crosswords
What do you do when you can’t solve a clue? Would you wait until the end? Would you *gasp* leave the crossword incomplete? My mother does not have patience for such silly ideas. She has a Crossword Solver app on her phone. She gives herself, and therefore us by extension, five minutes to solve a clue. If it isn’t done, she discreetly enters the word or phrase in the app and it throws out likely answers by letter-count. My father and I shake our heads and purse our lips, but she doesn’t care for our staid morality either.
I am pleased to announce that we have a 99% success rate with the daily crossword, even without the app. But when they give you clues like ‘consanguineous’, I wonder what I am expected to do…
👨🏽🎓 Substack Fellowship
Substack Inc, the wonderful people enabling this newsletter, just announced a two month fellowship program for a small set of their promising writers. And I’m pleased to announce that I too am one of their promising writers and Fellows!
In the past, I have been various kinds of fellow. I have been an odd fellow. Strange, even. I have been a tall fellow, since that summer of puberty and testosterone when I shot up 3 inches. I have always been a talkative fellow, as many teachers would attest. I was a well regarded cynical fellow in my late teens. I have been a lively fellow, a gregarious fellow, and I have also been a fella.
But this is my first time being a Fellow with a capital F.
And I am excited! Substack Fellows are in for two months of mentorship and guidance to help us grow our publications both as writers and community-builders. There are various professional tools on offer to help us go the extra mile. We had the first session yesterday and I am already pumped with lots of fresh ideas.
Thank you, Substack, for this amazing opportunity. And thank you, dear readers, for helping make this possible.
More news on this soon…!
🎁 Reader Appreciation!
Really, everything works only because of readers such as yourself. I want more of you. Are there more of you? Do you know where I can find others like you? Share this link and bring them to the SneakyArt Post. I would love to share my work with more people.
As a gesture of appreciation, please accept free access to the latest Insider post - a Post Script conversation with my wonderful guest Emma Carlisle. In this conversation, Emma and I unwind and chat about various aspects of being independent artists while drawing portraits of each other. Also included in the post are the drawings we made. Take a look!
Also, if you aren’t an Insider yet, grab this limited offer for a year’s discount on my Insider membership. Membership unlocks all previous Insider posts - bonus commentaries, Post Scripts, and excerpts from my next book. You become first in line for books and print giveaways, and also to all the new content I will release on the other side of this Substack Fellowship!
But most crucially, membership equals support.
Your support rewards the work I do as an independent writer, artist and podcaster. You are like the Medici family to me. We should have pizza together sometime.
Thank you for your time and attention. I will see you next week with more sights and sounds from this time in India.
I would like to add, in my most British voice, that another type of fellow you appear to be is "splendid". Congratulations on the Fellowship! Richly deserved, sir - you work really hard at this newslettering lark and it's nice to see dedication so rewarded.
Adding another fellow to your name. Congratulations once again, my “fellow” artist friend. Thrilled to see what’s ahead for you. You’ve worked your butt off for this. Well done. An honour to be one of your readers and supporters. Show happy family and wife-person reaction with your drawing! 😃