Journal: The Ides of March
You would be surprised to know that I stood before Our Lady of the Dolours at Erinjery Angady in Thrissur. At the time, I was in Chennai, constantly looking at my screen. Neither Chennai nor Thrissur was supposed to be part of my work-in-progress manuscript titled "A City Full of Stories 4: Stories from the Garden City," which was intended to focus on Bengaluru. Storytelling teaches us about people, places, and histories that we might never otherwise learn.
Background:
I wrapped Ponder 2024 in February. It was a difficult project, given that there were foreign travels with meetings around the waking hours, the bushfires in my India company, and funds, all coming together for the first time. It takes time for a plant to grow. And there are the impatient people — the ones torn between the safety of a regular income and the risks of entrepreneurship ( they want safety and rewards, not the risks). So, we had to dismantle and build again, slower and steadier. So, if I had completed that book, Ponder 2024 in a fit of dutifulness rather than the usual joy, then I would not be lying. Sometimes, writing is a commitment rather than a joy.
On a parallel note, Shweta, my creative advisor, and editor, and I found time to read and review the edited manuscript of ‘Bachelor’s Wife and Other Stories’. We relived the stories, one at a time, and found a little mistake here and there, and even some grammatical errors and typos. However, we know that no manuscript is ever perfect, but after our efforts, from December to March, we completed the review. The manuscript has started doing the publishers’ rounds, without any literary agent. We will know in two to three months, where we land with the top five traditional publishers.
Then, the sudden urge to write came back. I have written my best when I am in a crisis. The last such event happened in late 2021 and the first half of 2022, when my mother was hospitalized and passed, and the aftermath. I finished two manuscripts — Bachelor’s Wife and A City Full of Stories 2. The painful memories of my mother propelled me to dive into a world of my own, weaving stories around the City of Joy and Ramayan.
Cut to March 2025. It has been three years since I wrote like this. I had written a story called ‘The Stubble’ that was published as part of ‘The Vernals’, a short story collection. Then, I realized that I could rewrite the story as part of ‘A City of Stories — 4: Stories from the City of Joy’.
a) Skipping Number Three
Anyone who follows my journal will know that after successfully publishing "A City Full of Stories: Tales Based on the Events and People of Mumbai" in January 2021, and completing "A City Full of Stories — 2: Stories from the City of Joy," I should have moved on to "A City Full of Stories — 3: North East Chronicles." However, instead, I chose to embark on "A City Full of Stories 4: Stories from the Garden City."
It is important to understand the structure of ACFOS-2. I am sharing the blurb here.
A City Full of Stories — 2
Set against the vibrant yet melancholic backdrop of Kolkata, A City Full of Stories — 2 is a masterful blend of nostalgia, tragedy, and resilience. Through three interconnected sections, the book explores the pains of growing up, the weight of history, and the cost of innocence lost.In Kaushik Chatterjee’s Diaries, a young man navigates friendship, love, and career struggles, only to find himself at a crossroads between ambition and nostalgia.
Other Stories from the City of Joy weaves together forgotten revolutions, mythological retellings, feminist awakenings, and football rivalries, painting an intimate portrait of Kolkata’s ever-changing soul. Biplab — The End of Innocence is a gripping tale of betrayal and survival, where a boy’s innocent journey turns into a nightmare, forcing him to confront a world far darker than he imagined.
From the haunting romance of Water Under the Bridge to the literary resilience of When Words Become Birds, from the fiery chaos of The Fire in the Fair to the spiritual reckoning of I Am Durga, these stories echo long after they end.
✨ A poetic yet raw exploration of love, loss, identity, and the indomitable spirit of a city, A City Full of Stories — 2 is not just a book — it is Kolkata itself, told through the voices of those who call it home.
Some might say that I let the cat out of the bag, but those who follow deserve to know. The book captures the essence of Kolkata and its diverse people. I take pride in this work, as it reflects my journey here. Now, read the journal and the blurb together, and you'll understand the reasons behind it.
This brings me to Part 1: Kaushik Chatterjee boards a flight to Guwahati. There must be a sequel, Part 2, which should logically take place in the Northeast.
I wrote the story on November 1, 2023, and then followed it with another story about middle-aged love, featuring the same characters and a connecting hook, one was a sequel for the other. As a result, I had two interconnected stories. Then, one fine morning, I began writing a storyline that I had long had in mind, and it turned out to be a blend of corporate culture and a love story. It gradually became clear to me that this should be part of Part 4, which is how ACFOS-4 was born.
Oh, so, AFCOS-3 has to wait. It will be the bridge between 2 and 4 but in the North East.
b) The Prequels and the Sequels
In one part of the story, the female protagonist, Trisha, reflects on her current situation and subtly hints at her background. This inspired an intriguing idea: why not write a prequel? I never expected it to evolve into a full-fledged novel that explores Trisha's origins and the events leading to her present circumstances. Ultimately, this work became the prequel to my first story. It serves as an origin tale and has developed into a family drama.
In "Trisha," we follow a woman who abandons her legacy and heritage from two families, the Kunnaths and the Kuriens, in a multi-generational saga of legacy and inheritance. At the core of the story is art and its connection to family, culture, traditions, and lineage.
I wrote another story titled "Aachi," which is inspired by an old maid who lived in my in-laws' house. This narrative is woven into the early stages of Trisha and Kaushik's marriage. The story explores the relationship between Trisha and Aachi, with their interactions reflecting Trisha's personal life and inner conscience, reflecting her decisions in Kunnaths and Kuriens.
So the sequence stood like this — ‘Perhaps’ ( her tryst with Kaushik) followed by ‘Kunnaths and Kuriens’ ( the origin story and the novel), ‘Aachi’ ( the early stage of Trisha’s marriage), and then Net Present Value (the later stage of Trisha’s marriage). As I decided to look at how to land this, I had to let Moushmi, their daughter out of the backstage, and her story would be titled ‘Departure Gate’. The final story, a character that triggered the whole drama in ‘Kunnaths and Kuriens’, will take a lead, albeit a branch-off as its sequel.
So there you go, six stories, of Kaushik, without him playing a major role. So, why is it still called Kaushik Chatterjee Diaries?
Breaking the Wall
When Kaushik boards the flight from Kolkata to Bengaluru, he writes to you, the readers. He does not realize that he is just a small part of his diaries, so he breaks the ‘fourth wall’ and speaks to you. It is a magical way of experiencing him, yet he returns to the stage, and the fourth wall is restored.
Who knows what the final version of the manuscript will look like? Where will the series go from here? Which city is next for ACFOS-5? The Ides of March have just passed again: “You too are holding back.” I am staring at the cross that crowns Our Lady of Dolours Basilica as I write my fifth story.
Well, we’ll have to wait, won’t we?
~Ashok Subramanian © 2025
