Finally!

Hi and welcome to the first post of The Introspective Introvert! Read on to know why I have titled this post ‘Finally!’.

Being an introvert, my circle of influence is pretty limited. Nothing surprising there, you might say. But then to make matters difficult (for myself) I have created layers even within that limited circle! Those who are familiar with the traits of introverts will understand that this doesn’t come from the space of being pompous. It is just the way we are wired. Coming back to the layers …

Those who know me know about my penchant for indulging in the good things in life (like I told someone – I invest in depreciating liabilities, not appreciating assets.). Those who know me well know me to be an introvert who has an insatiable appetite for reading, music, watching content and having meaningful conversations on varied topics that expand my intellectual repertoire. Finally, those who know me really well know that I write the occasional essay on something that I feel about. These essays, at least I think so, have been my introspections. Hence the name of this newsletter …

The Introspective Introvert is my (vanity(?), hopefully not vain) attempt to widen the net of people who can now know me really well, if they want to that is. This has been in the making, in my mind, since the last few years. A recent newsletter by Sophia Efthimiatou, Head Of Publisher Relations, Substack resonated with me a lot. She says, “There is something immodest, a little crazy, about admitting you’re a writer. You wake up every day to face a world geared to dissuade you from it.”

“Immodest, a little crazy” – that’s exactly the feeling I am getting while I am keying in right now.

“Admitting you are a writer” – As far back as I can remember I have always … (no, no … I am not trying to appropriate the famous opening line of Goodfellas) … been told that I write well - be it a letter to a friend, PowerPoint slides, emails, the odd rumination(s), movie reviews, etc. But believe you me, I harbour no delusions of being bestseller quality. I am constantly in awe of writers. And even more so those who write twenty, thirty, forty books … in one lifetime! And here I am … already perspiring thinking about writing this newsletter week after week. So no, I haven’t yet fully admitted to myself that I am a writer.

“World geared to dissuade you” – here I would disagree with Ms. Efthimiatou. My wife, Vinita, and a few other friends have always persuaded me to give writing a serious thought. I feel blessed that I have these well-wishers. But even then I dithered. Until now.

So then what made me take the plunge now? For one, a new year has dawned and I felt now is a good time. And second, the inherent nature of Substack. Given my nature, the prospect of putting out something for public consumption has been daunting. And at the same time, the prospect of someone consuming what I am dishing out, pausing to reflect on it, getting inspired by it (rolling my eyes), relating to it, occasionally commenting on it or sharing it with other likeminded people is what tipped the scales for me. I was trying to put my finger on why this sudden spurt of excitement in publishing my posts but wasn’t able to nail it. So … Ms. Efthimiatou came to my rescue again! She says, “There is no audience to lose, only one to gain. And gain you will. Perhaps when you start your only subscribers will be your best friend, your lonely neighbor, and your aunt–who can’t even read English. And then, one day, a fourth subscriber will roll in, a total stranger. That person will be there just to read you. When I talk about Substack I often use the word “intimate.” The posts that Substack writers send to their subscribers – whether they go out to tens or thousands of them – feel like private correspondence. A direct line to one’s audience has obvious benefits, and freedom is one of them, but to me what makes the bond here between writer and reader so powerful is the attention they warrant each other. A subscription is a mutual pledge. Your subscribers read you, really read you, and you will continue to write just for them.”

So here is what you can expect here:

• Some Musings of no particular genre or category of topics. In an earlier version I used to call these random recollections or observations as random-giri. Musings has a lot more gravitas. It is more befitting my age now. Going forward, these posts could be excruciatingly long, sometimes broken up into parts, sometimes really short, sometimes images, sometimes quotes, sometimes even lifted from other rich(er) sources of knowledge, information, observations. So please bear with me on the unstructured structure of my posts. They will have an everyday, conversational feel to them (it is my excuse for the occasional lapses in syntax, as well as the limited eloquence of an untrained writer). There will be stuff I may have shared with some/many of you. There is also a lot of stuff that is lying in the deep recesses of the brain that could get a new lease of life.

• While I believe I am opinionated, I have also been conditioned into correctness thanks to corporate life and the ever increasing touchiness of people that is growing in pandemic proportions. But then the urge to express still takes the better of me. So you, dear reader, could be subjected to the occasional Views/viewpoints from me. They will not be about politics, I assure you.

• And last, but not the least, there will be Reviews of content that I have watched. Over the last couple of decades I have been writing short reviews of movies that I shared with a few friends through SMSs which were some 320 characters long, which have now gotten a little longer thanks to no character limit on WhatsApp and the audience too has grown thanks to me being inducted into a Strictly Movies Only group on WhatsApp.

My posts will drop into your inbox every alternate Wednesday. I am already quite excited, and scared, about the commitment I am making. But then it was essential to set this fortnightly date discipline considering that it’s taken me almost two decades to get down to doing this from the first time someone suggested that I start a blog!

Hope you like what you read. And if you do, then here is what you could do:

• Click on the Subscribe button below and you will get my weekly newsletter in your mailbox. If you don’t see it in your mailbox, then do make sure that you check your ‘Promotions’ tab for Shantanu Sapre @ The Introspective Introvert. Drag my newsletter to the ‘Primary’ tab, and you will never miss a post from me.

• If checking your mail is a hassle, then you can download the app, search for The Introspective Introvert, and toggle your settings to Allow Notifications and let the app do the job of alerting you.

Of course, the buttons for usual suspects of Like, Share and Comment will be there in every post. Do make use of them occasionally so that, while you get to know me, I can also get to know you a wee bit better.

Be braver. Be kinder.