This is the second time I'm traveling through the new Heathrow terminal 5 (each time on my way to India) this year - what better time to catch up on my blog? I'd set aside this Fall as the period when I'd be staying at home and writing - but it's turned out to be a lot more travel than I anticipated.

Two weeks ago, the Blazer lecture at Lexington, Ky went well, plus I got a chance to go to the races (where I almost bet on winning horse number 6 in race 8, but changed it to number 9 at the last minute - I can't even blame it on dyslexia - just one of those odd quirks).

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That's the German cover for "The Age of Shiva," released this fall in the German language edition as "Shiva." The publisher, Luchterhand, is the same who did "The Death of Vishnu" ("Vishnus Tod") some years back, which they've reissued in a nifty new cover, to go with the new "Shiva" design, see below. The translator is the same for both books, the wonderfully talented Anette Grube.

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I spent most of September at the Ucross Foundation, a retreat for writers and artists near Sheridan, Wyoming. The above photo shows my studio. Ucross is probably my favorite such retreat - I've always managed to get a lot of work done the three times I've been there. There are usually only about 8-9 people at residence at a time, and the place is huge - a 20,000 acre ranch (which works out to about 2500 acres per person, not bad). Made some great new friends (pic below), ate delicious food prepared by Cindy, our chef, managed to make some good progress on a math book for non-mathematicians, which I worked on steadily.

But what about my novel? Well, here's how that went.

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The Booker longlist is out, and I've just read an amazing book that's been included: Colm Toibin's "Brooklyn." I just couldn't put it down - in fact, I had to sedate myself one night to stop reading it and go to sleep - a true gift of a book. Having had the pleasure of meeting the author, I've sent him an enthusiastic e-mail conveying how much I'd like to see him win. Now I'm not making this up, but there have been precisely 3 occasions in the past when I've wished an author the best of luck for winning the Booker. The first time was Yann Martel for "Life of Pi." The second was Kiran Desai for "The Inheritance of Loss." And last year, bowled over by "The White Tiger," I sent an e-mail to Aravind Adiga saying I was rooting for him. It was actually a little chilling when Adiga won, just like Desai and Martel before him. Could I have some sort of weird knack at this? (And, more importantly, should I be placing bets on who's going to win? - which you apparently can do with British bookies.) Anyway, we shall find out soon - in the meantime, I highly recommend Toibin's book.

I've been getting good feedback from those of you who've tried my "murgh au vin" recipe published last year in the New York Times. In response to requests for more recipes, here is my favorite shrimp preparation, adapted from something I saw in Bon Appetit magazine many years back.

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I haven't reviewed books since the seventh grade, when we had to pick a book we'd read and comment on it. I believe I chose "Wuthering Heights" and called it "boring," whereupon my teacher advised, "Next time, don't take potshots at the classics." Perhaps that feedback permanently killed my career as a critic, because although I've given blurbs to a few novels I've loved, I've never agreed to review one. (For one thing, being a novelist myself, I'd hate to have to keep looking over my shoulder, waiting to be stabbed in print by someone I'd dissed - right now, I only have to worry about the ghost of Emily Brontë - whose book I really must read again.) I'm not going to deviate from my policy here, but I will comment on "The Hindus - An Alternative History" - a 700 + page book by Wendy Doniger that I've just finished.

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OK, so I haven't quite reached the level of Anderson Cooper yet, but not too bad for a first attempt. I actually did my first interview - as the interviewer, rather than the interviewee. The fact that my subject was so interesting and articulate really helped - I talked with Preminda Jacob on her new book titled Celluloid Deities. Preminda is an Arts professor at my university, and when the offer came to interview her on a book that dealt with film posters in India, I jumped at it. The reason is that I used to paint film posters myself while growing up (you can see a few samples in the video).

Continue reading "For Fans of Indian Cinema " »