In the past two years, I was just happy writing my regular literary column on suite101.com, and querying literary agents for my debut novel. Then the Iraq war happened.

The dastardly Bush-Blair offensive on the common people of Iraq seemed so mindless and inhuman that I wrote a scathing article criticising George W. Bush and his cronies, and posted it on my web page in place of my regular musings on some literay theme.

My new managing editor did not like it, and asked me in a rather brusque manner why I wrote on a topic not assigned to me. I argued that at a time like this I thought it was quite an appropriate subject, and every columnist worth his salt digressed occasionally to suit the demands of the time. She was not convinced, and I decided to quit.

Was it the right decision? I had a pretty good traffic, and I enjoyed feedback from my audience who wrote from different parts of the globe. True I miss it sometimes, but I don't regret it. I believe in speaking out my mind.