The Freudian Couch

Welcome to The Freudian Couch. I dabble in fiction, literary and personal essays.

I believe that reading is a subjective experience. Hence, my essays on books rarely tell if a book is good. They focus on my reading journey and identify what worked for me and what didn’t.

My fiction leaves a lot unsaid, hoping that readers fill in the gaps.

My essays meander and make non-existent connections. They don’t judge, they examine. They don’t always conclude, but they question.

I have been writing here since 2009, failing and learning in public. If you’re looking for hot takes or productivity hacks, this isn’t the place for you. But if you are looking to engage closely with literature, join in. Explore around, and see what you like, if anything. Let me know what works and what doesn’t.

Some of my favorites from the archives:

• Fiction

  • Brown - An accident on a drive to a job interview raises questions on thinking vs acting, and on kindness.
  • Moonshine - A dangerous trek in 16th century Aravalli ranges demonstrates the price of loyalty.
  • By Myself - A single mother’s morning dealing with an assertive 5-year old.
  • Sigma - The reality of schoolkids in Tamil Nadu intersects with Manosphere ideologies.
  • All fiction

• Literary Essays

  • Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
  • Sujatha Gidla’s Ants Among Elephants
  • Jim Roberts’ And Your Byrd Can Sing
  • Abraham Verghese’s Covenant of Water
  • All book reviews

• Essays

  • Mother Tongues and Other Tongues - The perils of growing up in a multi-lingual household.
  • Libraries and refugees - How libraries could impact us, and how a mathematician became a refugee.
  • Why I Write - The lows of writing uncertainty in a world dominated by assertive people and machines.
  • Treated like a fly - How Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground predicted the future
  • All essays

• Explore all topics

As I battle LLMs and reels, it tends to get a little lonely. If my writing resonates with you, I would love to hear from you. Email me, or just get in touch from your favorite social media.