Weekly Diary Excerpts/Blog—

Franz Kafka’s and Israel—

I was leafing through Kafka’s diary, and it was interesting to read on 23 October, he had written a single line—‘A film about Palestine in the afternoon.’

It inspired me to look further into what he thought about Judaism as he was a Jew. All I got to know—

—He learned Hebrew ( his exercise books with vocabulary still exist.) and took the Zionist project seriously.

—In 1949, Kafka’s last lover, Dora Diamant, in whose arms it is said that Kafka took his last breath—wrote to Max Brod that Kafka’s last wish was to move to Israel.

Kafka’s statement on Zionism—-

‘I admire Zionism, and I am nauseated by it,’—-What do I have in common with Jews? I have hardly anything in common with myself and should stand quietly in a corner, content that I can breathe.’

Writing Update—

I am working on the third draft of my forthcoming fiction book—I completed the third draft of the first eight chapters, with a total word count of eight chapters—21710. The whole book would be about 80,000 words. I still doubt it is the final touch, and perhaps I would screw the knots and bolts and fill or lose the plot holes. These presumptions could take place in reality. For me, the end doesn’t exist.

24 October—Today is Vijayadashami, the last day of the Dussehra festival, the end of Navaratri, a Hindu festival. As I am getting older, the festive version is getting dim, and I look for the spiritual aspects.

Favourite curry—

I like to use the food meals for my fictional characters, as they are linked somehow to me. Malabar spinach curry –is one of my favourite curries. It is so delicious to eat them along with boiled rice. It belongs to the Indian coastal region, Malabar, I cook and modify it in Bihari style.