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About Me

को अद्धा वेद क इह प्र वोचत्कुत आजाता कुत इयं विसृष्टिः |
अर्वाग्देवा अस्य विसर्जनेनाथा को वेद यत आबभूव ॥

Who am I?

I'm someone, anyone; I might be Bachir Gemayel: among guns and shells a Maronite; between powers a puppet - a pawn in a Great Game; weak, then powerful; alive, then dead; somebody, anybody, nobody. I might be someone else, I might be you, I might be a third person; I might as well be Bachir Gemayel.

This I know: I can write scintillating copy, strategise and help bring a brand to market in memorable ways with 30 months of experience; I can also do PCR and sequence DNA if necessary (that's 7 years of experience); I can read an epigraph with some difficulty, operate a microscope, teach a classroom practically anything (given I've taught French, Sanskrit epigraphy, the taxonomy of ants, Danish colonial possessions in South Asia, and copywriting). I aim is to be a poet-novelist of some Nobelity, to be creative director in a decent firm, and to be remembered with tears centuries from now.

This I tell: Raamesh Gowri Raghavan moonlights as an award-winning copywriter by day and daylights as an award-wanting poet* by night, and sandwiches archaeology, running a literary club, running a literary journal, the occasional trek, some peer counseling for suicide prevention, and learning languages in between.

I think I am funny, but friends vehemently disagree.

In a nutshell: writing anything, imagining, epigraphy, DNA sequencing... doing what I effing please**

My internet existence, bulletted:

Professional Profiles:

Profile: LinkedIn, Bayt
Portfolio: Behance

Work:

@ OgilvyOne Worldwide: YouTube
@ 4nought4: YouTube
@ Indigo Consulting: YouTube, project website
@ RK Swamy BBDO Interactive: project websiteproject website, blog
@Pinstorm: my idea (campaign coverage)

Academic Profiles:

ResearchGate
Academia

Academic papers, presentations etc:

The social and genetic organization of the queenless, Ponerine ant, Diacamma ceylonense - (M.S. Thesis)

Numerical Methods in Linguistics - An Introduction to Glottochronology | also here, here

Molecular analyses of microbial diversity associated with the Lonar soda lake in India: an impact crater in a basalt area | also here, here

Preliminary Explorations in Kothaligad, District Raigad, Maharashtra | also here

Lecture on Grantha Script at Centre for Extra-Mural Studies, University of Mumbai

Will the Indian Ocean ever truly be India’s Ocean? (Prospects for the future of India’s maritime legacy)

Tamil-English Dictionary: Freelang

Opinions:

LinkedIn
Mission Telangana
Wordpress

Poems published Online:

Pallankuzhi at Indian Review
You at RaedLeaf Poetry
Motherless Andhadi at Cerebration
Rain Raga in collaboration with Angelee Deodhar at The song is...
mary jane - snow white super girl at Fictionaut
Saudade #1The Solitary ReaperChildren's BooksCommasOpening into the darkness, yellowstill waters, The Return of the Native, Flying Scotsman, at Whispers in the Wind
Pearls at S Balachandra Rao's blog
Saluva Timma, Mahamandaleshwara at Indian Periodical
War is Necessary at GloMag
Mumbai; The city won't stop for him; and They've put tin sheets around my house at Kritya
Fear Ye by Oxford Book Store (no longer online)


Tapestry Poems with Shernaz Wadia:

Partition
Tattoos
Summer
WEEDS
Rain in the Hills | also here
Night in the City

Poems in Print:

Dignity - Published in South Asian Review Conference and Poetry Issue 26 (3); 2005; ed. K. D. Verma. ISSN: 0275-7196

A poem for my ageing wife and RosePublished in Writing Love an Anthology of Indian - English Poetry, ed. Ashmi Ahluwalia; Rupa Publications, New Delhi, 2010. ISBN 978-81-29116-66-6.

A Song of Spring - Published in Kavi Kala - The Visual Poetry Project, ed. Madness Mandali; Cinnamon teal, Goa, 2010. ISBN: 978-93-80151-79-3.

She's ComplicatedPockmarksYesternight and Yesterday; and ConversationsPublished in Making Waves - A Poetry Anthology, ed. Pam & Bill Swyers; Swyers Publishing, Dacula, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-9843113-6-1.

Eyes - Published in The Heart Only Whispers... Love Poems by 60 Indian Poets, ed. Glory Sasikala; Pubros Consultants, Chennai & Poets Printery, Mdantsane, 2014. ISBN: 978-09-92202-20-8

Music Rediscovered - Published in Chants of Peace, ed. P. Nagasuseela and P. Gopichand; Authorspress, New Delhi, 2016. ISBN: 978-93-52073-50-4.

Learning Portuguese - Published in GloMag February 2017, ed. Glory Sasikala; Cyberwit.net, Allahabad, 2017. ISBN: 978-93-85945-78-6.


Kosovo Polje, Grandfather's Chrome Pendulum - Published in Remember, ed. Paragram; Four Point Press, Shepperton, 2014. ISBN: 978-0-9927123-2-7.

Darknesses - Published in Poetic Prism 2015 Multilingual Anthology of Poetry, ed. E Sivanagi Reddy & Padmaja Iyengar; The Cultural Centre of Vijayawada, Vijayawada, 2015.

Haikai and Tanka:

Two vanguard haiku at World Haiku Review, Spring Issue, April 2014
Tanka at cattails, May 2014
Haiku (in Hindi) at Haiku Darpan, May 2014
Haiku at Issa's Untidy Hut, Wednesday Haiku #189, August 2014
Sikkim at Frogpond 37:3, Autumn 2014
Bazaar at Shamrock 28, 2014
Tanka at Atlas Poetica, September 2014
The BurgerPlus ça change, plus c'est la même chose at cattails, September 2014
The Trial at Chrysanthemum 16, October 2014
Haiku at Brass Bell, November 2014
Mumbai at A Hundred Gourds, 4:1, December 2014
Tanka at Skylark, Vol. 2, No. 2, Winter 2014
Still Life at Ink Sweat & Tears, February 2015
Haiku at Whispers in the Wind, May 2015
Haiku at Whispers in the Wind, August 2015
Edifice at Shamrock 31, 2015
Tanka at A Hundred Gourds, 3:4, September 2015
River at Whispers in the Wind, September 2015
Overture to a Root Canal at A Hundred Gourds, 4:3, June 2015
Bombay at A Hundred Gourds, 4:4, September 2015
Haiku at bear creek haiku, July 2016
Haiku at Whispers in the Wind, February 2016
CST Station at 7:45 PM on Sunday 21 December, 2008 at Glomag, April 2016
Senryu at Failed Haiku, May 2016
Generation Gap at Miriam's Well, May 2016
Haiku at Ardea 6, September 2016

Haikai and Tanka in Print:

Three haiku published in naad anunaad - an anthology of contemporary world haiku, ed. Kala Ramesh, Sanjukta Asopa & Shloka Shankar; Vishwakarma Publications, Pune, 2016. ISBN: 978-93-85665-33-2.

Six haiku published in bear creek haiku (chapbook), ed. Ayaz Daryl Nielsen; bear creek haiku #135, Longmont, 2016.

One haiku published in Proceedings of the Two-Day International Conference and Utsav on Contemporary Haiku (Distilled Images) organised by The Department of English, SIES College of Arts, Science & Commerce in collaboration with IN haiku 13-14 September, 2014

Alien Buds - a Sci-Fi spring shisan renku - Published in scifaikuest 48, ed. Teri Santitoro; Alban Lake Publishing, Cedar Rapids, 2015. ISSN: 1558-9730.

The Burger - Published in Neesah Lovers of the Book Vol 1, Issue 1, ed. Rochelle Potkar and Nivedita; Nivasini Publishers, Hyderabad, 2014.

Travelogues at TerrainSpotter:

Thikse Gompa
Jawhar
Guwahati
Sarchu & Darcha

Anthologies Edited:

the taste of sea breeze: An anthology of haiku, senryu, haibun, renku, tanka and renbun

Essays:

Mother's Parijata Tree
Why I Write
Languages I know
Why Mothers Can’t Grow Bonsai Trees
On Tiffins: Preface to GloMag, September 2016
Indian Parenting 101 (and why my parents failed it)
Idli Vs Aloo-da-parantha
Adventures in Nine Languages

Interviews:

Angelee Deodhar
Johannes Manjrekar
K. Ramesh
Ramendra Kumar

Short Stories:

The Zamindar's Footprint at Indian Periodical

Book Review:

All and Nothing by Raksha Bharadia
Archaeogiri by Shubha Khandekar

Public performances, readings ktp:

Reciting my story 'Idlinama' at Tall Tales (October 18, 2014): here and here
Reciting my story 'The Village Cricket Ground' here

Events organised:

Distilled Images: A Conference and Utsav on Contemporary Haiku

Journal I run: Narrow Road
(with Paresh Tiwari and Rohini Gupta:)
Volume 1
Volume 2
Submission Guidelines

Mentions in the media:

For Distilled Images: Indian Express | UHTS
For Archaeology: Times of India | Bombay Times
For Amaravati Poetic Prism: The Hindu | Andhra Pradesh Magazine
For 4nought4: The Economic Times

Blogs & blog listings:

The Tweeting Haijin - my haikai blog
Autophony - my poetry blog
The Reckless Sonneteer - my 'sonnets'
GLO-TALK - collaborative blog with Glory Sasikala
Maxvani - in honour of the late Max Babi
The Great And The Glubby - where mail forwards go to die
Yakṣapraśnāḥ - quiz blog (defunct; will hand over to whoever is interested)

Cafe Haiku - maintained on behalf of IN haiku Mumbai

IISc bloggers' list

Social profiles:

@tweetinghaijin
Google+ (Oh yes, I'm still on it)
Facebook
Instagram, mirrored at The Picta
Slideshare
Sulekha
Fictionaut
Medium
Quora
Foursquare
Bonobology
Pinterest
YouTube

(Yup, I'm all over the place.)
Raamesh Gowri Raghavan

Write to me:
iambecomedeath@gmail.com
azhvan@yahoo.co.in

*since fulfilled at the Amaravati Poetic Prism 2016 with a somewhat expensive shawl presented by a surly Nara Chandrababu Naidu.
**with the constraints of money, family bonds, asthmatic lungs, and inescapable laziness.

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