Infections and Infectiousness: Naga Diaries 2

The following is what I`ve always found fascinating, Harish: There are places in India that reminds one of places like the Amazon in South America or Central Africa. Am never able to put my finger on this one. More so, I think I`ve said this before, Nagaland has always been one of these fascinating places for me. Never been there, but I do always read about it or follow it up on a map.
A great read again.



Rgds,
NfP

#2 patwari dont stop hounding him ..lol.

Harish,

(On this series)

What you are developing here is reasonably interesting - but your style suffers from some of the same difficulties that I noticed in the previous travelogue - and have tried to summarize (below).

In this part 2 of the current series, as well as in part 1, for the layman, it would probably be better if you had introduced the main characters and their background in a more systematic manner. Also, you spend a lot of text discussing trivialities associated with your colleagues (nothing wrong with that but it does distract from the larger theme. Also, you assume a certain degree of familiarity with those characters in the mind of the reader).

(Comments on the previous travelogue)

Because of well-known reasons, I missed commenting on the concluding portion. I could probably have posted the following there except I don`t like dormant boards, plus most of these comments are generic enough so they could be of use with this (and future) series.

As you are aware, I am not a writer and I will give you my feedback strictly as a lay reader. These are generic comments on the overall travelogue.

You tend to spontaneously switch from the mode of describing to the mode of musing. Sometimes, that does not sit well with individual readers (this one included) who like to know where they are going or being taken. It will be better appreciated by such readers if the ``randomness`` could be done away with or at least made lighter (a question along these lines was posed to you at the time the first of that series appeared and you evaded answering by providing a ``goal-moal`` response involving dead Greek philosophers).

I personally believe that after putting this whole account together - you should use that body of text as the Mark-1 version - a resource for developing a better version. In other words, just because you have already penned it - don`t get fixated on the current shape and current design (I hope you are not one of the authors who become protective of what they write - simply because they have already put the pen down). If I were you, I would review this whole body together - the pieces side by side - and come up with a new outline from scratch - going down to subsection level (I firmly believe that your chapters would be more readable if structured into subsections with subheadings and it will also make it a lot easier for you to organize) I would pause and carefully think what I want my reader to gain from this account and follow some kind of a system. Then I would pick text body pieces from the Mark-1 as appropriate for each subsection. If some of them need to be fleshened up or trimmed down, it will be worthwhile effort - it will improve the value of this account. Also, in my view, there is really no compelling reason for the individual episodes to run consecutively - I think the flow of where you are taking the reader in terms of ideas is more important and you should consider what works best to achieve that.

(By the way, the introduction of the ``osmosis of ideas`` at the end was a bit of a surprise and appears to be introduced half-heartedly. In my view, if you strongly believe in it, you should make it the central theme and use vignettes from the travelogue to support it somehow - it will make the work more purposeful.)

I realize that you have already spent a lot of time chronicling it and at this point may be unwilling to tackle it again - but in reality the availability of the first-cut will make it a much less arduous task and I believe well worth it by helping the book become a success. (You may wish to take a short break in between.) (The assumption is that you have not already finalized any arrangement with any publisher so still have the flexibility to revise it.)

This whole approach of going everywhere and getting nowhere appears to be counterproductive - it messes up many of your strong suits. (Perhaps you already are aware of that problem.)

A suggestion about the titles was made earlier (in jest) - but the reality indeed is that tepid titles turn off many readers - and it is possible to come up with more interesting ones without having to make compromises on quality of the content. (It is my understanding that newspapers like the Washington Post have individuals who specialize in just constructing titles for the articles - their importance can not be overemphasized. ) Brainstorm with a third party (your spouse, perhaps) who can read the sections with a fresh eye.

At this point, it is appropriate to also bring out some of the positives - the best thing about this account is that it is absolutely hands-on so its material is highly genuine (it beats arm-chair commentary by a mile - a skill which most of us specialize in over here). I have not read most of your earlier work, but your talent is quite obvious and without taking anything away from any other author - I think it is good for this web site to have individuals like you contributing. You are a bit restrained in the passions department but on this site, that should be considered a positive attribute. In general, your accounts read well and your descriptions appear to have little if any traces of your personal ideologies - whatever those may be.

I have suggested before, because it is essentially a travelogue - some pictorial data or maps will improve its readability substantially. A suggestion was also made regarding citing references. Others have pointed out the need for careful text editing and the like - those are all good suggestions.

I hope you will take these comments in the positive sense with which they have been made.

HN book time sir. Where is book you promised?

Well written article. Quite interesting. Keep it up.