When he set out to build a house in the Nilgiris, urological cancer surgeon V. Srinivas would never have imagined the experience would turn him into an author. And, a fairly creative one at that!
In town the other day for a reading of A Tale of Two Homes, a fictionalised account of his tryst with building a homestay at Kotagiri in the Nilgiris, Dr. Srinivas said it did him a lot of good to be a greenhorn. It meant he wasn’t bound by any literary rules or conventions and was at liberty to tell the tale the way he wanted.
“The construction was eventful from the beginning and when we related this to a family that stayed with us, they asked why the experience should not make for a book. My wife teaches creative writing. She nodded at the suggestion, but hardly did any writing on this. That’s when I grew impatient and took to penning it down,” said Dr. Srinivas, who works and lives in Mumbai.
The book, brought out by White Falcon Publishing and priced at ₹400, juxtaposes the homestay building experience with the prospect of the apartment the protagonist lives in facing imminent demolition. It is hilarious and easy to relate to.
His description of how a notorious smuggler-developer with a dubious construction permit had managed to evict squatters from his property presents such an instance.
The mafia biggie, flanked by henchmen, enters the squatters’ colony for a conciliatory meeting and puts wads of cash at one end of the table, with a razor sharp knife at the other end. “I don’t think there was much discussion at the meeting which ended in record time and obviously, the sharpness of the knife blade was never tested!”
As the author himself says in the beginning, the tale uniquely weaves together the adventure of buying land in the hinterland and building a house there and the run-ins with cumbersome, often trivial-looking, legal procedures, associated problems and the mental agony of staring at the potential demolition of a high society apartment in the heart of Mumbai.
Breezy though it is, the book could have read better with some editing.
