E26: Celebrating a pandemic Navratri with a Fine Arts' garba baithak in Vadodara

While browsing through an Indie author forum on Facebook, Eisha finds Cincinnati-based Jacqueline Vollat's post about her children's book, How to Hug a Cloud, which is available for free on Kindle that day. Who doesn't like a freebie? She downloads it and reads the 36-pages from cover to cover, illustrated beautifully by Noor Alshalabi, a freelance illustrator based in Jordan (https://www.noorillustrates.com/). Will the dreamy rhyme about chasing a cloud and not giving up work for her almost-four-year-old toddler?  #jacquelinevollat #childrensbook #selfpublishing #kindlebooks #nooralshalabi #illustrator #jordan #cincinnati #cloudycastlebooks #indieauthors #indiepublishing #podcast #books #thewritecreed #rhymesfortoddlers #agesfourtoeight #rhyme 

Eisha religiously empties her Spam and cleans her Inbox to reduce load on the servers. It's one of the tiny things you can do for the environment and save power, she says. Before she hits "Empty Spam Now", she glances through the subject lines, some humourous, some not. From eggplant emojis in mails about penis-elongation to Russian women trying to sell her sex, to lottery and casino wins to blocked PR to hate mail from people she knew or didn't know, she finds them all. Then she talks about the spammers and scammers in Facebook writers' and podcasting groups and cyberbullies who can or cannot be blocked and how she deals with them. Amusing and informative, this episode of The Write Creed is dedicated to the pages of mails we never read or want to ever read.  #thewritecreed #spam #junkmail #inbox #gmail #mailaccounts #spammail #scammers #spammers #facebook #podcasting #writing #sex #lottery #casino #hatemail #cyberbullies #trolls #bots #selfpublishing #ebooks #publishingscams #traditionalpublishing #digitalbooks #thegoasaga #books #writersforum #betareaders #eggplantemojis #spambots #bots #phishing #fraud

In this episode of The Write Creed, Eisha reads out a chapter from Mad & Moonly, the third and final book of her new romantic thriller series, The Goa Saga.  James, Aeram and Saysha are lying on the bed. Aeram recalls the time Danny belted him in the room and James gave him a hiding. He tells James that he loves him more than anyone in the world and he will take Oleg down. Only he can, because Oleg and Svetlana like him. Why? Mad & Moonly is available on Kindle, Amazon, Notion Press and Flipkart #thegoasaga #authorreads #readings #madandmoonly #booksongoa #contemporaryfiction #romanticthriller #russian #russiansingoa #miningingoa #podcast #thewritecreed #author #eishasarkar #spotify #googlepodcasts #audible #amazonmusic #applepodcasts #goa #goatourism #youngadults #fiction 

In her bid to reduce the number of plastic bottles in the bathroom, Eisha has ordered a couple of Earthy Sapo's Reetha Shampoo bars on Amazon. This is a product review after her first use. You might wonder why Eisha's reviewing a vegan shampoo bar on The Write Creed podcast. Well, it comes with a lot of literature, that's why. There are instructions on the brown box, an instruction manual about how to use the Earthy Sapo Reetha Shampoo Bar, another instruction manual about how to store or care for Earthy Sapo's soaps, another set about how to convert the soap bars into liquid and then, a couple of notes from the founder,  Sheetal, about how you tailor your expectations to get the maximum benefits from the product. Eisha reads them all out. Enjoy this one. #earthysapo #shampoobars #ayurveda #ayurvedicproducts #reetha #coconutmilk #aloevera #bhringraj #rosemary #amla #hibiscus #methi #brahmi #shampoos #ecofriendly #sustainabililty #instructionmanuals #hairwash #hairproducts #vegan #noanimaltesting #kalartcreations #environment 

Eisha has just launched her first fiction series, The Goa Saga. In this episode of The Write Creed, she reads out from the second book, Gone Goa Gone.  Archbishop Patrick announces a press conference to refute all claims of child abuse made by James and other former students of the boarding school in Mapusa. Saysha is a bunch of nerves. James is cool. He has nothing more to lose, he says. At a crucial moment of the televised press conference, there is a commotion in the audience. Archbishop Patrick leaves in a hurry. Aeram tells her that he has released a video that has gone viral. She's proud of how intelligent her husband is. Then Aeram tells her it was James's idea, not his. How! Gone Goa Gone is now available on Amazon, Flipkart and Notion Press. #gonegoagone #bookreading #authorreads #thegoasaga #thewritecreed #podcast #booksongoa #childabuse #christianity  

Dr Rahul Bhagwat is Gujarat's ace bird photographer. He is a visiting lecturer at Gujarat Forest Rangers College and his photographs have been published and used in wildlife sanctuaries across India. He also holds a doctorate in Indian Classical Music and is a tabla player. In this episode of The Write Creed, Eisha and Dr Bhagwat talk about birds, photography, eco-tourism and conservation. Dr Bhagwat tells Eisha that he's comfortable in Hindi only. Eisha tells him she can't talk about birds in anything other than English. She asks her questions in English, he answers in Hindi. The words flow without the need to translate them. This encapsulates the beauty of conversation in India, multilingual and boundless. #birdsofgujarat #rahulbhagwat #birdphotography #wildlifephotography #cameras #instagram #facebook #tourism #pandemic #tadoba #gir #ranthambore #vadhwana #conservation #ecology #wildlife #tiger #jimcorbettnationalpark #nationalparks #india #gujarat  Birdsong: Orange-headed thrush recorded by Dr Rahul Bhagwat

Eisha has just released her first fiction book series, The Goa Saga, which is a Romantic Thriller trilogy. In this episode of The Write Creed, she reads out a chapter from her first novel in the series, Shadow & Soul. When Aeram and James both have a shoot, Saysha waits in the vanity van. Once James finishes his part, she asks him to drop her at a boutique. While she is browsing through discount clothes, a couple of photographers take her pictures. James and Saysha run from the paparazzi. They hide in a decrepit building, where Saysha finds that she can't resist being attracted towards James, though he's gay and in love with her husband. Shadow & Soul is available on Amazon Kindle and in paperback formats at Amazon and Amazon-partnered bookstores, Notion Press and its partner bookstores and Flipkart 

A graduate of Sophia College, Mumbai, and post-graduate from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Armeen Kapadia Basavaraju thinks that words and design are not that different, after all. A few years back she returned to her old love — writing — and hasn’t looked back since. Her stories have been published in literary magazines such as Amarillo Bay and The Louisville Review and she self-published her novel, Crossroads, in 2020. Crossroads is a delightful window into the Parsi community. The collection explores the day-to-day conversations, emotions and events that alter and shape the lives of different Parsis in modern India and reveal the issues that a vanishing community faces. In this episode of The Write Creed, Eisha chats with her old friend, Armeen, who is now working in Microsoft, about Parsis, the orthodox and liberal voices, Parsi publications and writers and the pros and cons of self-publishing in India. #armeenkapadiabasavaraju #microsoft #ux #design #nationalinstituteofdesign #nid #nidahmedabad #writer #author #crossroads #parsi #parsis #parsicommunity #parsisinIndia #India #parsiana #jamejamshed #bombay #ahmedabad #mumbai #communities #iran #firetemples #agiary #parsitimes #kdp #kindledirectpublishing #selfpublishing #bangalore #notionpress #amazon #rohintonmistry

Eisha has just launched her first Romantic Thriller trilogy on Amazon Kindle this October. The three books of The Goa Saga are Shadow & Soul, Gone Goa Gone and Mad & Moonly. The first is the story of Identity, the second about the fight for Inheritance and the third is the path to Interdependence. The series is targeted at a global audience of 18-40 years who are English-speaking, urbane, social media savvy, OTT platform binge-watchers and travellers and features places and characters from India, Europe and the US. It took her five-and-a-half years to create the series. In this episode of The Write Creed, Eisha talks about the two self-publishing platforms she used to publish, promote and distribute her books, Kindle Direct Publishing or KDP and Wattpad, the challenges of traditional publishing and self-publishing, royalties, data-gathering and marketing.  #thegoasaga #kindledirectpublishing #amazon #amazonkindle #thewritecreed #paperbacks #wattpad #kissingbooth #shadowandsoul #gonegoagone #madandmoonly #eishasarkar #kindlebooks #wattys2021 #selfpublishingplatforms #readingapps #kindleapp #googledocs #lockdownwriting #lockdowndepression #traditionalpublishing #traditionalpubishingversusselfpublishing #writing #goatrilogy #writingseries #portuguesegoa #romanticthriller #youngadults #youngadultfiction #netflix #travel #goa #goatourism #royalties #booksongoa #indianfiction #indianwriters  

Vadodara's famed public garbas have had to be cancelled because of the ongoing Covid19 pandemic. However, that has not dampened the Navratri spirit this year as much as it had in 2020. Smaller gatherings, baithaks and dances in societies, homes and smaller halls are common. Eisha was invited to one such baithak and she shares a few recordings of that in this episode of The Write Creed.  #navratri #fineartsgarba #vadodara #baroda #msuniversity #dandiya #raas #durga #ambaji #durgapuja #unitedwaygarba #covid19 #pandemic #pandemicnavratri