One More Night With Meera

Do you have a favorite day of the week? Mine’s Friday. Has been since I was a kid. Not because it’s the start of the weekend, that’s just a bonus. I love Fridays because it’s the day new movies come out. Or well, they used to. 

When I was a kid, my entire family would watch a new movie every Friday. I would sit in a seat, and let a story surround me. Stories that were bigger than me. Stories that taught me everything I know about life, love, and everything in between.

Today is a Friday. Well, it is a Friday the day I’m typing this. Maybe it’s a Friday the day you’re reading this. There’s 1/7 chance that it is a Friday for you too.

Today isn’t just any Friday though. It’s the first Friday where the story that is being released was made by me.

Today is the release of my first ever audio-play - called “One More Night With Meera" - that I wrote and directed for Launchora's new audio-play series called Play Me Life.

The full audio-play is now available to listen to - for free - on all possible podcast apps, I’ve put the links at the bottom, pick whichever one you like.

You can choose to scroll down and listen to it right now... I am totally cool with that; but I do have a couple things to say to my fellow launchers below, so stick around for that if you want to…

Dear launchers...

I owe you an apology. If you are reading this because you got a notification or email saying I’ve published a new story, you may notice that this is the first thing I’ve published on Launchora since March 2019, which was 10 months ago.

Why the long gap? Well, if you’re a listener of my podcast “Storytalking With Lakshya”, then you know why. But if you’re not, I’ll give you the quick recap.

I haven’t published anything in 10 months because I wasn’t writing - I was writing! Just for, another format. Over the past 12 months I’ve gone from making one podcast (Storytalking With Lakshya), to producing six podcasts (Jaipur Bytes, The Vision-Nari Podcast, Jazz India Circuit Podcast, Poetry Darbaar, and mostly recently - Play Me Life).

My journey as a storyteller (which is pretty much what Storytalking is about) keeps… updating its path. I started off writing short stories in college, then I got into playwriting, then I made Launchora and starting writing and publishing both (along with some nonfiction) - but all of that was in one format: text. Something to be read, on your own time. And as much as I love(d) making that, I feel like I know need to explore this new format which is audio. Stories, shows, plays - put together for you, as an auditory experience that envelopes you… and in the case of Play Me Life - puts you right into the story.

In the “Introducing Play Me Life” trailer that I put together for the show, I wrote this -

If all the world’s a stage, and all men and women merely players…

Then every person on this stage is living their own play, aren’t they?

What if you could hear another person’s play?

What if you could hear another life?

Not the one they make you see, and not as the audience - but from their point of view, up on the stage?

That is my new goal. Telling you stories that are intimate. Stories that are personal. Stories that make you feel, not like the audience, but like the player living the life.

That brings us to “One More Night With Meera”. To some of you, that title may ring a bell. It’s quite similar to a story I published on Launchora in January of 2015 called “One More Night With Isabel”. Well, in case you’re wondering if they’re related… your suspicions are correct. Meera is inspired by Isabel.

However, whether you have read Isabel or not, trust me, Meera is a whole different experience. Because this time, I got to make it exactly as I thought of it, all those years ago. Five years ago, to be exact.

I chose this story as the first audioplay to be featured in Play Me Life because it’s the story that I’ve lived the longest. These characters mean a lot to me. Their journey is a big part of my own. To me they’re as real as me, as you, as life itself.

I guess what I’m really trying to say here is…

Dear launchers, I hope you’ll show Neel and Meera the same love that you’ve given me all these years.

And in case you're wondering... yes - I'm going to write more in 2020. In this format, or in the one you're about to listen to.

“One More Night With Meera” is now playing. 

Listen to it by following any of the direct links below.

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Google Podcasts