Having observed and thought about trees for a few years now, I am convinced that they are superior to human beings, as forms of life. I will pick another day to explain why this is so. It follows that, attributing human characteristics to trees, or plants in general is not really fair; they are unlikely to be pleased. Yet, […]
Since I am writing a novel that pretends to be a botanical treatise, I should pretend to be a botanist, shouldn’t I? I am not a botanist; I don’t know if coconut is a true nut or a bolt. All I can be sure is that I can tell it from an orange, in most […]
This note is about a typewriter. I have two of them; the one who types this out is Kunjanna (Malayalam for ‘Little Anna’). She is a Hermes. They say she is a ‘baby’. She doesn’t need a nappy though. All she needs is a ribbon. And very little love. You can see her here. Typewriting is […]
January 8, 1663 was a Monday. That is the day the Portuguese fort of Cochin fell to the Dutch. The week starting that day was eventful in Cochin, especially within the fort. In a few days, all Portuguese soldiers—Soldados—would leave for Amsterdam as prisoners of war. And, Cazados, the married officers, would sail for Goa. […]
I once met Rachel Calder at the University. Yes, I mean the famous literary agent who runs Sayle, one of England’s oldest literary agencies. And no, I didn’t meet her for twelve seconds. I had a very helpful, proper, sit-down meeting with her, and she spent a considerably long time, perhaps fifteen minutes, with me. […]
It began to take shape in Cambridge, in December, the last year. So, I have been working on this novel for a year now. But then, I had been writing a related narrative since October 2008, and perhaps it is more accurate to say that narrative, in which I had written about seventy thousand words, […]
This blog is about Hortus Malabaricus, a novel I have been working on for a while now. It may not be very apparent why I would want to write about my writing. In fact, I don’t want to; these notes are not really about my novel, but about the experience of writing this novel, which, at […]
