Chaya Bhuvaneswar Remembers the Renowned Writer and Influential Mentor February 4, 2021 Love is obstinate—more than patient or kind. That fact more than anything is what I learned from the writer Ved Mehta. We met when I was a freshman and signed up for his writing class. We sat in a basement conference room while a quietly-stoned classmate made funny faces, mocking Ved’s blindness. Though Ved and I never spoke of it, I think he knew fully what was happening. Yet his composure never faltered, and he had an effective way of letting the silence gave way to serious talk. He had a somehow watchful presence when students read their work, sometimes even remarking on their physical features to me later (“Is that one a dancer? I would have thought so. She’s graceful and small.”). I don’t know how much he even believed in the concept of “workshopping” anything, except he managed to create a sense of pleasant suspense in the room. Reading our pieces, it mattered to us what he’d say.