One thing and another
This work is endless – support me and become a paid subscriber
Hello and welcome back to shelf offering, a Tuesday newsletter by Apoorva Sripathi – writer, editor, artist. Writing this newsletter is a full-time job (along with other freelance stuff), it is rigorous and thoughtful work, so if you’d like to support me, follow 💌shelfoffering on Instagram, share this post, and consider becoming a paid subscriber! For the month of October (and perhaps in November), there will be no newsletters from me as I’m travelling, which is a good time to peruse archives.
I’ve lost count of what I have and haven’t shared re other work on this newsletter and it is because I’m more forgetful than reticent. One recent thing I had published were three recipes1 for Vittles – two on how to make sundal, which is a delightful cross between a stir-fry and a salad, but if it were upto me and no labels were necessary to describe a dish, I’d say the sundal is indefinable. It also boils down to how you eat lentils. I’d wage a bet and say dal. Maybe as a cold lentil salad? Or made into tofu-like cubes? Or perhaps some other way? Then consider the sundal – boil lentils of choice (my recipe gives you options), mix in some shredded vegetables and coconut, and a final tempering of mustard, curry leaves, and chilli brings everything together. Eat it hot, cold, or at room temperature. When writing the recipe, I had no temptations to include a note about how “protein and fibre forward” it can be, given our current inclinations towards viewing food as merely fuel or ingredients as possessing certain virtues. I certainly don’t think of food in that way (but I also understand that some people do have goals to achieve with their health); to me, legumes “are classic, understated ingredients” that can be transformed “into dishes involving texture and savouriness that, crucially, can be whipped up quickly as a break from daily routine.” Try making a sundal sometime, and you’d be surprised at how pleasureable lentils can be beyond dal. The other recipe for a roasted peach lassi, is undoubtedly better to make at the height of summer. But you could still recreate it using tinned peaches or tinned mangoes or tinned cherries. Or if plums are in season where you are, I recommend plum lassi with a sprinkle of roasted cumin powder. That earthiness brings out extra sweetness!
The other thing I had published is an interview with the writer Ruby Tandoh for TOAST magazine. It is one of many interviews as Ruby’s book All Consuming came out last month and I really enjoyed my conversation with her – the chat was thought-provoking, warm, and uplifting. I came out of this with a renewed sense of self and enthusiasm. This interview also reminded me that I’ve gotten good at interviewing people; I have a knack for one-on-one communication and adapting (my questions) to what the other person is saying even if it means straying from my prepared list of questions and simply being goddamn charming and smooth when things get awkward or silent. I guess I just love getting to know people and even though I always go into interviews thinking I’ve not prepared enough, I come out with brilliant conversations every time.
And now for the missive:
I have given this so much thought and you becoming a paid subscriber doesn’t just affirm faith in my writing, it also helps me make a living. And if enough of you go paid, it might be a living wage.
My writing comes from a place of honesty – it’s the one compliment I’ve gotten that’s consistent, and to write honestly means to bare a part of one’s soul, however uncomfortable that can be. In the last five years as a newsletter writer plus the last 15+ years of being a professional writer, I really haven’t sold myself to my readers. Here, I’m more reticent than forgetful. I have to admit that I don’t know how to market myself and I want to change that. Writing this missive is a part of it – I write to make sense of the world around me but also to make sense of the one inside me. Someone I spoke to recently (and someone I trust) told me that my writing is “a path that connects people together, as well as connecting you with others, too” and I find the severity of this statement to be true, especially when I’m surrounded by some amazing writers whose work both inspires and excites me.
I, like many of the other writers here and elsewhere, run a one-person operation and while I believe newsletters aren’t really a replacement for actual physical media such as magazines, newspapers, or a properly-run media system (they are in tandem with it), it is still work that deserves remuneration. It is work that involves reading, thinking, research, and writing. I spend a lot of my time thinking about what I want to write and it has become a proxy to my life. Writing is both my initial and final frontiers.
I took a short break2 in 2018 in between work and and study, and in those nine months got back into computer gaming3. Watching a German man stream Age of Empires in the middle of the night was strangely healing for me, as was finding a community of gamers and streamers who I’ve kept in touch with till today. Some of the livestreamers I followed were doing it full-time and they kept alluding to their streams as akin to television shows and subscription services, especially sports. If you can watch TV shows and series and pay for them, it means they entertain you, and I think we are doing the same. The production value might not be as high but it’s equally professional, I remember the German guy saying. It’s been 7 years since I heard this statement and it still resonates with me. I think of my newsletter similarly: if it has entertained you, provided you with knowledge, gave you food for thought, connected you to other writing and writers, or something entirely different (please let me know!), you should support me and my work.
But of course there are other ways. I –
offer one-on-one consultations to unpack any writing-editing help you may need. My relevant experience includes being a writer and editor in both Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, and London in editing, proofreading, creative writing — on food, culture and pop culture, movies and gender — identifying trends and events, breaking news, and handling both print and digital production. I’ve edited the self-published cookbook Sindh: Stories and Recipes from a Forgotten Land, which has been picked up by Harper Collins India. I also am the co-founder and editor of chlorophyll, a literary magazine, as well as the co-founder of CHEESE, the magazine of culture.
sell my art here. Cabbage prints are left, but I also take commissions of portraits (see the member illustrations of FFF).
am working on a zine that will come out at the end of the year. It combines my writing and art, is 16 pages, and will be a fun little A5 object to carry around with you. Also, paid subscribers will receive a free copy, as a way of me saying thank you for all the support. More on the zine later!
This is an achievement for me, as recipe writing is a recent turn I have taken!
I mean the break didn’t last long, I did some freelance writing here and there whilst recovering from a massive illness flare up.
I also led a parallel life as a streamer.