Before he retired, my father was a police officer. This meant being frequently transferred, so our family remained on the move, and I was brought up in places as far apart as Kumarsain and Haflong, Srinagar and Gwalior. In 1985, however, we came to Delhi, and this is where I’ve stayed ever since.
My long stint in Delhi—and my affection for the city and its considerable historical heritage—were directly responsible for my debut novel: a historical detective story called The Englishman’s Cameo. Published by Hachette India, The Englishman’s Cameo was launched in October 2009, with a French edition released in 2010 by Editions Philippe Picquier. The novel’s set in the turbulent Delhi of 1656, with the Mughal Empire having shifted base from Agra to Delhi, and the Emperor Shahjahan in serious danger of losing his throne to his obstreperous sons. Against this backdrop, the murder of a tax official, and the subsequent arrest of a lowly jeweller’s assistant (fortunately, with a loyal friend in high places) leads to an investigation by the young nobleman, Muzaffar Jang.
The Englishman’s Cameo has been well received, with encouraging reviews from a number of critics. It’s also made it to the fiction bestseller lists in India. A sequel is due for release in winter 2011.
But the fiction I’ve written isn’t confined to The Englishman’s Cameo. I’ve been writing short stories for years now, though it wasn’t till 2001 that I summoned up the courage to submit a story to a public forum. This one was a horror story about a haunted office, and it won—to my delight (and I must admit, my surprise)—the Femina Thriller Contest, organised by the women’s magazine Femina, and published in the magazine as Silent Fear. I’ve written a lot of short stories ever since, in varied genres: humour, crime and detective, social issues, even (ahem) romance. Several of my short stories have won awards and competitions, such as the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association’s Short Story Competition in 2003 for the story A Morning Swim; and Oxfordbookstore’s e-Author version 4.0 Competition in 2006, for a collection of 5 shorts. My stories tend to have surprise endings, and more often than not, centre round crime or people being otherwise not too nice. I have a nasty feeling that reflects on me, in some ways… a sobering thought?
To balance the fiction with something else: I also do travel writing, film writing, and the occasional work of humour.
My travel writing is largely limited to the many travel journals I’ve written for the Web site www.igougo.com, where I masquerade as a member guide called phileasfogg. I have, however, also written travelogues for www.journeymart.com (where I worked for a couple of years as an Assistant Editor) and for Lounge, the Saturday edition of Mint (India’s edition of the Wall Street Journal).
In addition, I write on classic cinema—largely Hindi cinema and Hollywood, though I’m trying to also explore international cinema—all of it from about the 1930’s to the 1960’s. You can read my reviews and general ramblings on old cinema at my blog, www.dustedoff.wordpress.com.
Lastly, I write (occasionally) humorous articles for All India Radio—10-minute essays on everything from cricket to Bollywood, chaotic traffic to the big fat Indian wedding.
And yes, before I forget: some more about me. I love reading (especially historical detective novels; my favourite authors include Ellis Peters, Peter Tremayne, Lindsey Davis and Robert van Gulik, though I am also very fond of authors from other genres—Bill Bryson, Alexander McCall Smith, Georgette Heyer, Gerald Durrell and PG Wodehouse are among my other favourites). I adore old films, Mediterranean or Oriental food (as long as no ingredients have suckers or other squidgy bits), and travelling to places that are mountainous, historical, or both.
Work experience? I began as an Assistant Manager, Food & Beverage Controls, in a hospitality company (I hold a diploma in Hotel Management); after that I moved to Advertising, primarily in Client Servicing, but soon handling Creative too. From there, I moved on to a travel portal (the aforementioned Journeymart), and then on to an IT major, where I worked as an instructional designer for 4 years.
By which time, too exhausted to think straight (nearly all my jobs called for work days of at least 10 hours), I chucked it all up and took to writing what I wanted, full time.
And here I am.
