omigosh

2009 March 17
by rads

Same time last year I had read the book Palace of Illusions and had reviewed it in my own rudimentary style on the blog. It came as a big surprise that it was linked at Blogbharati and reached more eyes through that avenue in the days after and even a few hits every few weeks or so.  Recently there has been a spur of activity on that search term, and for posterity sakes, I added in a pingback on my own post.

So yesterday as I sat in a meeting with the client in the middle of cold foggy town in Pennsylvania, I checked my email. My eyes popped out of their sockets when I saw a comment from Chitra Divakaruni. I gasped appropriately and created a significant ripple around the large table, and with having no time to further investigate chalked it to someone playing a prank, and hushed myself with the right amount of embarrassment.

I come home beat, and after playing the mom and a cook’s role to the hilt, with my eyes half-dead, I sat to investigate.

It is indeed the lady whose book – Palace of Illusions – I reviewed and enjoyed immensely!

As I let that sink in, am flattered and happy, that the published author of her stance would actually take the time to spend more than a few minutes on my blog! To comment and clarify on the few questions that reading her version of the well written story prompted.

I read my review again, and I dare say am actually quite pleased with what I wrote, and how I wrote it. Reading our own in retrospect brings a fresh perspective to it, and it did.

That made me go back and read a few more posts of those days and I cannot help wonder that my better posts have been during the late ‘07 and on in ‘08. Sometimes it makes me wonder and I hope am wrong, that maybe just maybe my better times was in the past?

Either way, I couldn’t not post this little happening and brag and gloat on my 2 minutes :-)

There’s of course a person with a sense of humor who’s also posed as Salman Rushdie himself and commented, and it did bring some nice laughs this morning!

56 Responses leave one →
  1. 2009 March 17

    YAY!!!
    congrats Ms. Rads

  2. 2009 March 17

    woah ! congrats !! Its ok, if your earlier posts were better. We all enjoy whats coming up these days in your blog! Probably, you could write a post on your best or fav posts, so that we all could read them. I have seen bloggers do that when their blog publishes the 100th post or on their blog anniversay (oh good god, im one of those bloggers too ! :D)

    • 2009 March 17

      Thanks Vimu! :)
      LOL@your revelation. Yeah, I suppose I could and should too. Would at least give me a chance to re-read and assess. 450 odd posts is a lot, of which only a handful would be fun anyway! :|

      • 2009 March 18

        whaaa….450 odd posts??? Please ignore whatever I’d typed earlier :D

  3. 2009 March 17

    celebrity! celebrity!

  4. 2009 March 17

    OMG really!!:)Nice

  5. 2009 March 17
    chronicworrier permalink

    Scene totally warranted. :-D You should direct her to cesmots. :-)

    • 2009 March 18

      heh, yeah sure, like someone as busy and literary as her would have the time or inclination :-)

  6. 2009 March 17

    A few months ago I bumped into Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi at a bookstore near my house. I was about to go congratulate him on his award-winning debut novel when I happened to see his book cart. It was overflowing with books he intended to buy. I buy half a dozen books at a time too, but the guy had picked up scores of them. The sight was so intimidating I simply walked past him! Okay, the point I am trying to make is, I know how great it must feel to have an author you admire talk TO YOU!

    My mother-in-law had highly recommended The Palace of Illusions and Ashok Banker’s Ramayana series a while back. I bought the former but it’s been sitting in my bookshelf for months now. Perhaps I will get around to reading it someday soon.

    And hey, may be you should review Rushdie too. You never know ;)

  7. 2009 March 18

    wow! now that’s definitely worth a gloat! :)

    i’ve not been around for ages… back now, lets see for how long! :P

    • 2009 March 18

      I know the feeling, hope you do stick around tho’ :-)

  8. 2009 March 18

    Bah!

    (I’m sure you know what I mean!) ;)

  9. 2009 March 18

    Yeah, quite cool, no? Too bad his second book, ‘The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay’ has failed to impress critics. Check out this rather harsh, but intelligent review here:

    http://middlestage.blogspot.com/2009/03/on-siddharth-dhanvant-shanghvis-last.html

    • 2009 March 18

      ooo, ouch! That was hard. I’ve always believed in the fact that once an ‘artpiece’ leaves the artists hands, the control’s lost. It’s open for all to play or mangle it as they please.

      Another daunting task for a writer is to consistency and continuity. From what I read, his best work came from angst? :-)

  10. 2009 March 18
    Sands permalink

    Congrats! That was a nice review and having the author compliment is a nice warm bonus. I loved the book and have to say liked your review a lot as well :)

    • 2009 March 18

      Sands, thank you! It was a mesmerizing read wasn’t it? :-)

      • 2009 March 18
        Sands permalink

        absolutely. I actually was thinking about reading it again not too long ago:)

  11. 2009 March 18

    yay….thats so cool

  12. 2009 March 18

    That is very cool. Congrats! Even if we were better in the past, our past is just that – past. It cannot be the same in the present and the future. Like a flame in the candle, we keep changing for better or worse every moment.

    Once again, that is definitely very nice and Congrats!

    • 2009 March 18

      Heh, yea, it does feel cool! :)

      Writing’s a reflection of our state of mind (at least mine is), so yes, it is what it is. :)

      • 2009 March 18

        Exactly, what you express is just what is inside you. Even if you purposefully change what you express, it still came from inside you.

  13. 2009 March 18

    Wow! That’s so cool. Way to go, Radz! :)

  14. 2009 March 18

    it feels really nice to have someone u respect and are in awe of to come and say well my chap i think u have something there :)

    keep up the writing :)

    • 2009 March 18

      I suppose it really does, and then again in my own style am blowing this outa proportion! :)

      Thanks for commenting! :)

  15. 2009 March 19
    Praveen permalink

    yipee!!!!! *jumping up and down*

  16. 2009 March 19

    that is so NICE!!

  17. 2009 March 19
    ramya permalink

    Congratulations! That is so cool.

  18. 2009 March 19
    Jyothy permalink

    wow Rads,

    Isn’t that cool!!
    I am thrilled reading about your thrilling experience :)

  19. 2009 March 19

    How cool is that! Good for you, I say!

  20. 2009 March 19

    lol! Thanks Sujata, Jyothy, Ramya, Cynic and Praveen – Though honestly it was just chance, it still felt good! :-)

    note to self: Get cracking and write another post. The bragging’s getting too much already now!

  21. 2009 March 19

    Wow! What a high that must be :) Congratulations rads, that’s awesome!

    g

  22. 2009 March 19

    she’s a reallllly nice lady. i’ve met her a couple of times. she probably doesnt even remember me hehe but she lives in houston and a board member of an organization i volunteer with. so i’ve had a couple of chances to talk to her. she is soooooo sweet, soooo humble … really really nice person to talk to.

    but yes, congratulations!! ur review was definitely worth it. :)

    • 2009 March 19

      She does sound it doesn’t she?! It’s a big person who continues to retain themselves through it all! It’s admirable. She replied to my mail too! :-)

      Thanks so much for stopping and commenting! Am thrilled, at all this sudden furor! :D

  23. 2009 March 19

    Congratulations! You are a mini celebrity :)

    BTW 450 posts? That is another WOW!

    • 2009 March 19

      heh, well, you do a post a day marathon, and a countdown like I did, and you’d end with a 100 posts in a jiffy too! :D

  24. 2009 March 19

    I actually read Palace of Illusions after reading your review – I am totally with you on the whole “well-written” part, it was one of the best book reviews that I had read. Congratulations.

  25. 2009 March 20

    Nice i say!
    Congrats!
    So there is a big treat awaiting me when you come to Madras! :D

  26. 2009 March 20

    wow! Congrats! I read your review as well as her comment…. your review is indeed just fabulous. I definitely want to read the book now!
    If you have the chance, you should see Shaoli Mitra’s (does solo drama on stage) depiction of Draupadi. It is a totally different perspective but equally in-depth and interesting!

  27. 2009 March 20

    Here’s one for your blogroll – http://jeanxbookreviews.wordpress.com/

  28. 2009 March 21

    pah..you n all who…high range only! :D

  29. 2009 March 22

    :D
    Did you just say Macbook!?!
    :D

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