Hi. I’m Suneel (middle name ‘Sim’, meaning Tiger in Sanskrit). I have a PhD in English Literature, the History of Photography (Art History) and Law (doctorate published as a monograph and in over 120 university libraries world-wide) and have been widely published as an academic, book reviewer and a poet. I have also made it as a paid artist with a commission. Topics here include all types of anthropology, psychology, sociology and film, art and literature studies.
The main things you need to know about me: I’m British, Punjabi (Indian, Hindu, Guru Ravidasia and Sikh background), super-fit, an ANARCHIST, insatiably curious, obsessed with the people and things that interest me and I love and I always try to do my bit to contribute to the world (although we all sometimes fail and make mistakes. We are human).
I HAVE DECIDED TO BECOME AN ACTOR – Check out my videos by searching YOUTUBE for ‘mehmis films’…
Contact me: suneelpubliccontact@yahoo.com
THE MEHMI PRESS
Titles in the Mehmi Press – Free Download
The Mehmi Press is an online Open Access publishing company which I founded in 2023. It is completely free to download, read and share my creative work. I hope you enjoy reading these titles which include microfiction and an artbook. Self-publishing gives you a freedom you cannot enjoy anywhere else and a sense of achievement which is hard to find in this world.
Stay on the lookout for more titles in the future!
By Dr Suneel Mehmi
MICROFICTION AND BRIEF THOUGHTS 2022
PUBLISHED 2024
Sample story:
The State’s Time Machine
15.02.2022
In the government meeting, the topic was how to counter the rising unemployment rate. One bright spark suggested a time machine and a time commute. ‘The thing with the past,’ he said, ‘was there was so much of it.’ To exploit economically is what he meant. So, the state took a tiny fraction from its immense and unnecessary defence budget and hired highly expensive and highly unintellectual managers to supervise the project, while wholly ignoring the scientific community which said that time machines could not be built. The managers hummed and hawed while devouring millions of tax payer money. They were still deciding what engineers to hire. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose again, particularly in the engineering sector (because of the type of managers the state had hired). An official report was launched into the situation and concluded that the Prime Minister deserved a promotion.
HINDI FILMS ABOUT LOVE
PUBLISHED 2024
Volume two in my series of quick notes about my interpretations of the meanings and philosophy of Hindi films. This time with a focus upon love in Hindi cinema: obsession, passion, sacrifice, feeling. How love in Indian cinema is different from anywhere else in the world because it is love of rebellion against power and oppression.
FONT EVOLUTION
PUBLISHED 2024
Since childhood, I have been doodling typography on paper. I finally took up the design in digital and these are just a few of the examples of my work, typically about my personal relationships with not only myself, but also those who are around me!
A BOOK OF LOVE AND DESPAIR
PUBLISHED 2024
My most recent poetry. Here’s a sample:
my mind is i think about you
my tongue is i talk about you
my ear is I ask for advice about you
my heart is I love you
DISH OF FLOWERING SCENTS
PUBLISHED 2024
A historic collection of my poetry. Here is a sample:
12.04.15
Inspired by a phrase from a Hindi Song
When I wander in the city of your eyes
I take the main road
but all the while I wonder what happens
in the back streets and side alleys
when I wander in the city of your eyes
SELECTED NOTES ON RACISM
PUBLISHED 2024
With a focus on the British Asian or Anglo-Indian experience, these are writings about the subtle strategies of racism in western culture which shape everyday life and also the cultural imagination through fiction and films. The aim of the book is to expose what is concealed but which orders life in Western culture for the ethnic minority and the majority culture.
SEVEN DAYDREAMS
PUBLISHED 2023
Seven daydreams which I have been immersed in constantly. From dreams of freedom, to dreams of imprisonment, from dreams of knowledge to dreams of the body beautiful.
STORIES FOR MY CHILDREN
Published 2024
These stories are lessons, adventures, a means to share life and my experience with the little ones. An attempt to replicate the wonder of stories which my grandfather introduced me to, the ultimate storyteller. Written in 2015. The first collection of many to come!
MICROFICTION 2022
Published 2023
Microfiction self-published on social media amidst the Covid pandemic, job search status after a PhD and the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
JUVENALIA: Stories for the University Newspaper
Published 2023
Microfiction published in various student newspapers with a twist in the tail – sometimes quite nastily.
PAISLEY ART BOOK
Published 2023
An exploration of what the Paisley symbol means to me as a digital artist and how it signifies the tears of India for me as they are appropriated by the West.
POETRY TO THE IMPOSSIBLE WOMAN
Published 2023
Poetry sent in an Impossible Way to the Impossible Woman.
MEHMI’S Introduction to Hindi Film (10 Favourites)
Published 2023
An introduction to some of the most iconic, historically significant and popular Hindi films through an exploration of ten of my most favourite films.
diary of a lone man 