It’s not often that I’m able to attend Indian cultural events locally, but I was fortunate to see a performance of Naga-Mandala, a production created by a famous modern playwright. The plot, by Girish Karnad (1938-2019), was based on Indian folktales that featured an unhappy wife, a taciturn husband, and a magical cobra, or naga,…
In my novel, India Interlude, one of the first conflicts between two of the main characters, Sharon and Kevin, takes place at the Red Fort in Delhi. The friction between these two characters occurs at a site that has also captured, at a more international level, the hostilities between India and Pakistan that are threaded…
It’s obvious that India Interlude is about India. It seems, then, that an image of the Taj Mahal is required, so here’s the obligatory photo. But the novel argues that this one building isn’t really a good illustration of the country. Here’s a brief excerpt from the book, the thoughts of Suzanne, one of the younger characters, who has accidentally ingested some psychedelics, and is now standing behind this famous building, considering this very question:
No, this isn’t about adolescents. Teen Darwaza is an important historical and cultural site in the city of Ahmedabad, India, the location where much of India Interlude takes place. In this case, “teen” means three in Hindi and Urdu, two languages spoken in India. “Darwaza” means gate or door. Thus, Teen Darwaza means three gates,…