A Providential Encounter (Short Story) - 3/23/2026 2:29:23 PM
I'm putting together a book of my karma stories, and this one meets the ingredients, perfectly!
Two souls, caught up in the usual problem of being too old, but still on fire, happen to go to the park for a consolation and just happen to confide in one another. Resulting in a perfect match. Much better than on the Internet.
I thoroughly enjoyed the way you walk the storage together to its final conclusion.
Ron
Autumn Love (Short Story) - 6/28/2025 11:02:35 AM
A psychological tale. You mixed third person and first person throughout and I found that action was lacking.
Ron
An End Without An End (Short Story) - 6/22/2025 2:54:42 PM
This could be a memoir, since it's in first person. But I will assume it isn't, but a well written psychological piece that will get the attention of critics, but not necessarily, plain old me.
While I motions and psychology are very literary, they failed to show action. Just how the neighbors grew together from familiarity.
But you did make me think of old flames. One in particular who wanted to marry me after the first date, but I was unprepared. She died a few years ago.
I don't like the word impact. It's overused and its meaning is not correctly used.
Ron
Domain of the Devil – A Satire on Indian Publishing (Short Story) - 9/14/2024 12:09:48 PM
Once again, indenting the paragraphs would make it a lot easier to read. I found this chapter from your 2nd novel to be very interesting and helpful for someone who has been writing novels for 27 years with only one catching a small portion of readers who are willing to buy the book even though it is "self published" by a POD publisher… Basically a vanity press.
Most writing that is published comes from those with fame or notoriety as you expressed. Using a thorn to "prick the Prime Minister" is a novel way to get attention. I have often written, "Who do I have to kill so that anyone will read my books?" For here in the good old USA, gun holding and shooting is a national pride. And the more people you can kill the higher your notoriety. Many people are dying to do it.
At one point, you also pointed out the originality of a novel. Aspects of a novel may be original, but we all are, at least in the Western tradition, writing from the knowledge we have of all the writers past in English. So to speak, we stand on their shoulders… Not literally. But I find that much writing today that is lucrative is gang writing stories to continue books beyond the first bestseller that was original.
These writers, not authors, that write under the rules of a familiar money paying theme, too many to mention, are not original authors, they are simply wage hacks, with compensation until the theme is crowded and no longer marketed.
Ron
A Word To Milords (Article) - 9/18/2026 7:14:23 PM
This is a hard Indian article that probably is necessary for the judicial condition in India. Great use of Shakespeare and even Dr. Goebbels in your illustration how power begets absolute power. End it is like a poison trap that cannot easily be stepped down from.
You probably are aware more than I that our judicial condition here in the United States is very similar. Corruption throughout with no one watching.
Ron
Hindus ‘n Hebrews – Contrasting Parallels (A Case for Hindu Rashtra) (Article) - 9/14/2026 9:09:57 PM
Thank you for the history lesson of your part of the world.
I've always been interested in India, but only visited Pakistan and Bangladesh.
As I read I couldn't help but think about all of the death and destruction over the past few thousand years has been caused by religious sects wanting to become powerful within nations. The atrocities that have continued down through history haven't seemed to change things one iota.
Perhaps we are doomed through self-destruction as human beings because we constantly want to take sides for one reason or another.
Let us hope that Hinduism will continue to prosper and not be destroyed by violet, greedy ideology helping no one.
Islamic Assault ‘n Christian Retreat (Article) - 7/27/2026 1:47:42 PM
Thank you for this article. I have not read the Quran. Perhaps I should. But, having learned how right wing, conservative Muslims have taken over former secular countries like Iran and Afghanistan, and even changed Pakistan, it is a cause of real concern. Especially with the inroads Muslims have made in Europe that you have alerted me to. There is concern here in the United States as well with a growing number of Islamic neighborhoods and their mosques. Not really blending in with the rest of American society.
Of the great religions of the world, Islam seems to be the most harsh and growing. One would think that in the 21st century, religions would yield less power over secular society. But the Islamic states, treating most of their citizens as slaves of the religion, seem to hold growing power. Attempts to change that, like in Afghanistan, have failed, miserably, by both the Russians and the United States.
I believe the Internet is bringing us all closer together and providing us more information of how other others live better than ever before. The former Soviet Union was brought down by the music of the West and it can happen if enough people of a given country rebel against the control religion has over them. At least, that's what I believe needs to happen for the world to progress beyond endless war between ancient religious ideologies that serve no real purpose in modern life except continue to set the world backward from what it could be.
Ron
The Secular Cure of India’s Semitic Cancer (Article) - 6/8/2026 11:08:40 AM
When I befriended Indians who came to USA to study, I was pleased to find that they were areligious, very bright and knowledgeable of religions, but chose not to practice them like me. All except one. He became very Americanized while a student, but when he attempted to enter the professorate and was denied, became a landlord and retreated into his Muslim faith.
I was surprised to read your curative measures. While I find secular influence drawing people away from religious practice into the economic and social realm, you seem to focus on imprisoning all of the violators of the very cringing measures proposed.
The result would be that the majority of government and half the population at least, perhaps 3/4 would end up in jail.
I take this as the grandest of satire as a result.
Ron
Demographic Dynamics of Indian Democracy (Article) - 11/22/2025 3:20:39 PM
Another very clear and astute analysis of why there is so much apathy when it comes to voting in the Indian democracy. It's a wonder that the democracy survives at all with all of the competing ideologies.
Here in the United States we have voter apathy as well. Many who think that their vote doesn't count, so why vote? But I have noted that, when a strong candidate, like Barack Obama, comes before the electorate, suddenly the electorate balloons in size and produce a landslide of votes for their latest hero in the political game.
Ron
Warts in Mahatma’s Atma (Article) - 11/5/2025 1:01:23 PM
Thank you for some insight into Mahatma Gandhi. (if a bit of tongue and cheek)
I have not known many Hindus but I have known some Indians and Pakistanis who were Muslim. I did since that sense of separation from all of humanity.
Ron
State of Art (Article) - 11/5/2025 11:56:21 AM
A fine rendition of the State of Art in India… and, the rest of the world.
The public are very fickle when it comes to viewing art whether it be writing or paint on canvas. Why some authors and some painters become fabulously famous and make a lot of money, while others equally as good, are never discovered.
Ron
Media and Literature (Article) - 10/28/2025 12:15:19 PM
Forgive me for having scanned your article rather than read it in its entirety. But I think you are concerned about quality writing not being promoted through the media anymore and I believe you are right.
In India the newspapers may still be king, but here in United States newspapers have nearly disappeared except for small town weekly papers that cover small town events and people. Television has turned to rapid fire headlines only, and the primary news is in the Internet and, unfortunately, social media feeds.
With self publishing, everybody and his brother is an author and you are right, the only books that get promoted by the media focus on the author and not on the work, because famous people and those with unique stories to tell, sell books.
Formulas sell books
On Writing ‘n the Writers (Article) - 10/28/2025 12:00:13 PM
It always amazes me that people in different parts of the world came up with wildly different ways of communicating with one another beyond their spoken languages, which seem to be more varied than the stars in the sky. One tribe would have its own language and another tribe, but 30 miles away, an entirely different one.
And the different forms of expression, like hieroglyphs in Egypt and Mesoamerica. Cuneiform writing in clay, sanskrit, and the stylish full word characters of China and Japan.
What could have resulted was simply a tower of babel, but, because of the need to exchange, trade between different parts of the world, and the colonialization of much of the world in the 18ttt century by England and Pax Britannia, even the rebels in the United States retained that form of written communication.
Enabling us not only to write but we write and have the worldwide understanding of it like yours today. I agree with you with that words have now become weapons of politics and war. Used primarily for wealth and not for the pure joy of writing.
I have written all my life, starting with poetry and then with letter writing that eventually lead to all the other forms of writing that I enjoy. Writing that you have described in this article. Thank you.
Ron
Back to Square One on the Writing Board (Article) - 10/6/2025 9:31:48 AM
This is not action/thriller, so you have the genre wrong, but not the subject matter.
You have accurately defined the rapid changes in publication from the mid 20th century until now. And your concluding statement is more true than ever.
You are right on in your concluding line. For all the reading that I have done from great writers, all that I remember are a few phrases or a concept, like future shock. The only lasting impression of what the writer was writing about.
To think of all the people that wrote all those letters and some of whom wrote diaries, biographies and even fiction that stayed on paper and were never even pitched to the publishing houses and their agents, required in order to get a book deal, but ended up being thrown out by relatives when they died.
Readers tend to like formulas and familiar themes, both in novels and their movie adaptations. Most of the sequels are rather lame and repetitious. You are right about originality – "there is nothing new under the sun." I find it hard to write poetry that hasn't already been written. I'm a little more successful in short stories and novels, because I haven't been influenced by reading so many others that I've fallen in love with a particular writer or genre, trying to write like them like so many.
Finally, "the cream rises to the top." Hopefully something that you have written, perhaps this article, or other original ideas, Will stand the test of time, be found by AI, and get that kind of publicity like one of my poems did back 20 years ago.
You didn't get into AI, but right now, it is a milk toast version of drawing everything from the Internet it can find to create works of literature that seem rather familiar and politically correct. Not intelligent, but just a good searcher of the right phrases. But it may get much better, and literally do away with the idea of offering anything by the human mind when the mathematical mind has mastered all the good formulas. Capable of rapidly producing original and highly creative work.
Ron
New Light on India’s Plight (Article) - 7/16/2025 10:52:06 AM
Thank you for the detailed accounting of India's history. I had never learned how much damage Gandhi may have caused by his turn the other cheek (Christian) attitude towards violence. Rather shocking for him to tell Hindu women to allow Islamic men to rape them.
I've always admired India and cultivated Indian friends because of their acceptance of western ways and intelligence, like yours.
I read recently that very soon India's population will surpass China's. I also read that in China, one must have a post graduate degree to even get a job. India's younger population will continue to grow India's dominance in cyberspace software and hardware?"
Ron
My ‘Novel’ Account of Human Possibility (Article) - 9/15/2019 9:40:12 AM
I have never read any article here written with such brilliance and command of the English language before. And to think that you began with the Telugu language, "the Italian of the East." From a young age I have admired the varied Indian cultures. But when I entered engineering graduate school with 25 brilliant Pakistani and Indian classmates with only one other from Ohio and the United States in our major, I began to learn of the diversity of Indian culture even more. My roommate became a fellow from Bombay and a Zoroastrian (nonpracticing) with a written knowledge of five languages and a command of English that he said he got from movies. His wife studied English literature in college. But my classmates scored very low, as did I, somewhat, on the linguistic side of the graduate record exam, while scoring very high on the numeric side, like I did.
It is a shame that the Indian government saw fit to stop teaching English in the schools, because your article shows that reading Russian books and stories in English books broadened your perspective and enabled you to become the novelist in English that you are. My hats off to you for what you have accomplished!
Ron
Falsity of Fame (Article) - 8/18/2017 6:57:04 AM
You cover well a question that I have often asked, much better than I. For example,"These days, an author’s fame hinges upon the media projection about his persona rather than the contents of his produce," is so true. But it has always been true. If we go back to ancient civilizations, the only stories we read are from the famous rulers. Little is known about how common people lived from these bragging commentaries carved on temple and monument walls.
Returning to the present and your discovery of how London publishers and agents, when tested, rejected classic works. I think the only test of fame is how long the original ideas of a work resonate with the people. A fad of the fame of an individual may quickly drive a work into the bestseller list, but that may not make the work great. Great works stand the test of time and rise to the top because they are freely available, usually through education. Not gross sales.
Ron
Addendum to Evolution: Origins of the World (Article) - 8/15/2017 6:53:34 AM
I too, am interested in learning more about the origin of the universe and all it pertains, including the origin of life and the origin of intelligent life as we know it.
But I find your article to be one of those meanderings in the dark that so many philosopher and religious people pursue. Immediately, you look for the answers in ancient literature like the Hindu writing about the creation of a "partner" for a lonely God. And then, you go backwards to horses, cows, etc. A reverse of the direction of evolution where male and female entities exist at a very elemental level, perhaps as early as 200 million years. The fallacy of religion that places men and gods as identical. Recent research tends to indicate that life is a natural outcome of natural process in the unfolding universe and there is no reason why life does not, ultimately, given enough time and evolution, to become aware and intelligent.
I stopped reading when you described gravity as magnetism, an entirely different thing, altogether. Pseudoscience is not science and no one should fall into that trap.
We ride on the shoulders of giants. Many of whom you refer to in this piece. But their theories have, for the most part, been proven wrong by experience and testing. Most of the complexity Is merely spurious and unnecessary. The Big Bang Theory is probably wrong. But it does not matter. The way that science is unfolding, new theories will evolve in time. There is really no need to rehash old theories like religion being the source of anything other than a way to control other people.
We have a firm foundation on what we know about our solar system and can bravely go there without spending a lot of time philosophizing about it.
Ron
‘Novel’ Pain (Poetry) - 8/16/2017 8:21:11 AM
Yes, Ron said it perfetly. Wishing you success.
‘Novel’ Pain (Poetry) - 8/16/2017 7:45:47 AM
As an author, there's danger in thinking we are better than other authors. There is much more at work in this. Like life, authoring novels is unfair. When we look at back in history, we find that many of the famous authors we know were penniless much of their lives, rejected point of suicide, and never really saw their fame in their lifetimes.
Welcome to the club.
Ron
