Commasutra & Simply RAJ

#YSFW. Yes, this post is safe for work.

Like its famous homonym authored by Vatsyayana, Commasutra is an art of its own- the art of punctuation. It’s one Grammarly is teaching me every day. For example, I often miss the oxford comma.

I went to the supermarket to buy milk, bread and eggs. WRONG

I went to the supermarket to buy milk, bread, and eggs. CORRECT.

Spotted the difference in the boring example above? That’s the Oxford comma.

After years of reading and writing, it never sunk in, despite colorful examples like the only difference between Killer Pandas and Cute Pandas being a comma:

The Panda eats, shoots and leaves - Killer Panda.

The Panda eats shoots and leaves - Cute Panda.

With US + Russia interactions all in the news, this example brought it home for me:

I’ve become far better with my Oxford commas, and Grammarly is happy.

I wish that were all.

Apparently, and just to put it simply, I really have another problem.

I hedge too much in my writing. I now have an acronym to remind me not to.

Simply R.A.J - to remind me to use the S,R,A,J words in bold less often:

Apparently, and just to put it simply, I really have another problem.

I was shocked to see how often Hemingway (the app, not the man) told me to stop hedging- be more decisive and less defensive. I’m learning. Apparently. Really!

PS: The Hemingway app also tells you at what grade level you’re writing. Mine’s now at Grade 3 or 4, which is good. Who else messages at Grade 3? Politicians.

And now, some updates since our last chat:

• On NPAT, the book: editing at a furious pace, exploring cover designers, and illustrating some of the charts and simple graphics in the book by myself on my iPad with an Apple pencil. There’s something authentic about a raw, unmanicured hand-drawn image. I hope so.

• On the planned article: Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It took on a life of its own. I realized I could use some fresh perspectives in my writing, and signed up to work with a talented writing coach, Ellen Fishbein. I’m now relearning to write essays, and hopefully, when you finally read this essay, you’ll think it was worth the wait.

• I told you I’d signed up for FLS Academy’s classes. I was accepted and am now looking forward to learning some basic beat-boxing and improv rap over five hours on Oct 10 & 11. If this is something you might be interested in, drop me a line asap. They’re accepting applications for the next day or so.

A new quarter, the last one of the year.

These days, the weekdays blend into the weekends, the months blend seamlessly into the next, and one quarter flows quietly to the next. Or, as we say in Hindi, Quarter Se Quarter Tak, aka QSQT (Indian-lingo-joke). There’s something intangible about the passage of time nowadays. Given this new reality, I decided its a good idea to document highlights for each quarter of my life before I forget. Only I couldn’t remember what had happened. So, I asked my Old man Moss - iPhone photos. A few finger scrolls, even for stingy photo takers like me, reveal what you were up to last quarter, last year, etc. I have now created a text file with brief highlights for each quarter. It’s fun. Here’s one from this month, four years ago:

How time flies. Speaking of which, its been celebration time here. My wife, Tina, turned fifty last weekend. This weekend, our son, Arya, turns twenty. Considering our propensity to celebrate multiples of ten, these are August milestones - in September and October respectively.

Enjoy Q4. See you on the 15th.