10 Things: Raghav Rao
Raghav's recommendations for what to read, listen to, consider, attend, eat, and think about this week.
Hello Out There!
I don’t know about you, but I loved it when Lindsay Pugh took over the newsletter last month to write her ten things. I loved it so much that I thought, “This should happen once a month!” And so here I am again, offering a terrific Ten Things list from the amazing writer
. Raghav writes a newsletter called , and it’s one of the only ones I ALWAYS READ. He writes about writing, reading, thinking, meditation, India, and sports that somehow he makes me care about — and he does it with great succinctness and humor. I recommend you check it out!If you’re still torn, read through some of his excellent suggestions, below. I don’t think you’ll stay torn for long! (Since we’ve got a guest, I’m putting all of his recs above the paywall. What a happy day!)
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Hi, Readers of Sophie’s Newsletter:
I’m Raghav Rao, a friend of Sophie’s. Like her, I enjoy bird-watching. I write, too, primarily fiction, and my debut novel is coming out in September of this year.
Here are my 10 things:
REQUEST AND READ: Of Men With Mouses
We all want to connect deeper with our friends and we trade articles, links, videos incessantly. But here’s one thing that helps forge a more meaningful connection.
Chances are, you have a friend (or more likely several friends) who worked really hard in college, or in a Master’s program, or in a PhD program to produce a high-quality thesis or dissertation. They likely poured hours of their life, their deepest thinking at the time, their values into this document.
Later, it was stored in an academic database and on a folder in their drive, and they moved on with their life. Perhaps they got a job in an unrelated field. Now, three, five, ten years later, it’s a memory and no more.
Recently, in conversation, a friend of mine fleetingly made reference to their Master’s thesis. They work now in Product and UX design. Their thesis contended that identity stands at the threshold of individual and systemic change. Their thesis dealt with the
toxic manosphere and the loose identities of: Men’s Rights Activists, Red Pill ideologues, MGOTW (Men Going Their Own Way) and Incels, and how individuals derived their identities from these groupings.
I read it and the ensuing conversation was a pleasure because I got to connect with a dear friend on a subject about which they were very knowledgable.
Humans like to be seen, to have our ideas engaged with. There’s someone in your life who doesn’t consider themselves a writer but who has, at some point, written something. Ask to read it! Engage with it. You’ll feel pretty darn good and you’ll likely learn a thing or two.
DOWNLOAD: Medito
In general, I don’t really love the trend of human beings taking ancient wisdom, turning it into Intellectual Property, licensing it as courses, and selling it back to us. Isn’t the knowledge of our ancestors, those countless millions who came before us, our birthright?
That’s why I love the Medito app.
It is a forever-free (how sweet the sound) Meditation app produced by the Medito foundation, a not-for-profit based in the Netherlands; I’ll let them tell you who they are:
We are Medito Foundation; we believe meditation can positively transform our lives, and no one should have to pay for it.
Now, it’s January. I’m sure many of us are hoping to start or build on existing meditation practices and are looking for tools to help us; perhaps you already have Calm or Headspace or some paid app that is assisting you.
I would encourage you to check out Medito. It may not have every single functionality that you’re looking for. But it has plenty. And more importantly, perhaps Medito is only an intermediate step in the process. Perhaps the ultimate goal is to eschew tools completely and recognize that everything we have to meditate is within us already.
I’m not there yet. So I’ll stick to using Medito.
CONSIDER: Bar Mitts
I know so many people who bike in good weather and, once a certain temperature hits, they wrap it up for the season. That’s understandable, of course. However, even if you aren’t a year-round commuter, one or two nice rides in the winter, especially before the
ground has frozen over, can let you enjoy landscapes that you perhaps miss out on; it can help alleviate the glumness of the season; it can make that hot cocoa taste all the better. With these bar mitts, I only need to wear the thinnest of gloves and my hands remain warm and protected from the wind. Perhaps these, a nice wool hat, a scarf, and a winter jacket, are you all need to get that 1 Winter Ride under your belt.
ATTEND: Virtual Co-Writes
I love these. I swear by these. And once again, they don’t apply exclusively to writers.
These sprouted up everywhere during the pandemic but they’ve really stuck. The concept is simple. A group of people meet in a Zoom room; they check in by sharing their intention. Everyone goes on mute. Perhaps theres some music or writing prompt shared in the chat. And we work for a duration, say 90 minutes, and then return for a checkout where you share how you fared.
It works. Like, really well. If you have a hard time attaining that state of deep focus, or if you have been putting something tedious off for a while, a Virtual Co-Write can be just the thing to break it.
I used it to think it was the accountability of the group. But after hosting over 250 of my own, I have come to realize it’s something more ineffable.
The world, especially the news cycle, is really great at making us feel small, like we don’t matter. But when you look up and see a bunch of people from all walks of life setting aside time from their day to work on their projects, you can draw from their conviction, feel the warmth of their same fire, and it can be the difference between continuing and stopping.
Shut Up and Write offers heaps and heaps of such cowrites, all free, and at many different time zones. If it wasn’t for the one hosted by Alan Ohashi at 630am central, I’d have never finished my novel; and I also host two every week (Monday evenings and Thursday mornings) - LINK
READ: The Legends of Khasak
I wanted to give you, dear reader of Sophies Newsletter, my number one book of 2023 and here’s what I have for you and I stand behind the product 100%
The Legends of Khasak, originally published in Malayalam in serial format in 1968 is a masterpiece of magical realism every bit as good, if not better, than the definitive texts of that genre like 100 Years of Solitude (1967).
Furthermore, it has the impressive distinction of being translated by its original author, twenty years later! How cool is that?
I wrote a detailed review of it in 2023 in case you want a closer look. Here’s a link to purchase it from bookshop.org in case you’re ready to bite the bullet. If it’s out of stock there, then there’s also the dreaded amazon link.
PS: I’ll be teaching it in a class on Literary Diversity of Southern India offered through Newberry Library Adult Education courses starting in March. LINK
WATCH: This SNL video
Sophie always crushes it with SNL; I’ll go with this. Ten years, folks! A more innocent time.
BUY: Tickets to the World-Class Chicago Sports Tournament That No One Has Ever Heard Of — The Windy City Open
Many people don’t realize that Chicago hosts the world’s biggest tournament in terms of prize purse ($1 million) for the sport of squash and it’s EQUAL between men and women. While in America, squash conjures up images of elite clubs and East Coast prep schools, few people know that the world’s best players come from Egypt!
I suspect that there’s not a ton of overlap between readers of Sophie’s newsletter and live sports WHICH IS WHY it’s worth trying something different.
Here’s why it’s worth going:
A) One ticket (starting at $20!) — gets you four matches, two men’s, two women’s. Most sports, for one ticket, you get one contest; here it’s like a variety show!
B) Incredible venues — Because a glass court can be built anywhere, the professional squash tour has some of the most incredible venues including this one in front of the Pyramids in Giza!
C) Squash players don’t make oodles and oodles of money. That $1 Million I mentioned? It’s split based on finishing position between all 64 players on the draw. Many players eke out a living, saving on housing costs by staying with fans, pursuing excellence in a sport for atelic reasons, that is, pursuing something for its own sake. And it’s certainly an impressive spectacle of excellence.
Chicago - Windy City Open - Feb 21-Feb 28 - LINK
New York City (Grand Central Station) - Tournament of Champions - Jan 17 - Jan 25 - LINK
Cincinnati - Jan 31 - Feb 4 - LINK
Detroit - Feb 6 - Feb 10 - LINK
Pittsburgh - Feb 7 - Feb 11 - LINK
Houston - Feb 13 - Feb 18 - LINK
Washington DC - Feb 14 - Feb 18 - LINK
8. LISTEN WHILE WORKING: “Lovedale” by Tidal
I need a rotation and a mix to my work-music but my current favorite is this album Lovedale by Tidal, a musical project spearheaded by my close, childhood friend, Sid Talwar.
Give it a listen and you’ll be glad.
Link to Apple Music
Link to YouTube Music
Whenever I’m with Sid in the city of my birth, Bombay (Mumbai), I’m always struck by how vibrant and cutting-edge that city’s artistic life is. He is a great representation of it.
In terms of vibe, I’d describe it as a sort of dreamy sound with cooling edges to it, reminiscent of Washed Out, the band that did the Portlandia theme, but with glossy, ethereal vocals.
9. EAT: Szechuan
Szechuan Chinese food, specifically, dry chili chicken is great! If you’re in Chicago, then the spot you want is Chengdu Impression! They have four locations, but I can only vouch for the Wicker Park one. My one Chinese friend orders from here twice a week!
If you aren’t in Chicago, I don’t know what to say except to give you a reproachful look and advise you to get in a car (or on a bike) and don’t rest until you’ve found your local Szechuan eatery.
10. COMPLETE WITHIN 90 SECONDS (the far superior way of writing 15 mins): Longhand Copy A Passage By A Writer You Admire
Pluck a book from your shelves by a writer that you admire. Copy a passage by hand.
And NO! You don’t have to be a writer to do this. This is a subtle pleasure for all; not just a craft exercise for writers.
For me, the pleasure of this is manifold; there’s the delicate lingering in the thoughts, there’s the delicious fiction that in another life you yourself have written these words; there’s the callback to my childhood spent copying text to improve handwriting (this might not apply to everyone because is the Internet).
For whatever reason you chose to give yourself over to do this, your day WILL BE that much better. I swear by it. Literally anyone can do it. There are no cost restraints.
Here’s a picture of my final product from The Honorable Schoolboy by John le Carré. If you’re laughing at my handwriting, just know you’re a terrible person.
When you leave Hong Kong, it ceases to exist. When you have passed the last Chinese policeman in British ammunition boots and puttees and held your breath as you race sixty feet above the roofs of the grey slums, when the out-islands have dwindled into the blue mist, you know that the curtain has been rung down, the props cleared away, and the life you lived there was all illusion. But this time for once, Jerry couldn't rise to that feeling: he carried the memory of the dead Frost and the live girl with him, and they were still beside him as he reached Bangkok.
As usual it took him all day to find what he was looking for; as usual he was about to give up. In Bangkok, in Jerry's view, that happened to everyone: a tourist looking for a wat, a journalist for a story— or Jerry for Ricardo's friend and partner Charlie Marshall— your prize sits down the far end of some damned alley, jammed between a silted klong and a pile of concrete trash and it costs you five dollars U.S. more than you expected.
Wishing all readers of Sophie’s newsletter a joyful, deeply felt 2024 — Raghav Rao
Great list, and love the idea of a monthly guest host Sophie. I gave a feeling your circle includes lots of people with great ideas to share.
Re. Squash. I'm not a sports fan usually. But do love attending sports events, fans and atmosphere can be so joyous. Since we moved to Canada we've been to watch hockey, baseball and curling (by far my favourite). And we're hoping to go a lacrosse game (match?) sometime since it was an answer on our citizenship tests.
Also very fond of copying beloved paragraphs out and then reading them back periodically. Their impact changes as I change, and also as I forget the context from the surrounding chapters.
Ooh, and thank you for the meditation app recommendation. Something I intend to get back to.
Thank you for this post Sophie and Raghav. This is such a fun, vibrant list unlike the usual listicles which stick to one static theme. I am going to try the meditation app for sure. And I am also curious to try writing in long hand from my favourite book.