As yet another Dylan biopic trailer hits youtube, it’s got so many of us to think and talk about our favourite Dylan song(s). While the jury is still out for my favourite Dylan poem, Patti Smith’s rendering of Dylan’s A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall remains my cornerstone of living a writer’s life (more on Joan Baez some other time). So, here’s a little snatch of a reported piece I wrote for The Hindu as a reporter back in 2016.

I remember going back and forth on email with my friend, K, on drafts of this piece, before I sent it to my chief of bureau. K had patiently pointed out places in my piece that moved him and sent over edits for places where I could improve. An exercise in absolute trust and mutual admiration, belonging. I’m largely content reading it eight years after, there are parts where my naive former self slips through and the hopefulness, despite it all, shines. The writing as a container of my former self which I continue to carry within. The process of writing, perfecting this little 500-600 word dirge held so much meaning for me; it is still one of the most delicate pieces of writing I’ve given myself to.