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Writings and Readings Blog

Madhu Bazaz Wangu

Book club discussion questions for Chance Meetings

Posted on April 21, 2015
in Being in Nature
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For book clubs who would like to read and discuss Chance Meetings, I've put together discussion questions. You can download the guide here: Chance Meetings book club guide If you haven't read the stories yet, these questions might reveal too much! But if you have read the book, I would be delighted to know your reactions and responses to the discussion questions. If you would like me to speak to your book club, please contact me. I can visit in person within the Pittsburgh area, or connect via Skype or phone elsewhere....

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CHANCE MEETINGS is published!

Posted on April 7, 2015
in Being in Nature
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Chance Meetings: Stories About Cross-Cultural Karmic Collisions and Compassion is inspired by my life as an artist, a professor of Indian art history and a dilettante commentator of Asian scriptures. The diverse tracks that I had followed until my early-fifties coalesced and stimulated these stories. Some stories were sparked from my life as an artist. “Gauri’s Freedom” is one such story. Its protagonist, Gauri, an aspiring artist faces colossal obstacles. She struggles to pacify and overcome rebuff from her family but in vain. In “The Blackened Mirror,” the fame and fortune a painter dreams about becomes a reality only to reveal its destructive side. Jealousy and competitiveness is the dominant emotion in “Cadmium and Crimson.” My youngest brother was killed in an automobile accident in India when I was in my thirties....

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Praise for CHANCE MEETINGS: A Collection of Stories

Posted on April 2, 2015
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I'm so pleased to share with you a few lovely comments made about my short story collection, Chance Meetings: Stories About Cross-Cultural Karmic Collisions and Compassion! Beautiful, lush, lyrical stories and rhythmic language transports and transforms — each story is an unforgettable journey. Kathleen Shoop, IPPY Award-Winning Author of The Last Letter and After the Fog A skilled practitioner, Madhu B. Wangu, writes from the marrow of her bones. In her collection, she conjures dream-like motifs of goodness, guidance, and the human condition. Her writing, infused with echoes of Hindu and Buddhist myths, is deeply satisfying and transformative. Gwyn Cready, RITA Award Winning Author Chance Meetings is an evocative and thought-provoking collection: A delicious blending of cultures, delicately rendered and rich with sensory detail. Meredith Mileti, Author of Aftertaste And here is the blurb for the book, to...

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An Excerpt from “Gauri’s Freedom”

Posted on April 1, 2015
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Here’s another excerpt from my upcoming collection of stories, CHANCE MEETINGS. This is from the story, “Gauri’s Freedom,” and it’s about when Gauri met Ramji… Bansi Pandit, the matchmaker had come to Gauri’s home with a marriage proposal. He had found a suitable boy for her named Ramji Raina. Ramji, an architect turned businessman, was from a well-respected family originally from the valley of Kashmir. A self-made man, he managed a successful business importing Kashmiri jewelry, clothing, and crafts to the United States, where he now lived. “He lives in Amreekah?” asked Gauri’s mother, Maji, who sat next to her husband. “Yes, Amreekah! If he agrees to this match, she’d be a lucky girl!” Bansi said. “What about his family? Where do they live?” Gauri’s father, Molaji, said. “They live in Amreekah. Here! Here in...

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An Excerpt from Chance Meetings Collection

Posted on March 31, 2015
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Are you curious about the characters in my new book of short stories? Let me introduce the protagonist from “Cadmium and Crimson.” Meet Valakya, the sculptor. “He lived at the edge of the town in a mud hut roofed with cornhusk thatch. People knew him simply as the sage. Each morning, he strolled to his workplace on an unpaved path flanked by mango trees. Sounds of a waterfall and the rustling of leaves, sap green on one side and copper on the other, greeted him as he entered a clearing sheltered by woven palm leaves supported on four banana trunks. Here, he had arranged his workbench, a storage trunk, and an earthenware vessel with a few cups on the floor. Two wooden stools flanked the trunk. A piece of mahogany awaited the sage...

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Women Writers/Women Readers: A Gathering

Posted on March 6, 2015
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On March 29, please join me at the Andrew Carnegie Music Hall in Carnegie, Pa to celebrate Women Read/Women Write Book Festival with forty national and regional authors.  “Women Read/Women Write is Pittsburgh’s largest literary festival and is taking place on Sunday, March 29, from 11:30 am to 5 pm, at the Andrew Carnegie Music Hall in Carnegie, Pa. Forty authors are gathering to sign books, talk to readers, and debate literary happenings relevant to women. I will be one of the speakers at one of the panels to discuss “Outside Looking In: Harnessing and Cherishing the Non-Mainstream Viewpoint in Literature.” We’ll discuss what challenges do writers with non-mainstream points-of-view face? What value does the ethnic point-of-view bring to storytelling and why should we cherish it? “Women Read/Women Write celebrates the books women love,”...

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Tips for Mindful Living and Writing

Posted on January 1, 2015
in Being in Nature
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The weeks between Thanksgiving Day to the New Year’s Eve I posted Tips on Twitter for Mindful Living and Writing. In case you missed them here they are, somewhat modified. Converse, laugh with family & friends! Savor foods! Enjoy a movie! Hug. Kiss. Give from heart not hand! If irritation or anger envelops you, stay mum. Learn to create a silent space around you. It protects you from regret and embarrassment. If you hurt someone in anger have moxie to apologize. If someone hurts you have confidence to let him or her know. Have courage to verbalize your convictions. It will keep you sane. Gift giving is a charming tradition. Give generously. Accept gracefully. If you do not receive keep giving. Give whole day but in kind, not cash. Give so that no one notices. Holiday...

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Traveling and Mindfulness

Posted on December 3, 2014
in Being in Nature
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This year in October, we travelled in Portugal and Spain for two weeks. The first time I journeyed around the world was with my students in 1997. Ten years later my husband and I decided to visit one foreign country each year. The countries we have visited so far Egypt, Greece, Italy, France, India, Mexico (some of these twice) their people, topography, history, art, architecture and ways of life have fascinated me. In Portugal we drove through woodlands of cork trees, savored kale soup with slices of chorizo, and listened to Fado music characterized by mournful tunes infused with sentiments and melancholy about lives of fishermen or the poor. I had not paid attention to the ground until I walked on the footpaths along the major streets in Lisbon, and towns of...

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Chance Meetings: Story Gists

Posted on October 5, 2014
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I'll be away for the next two weeks, traveling in Spain and Portugal. In the meantime, I would like to share with you the themes of twelve stories that are included in the book, Chance Meetings. SECRET HEALER One small town boy’s journey from innocence of childhood to the injustice of servitude before finding shelter with an old man. CADMIUM AND CRIMSON Two sculptors, one goal—to make masterpieces. The older dedicates his life to art and his younger contemporary to power and possessions. Where do their intentions lead them? BLACKENED MIRROR A rag to riches artist discovers his true self. A CHANCE MEETING A young man treats a total stranger the way he wants to be treated without expecting anything in return to amazing effects. YELLOW JACKET The protagonist is unable to resolve the guilt caused by the jealousy toward his...

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