A new anthology of horror stories has been released by Scholastic. It also contains my story - Monsters Above Your Bed. Enjoy! (Click on the images to enlarge)
Friday, October 09, 2009
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Reviews and Other News
DNA's young adult supplement ya! carries a review of The Enemy of My Enemy today. I am finally back in Bombay after an exhausting first leg of the book tour. Since 13th July I have done four book launches and 26 school visits and readings. Am hoping to relax and work on the sequel to the gamebook in the following weeks.
In the meanwhile there is a quiz to be hosted in September and the possibility of promoting the book in Goa. More updates soon.
In the meanwhile there is a quiz to be hosted in September and the possibility of promoting the book in Goa. More updates soon.
Friday, August 07, 2009
A Great Example
... of how a telephone interview should be given (all credit, of course, to the journo for not making me sound like the underside of a stinking warthog): Indian Express.
More coverage of the launch by the New Indian Express (Chennai).
More coverage of the launch by the New Indian Express (Chennai).
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Chennai Book Launch Coverage
The Hindu had this to say about the launch on the 31st of July.
A great example of how a telephone interview should not be given so that one doesn't sound like a bumbling idiot: Chennai Times.
A great example of how a telephone interview should not be given so that one doesn't sound like a bumbling idiot: Chennai Times.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Media Coverage
The last few weeks have been a complete blur - school visits, book launches, interviews, Q and A sessions and in between meeting old friends.
The launch of Crickematics in Bangalore was outstanding and meeting another personal hero - Rahul Dravid - was an awesome experience. The stampede in the end was a bit unnerving, but Dravid handled it well.
The launch of The Enemy of My Enemy in Chennai will probably be remembered for the longest Q and A session ever at a book launch. Children and grown-ups alike were rather inquisitive.
The school visits in Bangalore and Pune were entertaining and exhausting and am looking forward to the 15 school visits that have been planned in Chennai over the next one week.
Here are links to some of the articles/ interviews/ coverage of Crickematics and The Enemy of My Enemy:
Interviews in Time Out Mumbai, Deccan Chronicle and Times of India
Coverage of Crickematics on Rediff, The Hindu, Mid Day, Bangalore Mirror and MyBangalore
Friday, July 31, 2009
Chennai Launch of The Enemy of My Enemy
Venue: Landmark, Chennai Citi Centre
Time: 4:30 PM
Date: 31st July 2009
Time: 4:30 PM
Date: 31st July 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Book Tour: The Enemy of My Enemy
Will be on the road for the better part of next month to promote the gamebook.
First stop is a whirlwind tour of Pune where I'll be covering seven schools in three days starting from the 13th of July (Monday).
Then back in Bombay for the book launch at Landmark, Infiniti Mall (Andheri) on the 17th of July at 6 PM.
Then headed to Chennai from the 27th of July to the 8th of August. The launch is on the 31st at Landmark, Citi Centre. Will also be covering a large number of Chennai schools during this time.
In between am headed to Bangalore on the 25th for a very special event. A story I wrote a while back is going to be launched as an audio-book by Karadi Tales. The story has been narrated by Rahul Dravid. Check out the details below and do land up if you happen to be in Bangalore.
First stop is a whirlwind tour of Pune where I'll be covering seven schools in three days starting from the 13th of July (Monday).
Then back in Bombay for the book launch at Landmark, Infiniti Mall (Andheri) on the 17th of July at 6 PM.
Then headed to Chennai from the 27th of July to the 8th of August. The launch is on the 31st at Landmark, Citi Centre. Will also be covering a large number of Chennai schools during this time.
In between am headed to Bangalore on the 25th for a very special event. A story I wrote a while back is going to be launched as an audio-book by Karadi Tales. The story has been narrated by Rahul Dravid. Check out the details below and do land up if you happen to be in Bangalore.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
The Enemy of My Enemy
My new children's book is out now in all leading book stores across the country. Book launches and a school tour across various cities starts in July. This is the first of a series of gamebooks that I am planning. More updates soon.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Book Review: The Hotel at the End of the World
The good people at Tehelka asked me to review a new graphic novel by Parismita Singh. It appears in their latest issue. Do check it out.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Dark Temptations
I recently wrote an article for the Times of India's special New Year edition. It expressed my love and admiration for the colour black. ToI in the usual ToI fashion forgot the byline. It just said: "The writer is an author and screenwriter who spends his time between Chennai and Mumbai". Wow, so I am that writer!
If I had a penny for every time I heard someone say "Fuschia is the new Black" or "Aquamarine is the new Black", well I will be left with a lot of pennies at a time of financial crisis when the pound-rupee exchange rate is abominable. Growing up I used to incessantly wonder, to everyone's plight, when Black would be the new Black. Mothers, and may God bless their souls, always come through for little brats with too much curiosity and too little patience.
Black is always in. Black is always cool. Black covers you in a veil of mystery and gives you an edge. And when all else fails, black gets you out of trouble. And it has done all this since time began. For what existed before time, the universe or that big bang we keep hearing about in science journals? Black, of course. It is not a colour, but the absence of it. The absence of all light. It exists in the heart of all men and for the sheer contrast it provides to everything else in life, it's presence is necessary, nay, paramount.
And it has left its indelible mark on popular culture. The colour Black has always provided the backdrop, the canvas, on which great art, cinema, music and literature can be freely painted.
Imagine Batman as a caped crusader wearing flashy tights and saving the denizens of West Mambalam (nothing against their lot, but do they really need saving?) while riding the latest offering by hamara Bajaj. Would we ever get to see the monster hit that was The Dark Knight? Here's a movie almost completely set in darkness, that poor detested daughter of the colour black. Its music is ominous; it delves into the darkest corners of the human condition and yet its capacity to entertain is unmatchable.
Imagine Ralph Fiennes's Voldermort meeting Harry for the first time on a bus stand on a warm sunny day. Imagine Darth Vader wearing a green or a blue helmet.
Hitchcock's films were never the same once black and white gave way to colour. Salvador Dali's psychedelic set for Spellbound would never have the same charm, the same aesthetic sensibility in colour. The magicians would lose their ability to create believable illusions.
The complete genre of horror films would disappear without Black's ability to spook us.
But what happens when the medium is not visual but affects our other senses. There is no colour to be seen. And yet its presence can be felt.
Where would metal or grunge be without black. There would be no Black Sabbath and no Metallica. There would be no collectible Black Albums for connoisseurs. And all of Goth culture would just disappear. Where could teenage rebellion find a better companion and guide than in the colour black?
Would musicians go to the crossroads and sell their souls to the devil to be able to write and play better music? Would there be haunting, melancholic lyrics? Would there be head banging with friends in large grounds and auditoriums while listening to divine heavenly music? The answer is a clear no.
All of fantasy literature owes a great debt to Black. The Mines of Moria and the Battle of Helms Deep in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings wouldn't have existed without it. Wizards and witches, dungeons and dragons, folktales and dark and grim fairy tales - they all wouldn't have the same force.
Every mystery novel ever written, every Enid Blyton adventure tale where youngsters explore abandoned light houses - they would vanish into thin air without Black.
Krishna - that most charismatic of characters in our mythology whose skin is the colour of twilight - his raaslila and maya are a direct result of Black. One could even equate sensuousness to this 'colour'.
It's not only the stars but also the deep and dark emptiness of space that has attracted man towards the skies. Black also represents our insignificance in the greater scheme of things. And yet it propels us forward in search of the uncertain, the unknown. And so we get space opera on one side through fiction and films and actual endeavours to cross the barrier of space by diligent scientists and engineers working day and night.
But Black is now tired. We are exhausting it. It is time we made a sincere contribution towards its rejuvenation. Maybe this coming year we round up the usual Page 3 suspects and tell them not to sport Black. Try Fuschia or Aquamarine instead.
If I had a penny for every time I heard someone say "Fuschia is the new Black" or "Aquamarine is the new Black", well I will be left with a lot of pennies at a time of financial crisis when the pound-rupee exchange rate is abominable. Growing up I used to incessantly wonder, to everyone's plight, when Black would be the new Black. Mothers, and may God bless their souls, always come through for little brats with too much curiosity and too little patience.
Black is always in. Black is always cool. Black covers you in a veil of mystery and gives you an edge. And when all else fails, black gets you out of trouble. And it has done all this since time began. For what existed before time, the universe or that big bang we keep hearing about in science journals? Black, of course. It is not a colour, but the absence of it. The absence of all light. It exists in the heart of all men and for the sheer contrast it provides to everything else in life, it's presence is necessary, nay, paramount.
And it has left its indelible mark on popular culture. The colour Black has always provided the backdrop, the canvas, on which great art, cinema, music and literature can be freely painted.
Imagine Batman as a caped crusader wearing flashy tights and saving the denizens of West Mambalam (nothing against their lot, but do they really need saving?) while riding the latest offering by hamara Bajaj. Would we ever get to see the monster hit that was The Dark Knight? Here's a movie almost completely set in darkness, that poor detested daughter of the colour black. Its music is ominous; it delves into the darkest corners of the human condition and yet its capacity to entertain is unmatchable.
Imagine Ralph Fiennes's Voldermort meeting Harry for the first time on a bus stand on a warm sunny day. Imagine Darth Vader wearing a green or a blue helmet.
Hitchcock's films were never the same once black and white gave way to colour. Salvador Dali's psychedelic set for Spellbound would never have the same charm, the same aesthetic sensibility in colour. The magicians would lose their ability to create believable illusions.
The complete genre of horror films would disappear without Black's ability to spook us.
But what happens when the medium is not visual but affects our other senses. There is no colour to be seen. And yet its presence can be felt.
Where would metal or grunge be without black. There would be no Black Sabbath and no Metallica. There would be no collectible Black Albums for connoisseurs. And all of Goth culture would just disappear. Where could teenage rebellion find a better companion and guide than in the colour black?
Would musicians go to the crossroads and sell their souls to the devil to be able to write and play better music? Would there be haunting, melancholic lyrics? Would there be head banging with friends in large grounds and auditoriums while listening to divine heavenly music? The answer is a clear no.
All of fantasy literature owes a great debt to Black. The Mines of Moria and the Battle of Helms Deep in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings wouldn't have existed without it. Wizards and witches, dungeons and dragons, folktales and dark and grim fairy tales - they all wouldn't have the same force.
Every mystery novel ever written, every Enid Blyton adventure tale where youngsters explore abandoned light houses - they would vanish into thin air without Black.
Krishna - that most charismatic of characters in our mythology whose skin is the colour of twilight - his raaslila and maya are a direct result of Black. One could even equate sensuousness to this 'colour'.
It's not only the stars but also the deep and dark emptiness of space that has attracted man towards the skies. Black also represents our insignificance in the greater scheme of things. And yet it propels us forward in search of the uncertain, the unknown. And so we get space opera on one side through fiction and films and actual endeavours to cross the barrier of space by diligent scientists and engineers working day and night.
But Black is now tired. We are exhausting it. It is time we made a sincere contribution towards its rejuvenation. Maybe this coming year we round up the usual Page 3 suspects and tell them not to sport Black. Try Fuschia or Aquamarine instead.
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