My book of short stories, The High Priestess Never Marries (HarperCollins India, 2016), was described by Richa Kaul Padte in The Establishment as “a tour de force of language, desire, and ancestral heartbeats”. It won a 2015-2016 South Asia Laadli Media & Advertising Award For Gender Sensitivity in the category of Best Book (Fiction), and was shortlisted for the 2016 Tata Literature Live! First Book Award (Fiction). You can get it now on Amazon.in and Amazon.com.
You can also find my picture book for children, The Ammuchi Puchi (Lantana Publishing, 2016), illustrated by Nerina Canzi, here. Nilanjana Roy’s blurb for the book says: “Heartwrenching and full of hope, The Ammuchi Puchi glows with magic and wisdom.”
My first book of poems was Witchcraft (Bullfighter Books, 2008). It was described by Ng Yi-Sheng in The Straits Times as ” sensuous and spiritual, delicate and dangerous and as full as the moon reflected in a knife”.
My column, “The Venus Flytrap”, appears in The New Indian Express.
I was specially commissioned to write and perform an original poem at the Commonwealth Day Observance at Westminister Abbey in 2015.
I’m currently working on a novel, Constellation of Scars, among other poetry, fiction and illustration projects. My next book of poems, The Altar of the Only World is forthcoming from HarperCollins India in 2017.
On this blog you’ll find links to my writing as it is published, unedited versions of my work that appears in newspapers and magazines… and nowhere near as much chaos, miscellany and whimsy as life actually contains. :) You can find some of that, though, on my Tumblr. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Hey S, great to see these pictures of a city that forms part of personal memory. take care. Indran
The new blog looks wonderful.
The photos are cool. I have a couple of the vegetable stall as well. Need to upload.
Lovely pics. Yeah, I hate the limit on WordPress too. I usually upload them somewhere else and link it.
Hey Sharanya im new and i just seen u pic and its really kewl gudluck chuk ,ye u just take the pic r is tat ur collection ,take care Adiossssssssssssssss
Hey, beautiful photos..did you use a digital camera or a classic shutter one?
I really need a digital camera, I am saving up for one. How much was your camera? The cheapest brand new I can find costs 1000 ringgit.
Chennai looks beautiful, it seems to be a people and place stuck in time. Manila seems so contemporary in contrast…but the Filipino countryside has some of the most jaw dropping natural landscapes I’ve ever laid my eyes upon.
Indran — Thanks!
Ravages — Please upload, your pix are wonderful!
Syar — How do you do that? Must latch on. :)
Regan — Erm, thanks!
Michael — Digital. I demand instant gratification! :) I do edit the colours and so on, though.
Where are you buying your camera from? If it’s in KL, go to Low Yat Plaza. I bought a 7.1 megapixel Canon there for RM650, in August. You have to look around for the bargains though.
Chennai is a surprising city. Certainly is stuck in a certain time and mentality most of the time but once in awhile, she sticks a foot out to trip you up. And then you turn around and see she’s in leopard print thigh-highs.
lol @ the last line. Brilliant and succinct as well. As you spend more time in the city, the once in a while gets more often, more frequent.
As a friend who once said “this city. it grows. on you. around you. everywhere.”
…. is it Madras to Chennai or vice versa !!
the city just keeps adding shades of all flavours in the right proportions …..
Ravages — *grin*
Ram N — Earlier this year I settled on Chennai. Then I moved back here, and realised: no, Madras. It matters, but it doesn’t, doesn’t it?
even the colors of the city seem different..Malaysia and the Philippines are both tropical countries..so you are exposed to the same colours: lots of brown, green and the occasional blue. India..the colours are different..its a different land and I admit, now I’m intrigued. Could I visit you next year?
love the pictures….its so vibrant and colorful…