Delhi/NCR: A thought provoking literary evening unfolded at Kunzum Books, where author Kartikeya Vajpai engaged in a deeply reflective conversation with celebrated author & Convener, Delhi/NCR, Prabha Khaitan Foundation Neelima Dalmia Adhar and Journalist, Critic & Historian Murtaza Ali Khan.

The session explored themes of awareness, presence and the relationship between thought and observation. Speaking to an intimate audience, Kartikeya reflected on how thought often links the present to the past through identification, taking us away from the living moment. He shared that observation and thought cannot coexist simultaneously. Observation keeps us rooted in the now, while thinking often removes us from it.

“To stay with the living present, we must simply observe it—without attaching to thoughts. Thinking and observing cannot happen at the same time: thought has no observation, and true observation has no thought. Observation keeps you with the moment; thinking takes you out of it,” said, Kartikeya Vajpai.

The session reflected Kartikeya’s quiet depth and contemplative writing style, particularly through his debut novel, The Unbecoming, which examines the space between performance and presence, between the self we construct and the self that slowly softens.

The conversation echoed the central philosophy of The Unbecoming, which Kartikeya has framed as a return to an authentic state of being, transcending the pursuit of success/ goal driven living, accomplishment and the contrast desire of approval/validation. The book questions conventional ideas of success and instead invites readers to reconnect with stillness, awareness and the self that already feels complete.

Talking about the book and Vajpai, Neelima Dalmia Adhar said, “His book The Unbecoming enters that space between performance and presence, between effort and erosion, between the self we construct and the self that quietly begins to soften. His voice shaped by narrative and the disciplined stillness he beautifully elucidates the question “what are we when we stop trying to deserve ourselves?”

Held in the warm and intimate setting of Kunzum Books, the session left audiences engaged in a larger reflection on identity, selfhood and what remains when we stop trying to become someone else. Among the distinguished guests present were Ajay Jain, author and founder of Kunzum Books; Manisha Chaudhry, publisher and Co-director of Jaipur BookMark; and Małgorzata Wejsis-Gołębiak, Minister Plenipotentiary and Director of the Polish Institute New Delhi, alongside several other well-known members of the community.