Well, hello there! This is Vishal bringing you your favourite internet newsletter, Kat’s Kable. As a certain white wizard would say, I too have been sent back until my task is done. Ha, not really. I’ve taken a long break and to be honest, I just haven’t had the bandwidth, energy, time or emotional energy to get back to the Kable. However! Of late, I’ve been feeling very disconnected from myself, and I’ve felt a bit of desperation because I haven’t been doing the things I love. I return, now, though, at the turn of the tide, and I am going to try and seize the initiative and reclaim a bit of myself. Thus, the newsletter. It feels like an optimistic and ambitious punt now to restart and hope to be consistent over the next 45 days, but I shall.
Ha, that was quite dramatic, but it is true, friends. I struggle sometimes with just “being”, and instead have my identity tied up in the things I do and am good at - newslettering, cooking, fermenting, and so on. So newslettering is what I return to.
If you got this from a friend and want to subscribe, here’s the link. Also, if any of the links are paywalled and if you don’t want to pay for a subscription, try opening the link in incognito mode in your browser. This works if the website has a “soft” paywall. If that doesn’t work, you can access the website using a different browser on the same device, or use a different device altogether. Another, slightly involved, method is to try to disable JavaScript and reload the page. This works on some websites for me.
1. The Truth, The Whole Truth … and Murali Kartik (Prashant DP’s Medium) - Really lovely piece about Murali Kartik, the Indian cricketer from the 2000s and now fun cricket commentator too.
2. Watching Sehwag bat (Cricinfo) - Another cricket piece - found this on the Cricinfo homepage today as a “from the archive” piece (it’s from 2004).
There is something irresistible about such bravado and dash, such disregard of rules of batsmanship thought to be almost sacrosanct. Even strolling about the crease between deliveries, he appears to be thinking not about the bowler changing his line of attack, or of this fielder going here and that one there, but rather of palm trees and golden beaches.
3. In the Glimmer (Harpers Magazine) - Fun piece! It’s by Rachel Yoder, who is from a Mennonite family but seeking her own path and identity in the world. With the help of an able research assistant (her dad), she tries to learn about the Amish healing tradition called Braucherei.
4. Japanese Man is the ‘Lebron James’ of Stone Skipping (Next Shark) - not longform by any means, but very cool.
5. Do you know the heart of life is good? (Sanjana Ramachandran’s Substack) - I really enjoy Sanjana’s writing, and this blog post/newsletter ringing in 2024 is particularly nice.
This is my way of foregrounding 2024 in hope, creativity, and community, despite any and all difficulty. Beyond this, I cannot think or plan further. Immediately I have to go play some intoxicating word games with friends, and ring in another cycle of life, so I hope you’re spending it around whoever and whatever you love too.