Under the Staircase

“Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere.” ~ Elizabeth Hardwick

I read everywhere. Under the stairs, in a darkened alcove; lounging in a wicker chair, feet up on another, in the garden in winter in Hazaribagh, Bihar, far from our house in Calcutta; in the back seat of whatever car we had, unencumbered by seat belts; on manicured lawns of my college; on cement floors at my parents’ friends houses; on subways, hunched shoulders, body almost shielding the pages in packed sushi-rolled New York subways, then branching off to other cities. Reading is what I do.

“The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.” (~ Elizabeth Hardwick)

Without reading, writing would be impossible. Every book, every article, every blog post that I read is a separate voice, a separate tonality, a separate set of emotions, of pauses and inflections. I now also “read” (listen) to audiobooks in the car and through my Blue-toothed hearing aids as I walk a bunch of miles each day.

Before I started writing essays, I wrote primarily for work, as a textbook writer and editor for secondary school texts. This started in my forties after a couple of decades of travel writing, book reviewing, and writing up interviews of writers, film directors, and publishers.

Textbook writing, though wrapped in the barbed-wire of many strictures of the various constituencies of readers, had a wonderful redeeming feature ---it had to be stimulating and it needed to pack in the facts for comprehension without losing the narrative flow. The journalist in me found that appealing.

Below are five articles that I wrote over the past decade for teachers (and students) on random topics of interest to me that I hoped would interest students of world cultures, American history, and social issues.

The Great Depression in the U.S., 1929-1941, brought untold suffering. It also brought about, through government intervention and vision, one of the most productive eras in art, literature and music that created an American identity.

https://greencomma.medium.com/a-historical-case-study-jumpstarting-a-stagnant-economy-through-the-arts-9f4876e66f9d

One of the Renaissance men of the twentieth century, his films are timeless.

https://greencomma.medium.com/through-a-lens-introducing-satyajit-ray-2fd97d918106#.6rs64a7eb

To be colonized is to be always second-best. This is a true-life story of becoming the best while being severely handicapped in resources and expectations.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/wasnt-just-soccer-match-amit-shah/

Gender equality has many aspects. In India, menstrual hygiene is a formidable issue.

https://greencomma.medium.com/let-there-be-blood-menstrual-hygiene-in-india-b04a7d476bbd

To empower is to give the powerless the understanding and self-confidence to challenge their reality.

https://greencomma.medium.com/fate-is-a-four-letter-word-dikshas-mission-76dfddf927a3

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The July 2022 issue of Monograph published two of my essays and said:

“We also have two essays from the brilliant Amit Shah, a retired publishing executive currently living in Somerville, Massachusetts. The essays, excerpts from his wonderful book 'Instincts of Beauty', are small autobiographical glimpses into his life in India. Beautifully crafted, his writing deserves to be read and re-read. It is, again, by all means, some of the best writing Monograph has ever seen.”

Available for $6.50 (donating 50% to Planned Parenthood and NARAL) if you purchase in August.

Mailing charge: $1.76

Checks to: 39 Whitman Street, Somerville, MA 02144

VENMO: @Amit-Shah-1950