Fruits of Labour

It's that kind of a year. Like the time squirrels wake up from their hibernatory absence and find a pleasant surprise waiting for them. A surprise that shouldn't actually be a surprise because they've been slogging at it before they went to bed. For me, this year is laden with the fruits of what I've been doing all these past years. Midnight Hotel is into its second run, and poised to travel too. It was written six or seven years ago. Five was written even earlier and maybe staged in June or July if all goes well. Maria's Room is scheduled to be out later this year through Harper Collins. It was written during the first two years of this century. The Magic Store of Nu-Cham-Vu (from Puffin) will be out only in August, but it was started (as a short story) in 2004, at my desk in the University of Stirling in Scotland. And two anthologies-- the first, Kerala Kerala Quite Contrary (edited by Shinie Antony) is being launched in Delhi by Rupa tomorrow. I have a story (prose cum drama) in it called Fort Lines. And another anthology's coming up with my poetry module for kids. Both were written early last year. Now as I work on my Scotland novel, I can also wade out now and then to see the fruits of an earlier labour.