A creative nomad's miscellany

My piece in the Indian Weekender today...

Anti-nuke stand comes in handy in not ticking off China Aukus is the new kid on the block that hopes to keep the Big Red Dragon in check.

Interviewing Indian High Commissioner to NZ HE Muktesh Pardeshi in Wellington about the Kiwi Indian community, High Commission and the Auckland Consulate’s collective response to pandemic developments in India. One initiative was to despatch 72 oxygen concentrators to India last week. More being organised right now. Thanks everyone for your ongoing support.

When I April-fooled none less than the prime minister of NZ:
I wrote a cover story announcing a $100m cricket academy in NZ with investment from some of the great Indian cricketers past and present. Then NZ PM Sir John Key declared that anniversary issue published at a function in Auckland, which was on April 1. “I’m surprised how I’d not heard about this,” he told me, completely taken in by the prank. This pic was taken after I let the cat out of the bag😊.

Chuffed to see dear ol’ Shikari Shambu on the dash of a friend’s Tesla. I really enjoyed creating stories and writing scripts in ‘Ti**le’ years and years ago on this character loved by at least two generations of kids. Where will the famous shikari go for his next shikar (serendipitous as always) in this Tesla having abandoned his equally famous battered old jeep?

Late evening Shikantaza (water colours and acrylics).

Weekend water colours — Lazy afternoon in an Indian village alley.

Sunday afternoon water colours ...

Sunday afternoon water colours...

Felt sad to read that Mumbai's famous big red double deckers are now a thing of the past. So many memories tied to these lovely buses – mostly, sitting on the front seat on the top deck, taking in the ever changing scenes of that dynamic metropolis with the wind in your hair... Spent Sunday afternoon building a lego model of the Big Red Bus as a tribute to a true icon of the city I love so much...

One of the abiding memories of growing up in Mumbai is riding on the front seat of the top deck of a BEST double decker bus. The breeze in your hair, the different smells of different suburbs wafting through the air, the fleeting sights of life going by on the streets and inside windows of the crowded buildings as the bus halts to take in and spew out passengers. I simply love BEST double deckers, which you so few of these days. I read somewhere that they don't make them anymore and the ones on the roads just now are the last of them. I miss them a lot. Part of my lockdown activities was to do a small artistic tribute to them – here they are: an iPhone finger-scribble; an illustration on paper and a Lego sculpture. Do please let me know what you think.

COVID-19 may actually fulfil a dream of Indians living in NZ. My piece in The Indian Weekender.

Covid-19 could fulfil a long-standing Kiwi-Indian dream Despite Covid-19’s long, gloomy shadow on international travel showing no signs of abating anytime soon, this might be a good time to address one of the longest standing demands of Kiwi-Indians that has so far gone frustratingly unmet.

One of my recent articles in Indian e-monthly ‘One India, One People’

Some time back someone published this post with my late colleague the formidable comic strip artist Ram Waeerkar and myself calling us "Ti**le Legends" – Chuffed and humbled at the same time :)

We at The Indian Weekender were among the first to advocate for a Pacific Bubble to facilitate travel between Covid-free Pacific Island countries and New Zealand. Many other picked up the idea and it soon grew into a clamour. Here's the piece I wrote in The Indian Weekender, linked here from my blog.

Time for an ANZ-Pacific Island Bubble - Dev Nadkarni The Pacific Islands have succeeded by and large in keeping out Covid-19. There is no reason why they shouldn’t be included in an Oceania-wide bubble with New Zealand and Australia. It could be a win-win for all concerned –on several fronts. As New Zealand enters Alert Level 3 in its…

Lockdown finger art — most drawn on my iPhone in 15 seconds or less. Many of these were posted on my personal page as well.

Hi dear friends, Thought I'd create this space to put some of my work created down the years all in one place. As some of you might know, I've been a writer, editor, cartoonist, comic strip artist, children's writer, illustrator, educator, performing arts promoter, creative charities facilitator, poet, playwright, theatre producer, creative entrepreneur, creator of win-win business initiatives and then some... I hope to put my work – published and unpublished – on to this space for everyone to see and enjoy. Hope you find it interesting. Do please let me know what you think! And do please come back often for a dekko 🙂 – I'll be progressively posting stuff.

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