Author’s Afternoon with Sudha Shah
November 30, 2013: I returned from Jaipur after a fortnight on Thursday afternoon and from the airport went straight to The Taj Bengal to attend the 12th edition of Author’s Afternoon.
This time Sudha Shah, who is based out of Mumbai, was the guest author. She was in conversation with Devapriya Roy. Sudha’s new book The King in Exile: The Fall of the Royal Family of Burma formed the crux of the discussion. The author also shared with the enthusiastic audience her interesting experiences and research work she had undertaken for penning the biographical masterpiece.
The book is a biography of the last king of Burma, King Thibaw and his family. This book was shortlisted for the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2012 and also for the Tata Literature live First Book Award 2012. It spanned into seven years of extensive research and study and the result was a riveting biographical account of a king’s lost glory.
The last 15 days was no doubt very hectic with a short detour to the New Delhi from Jaipur. I attended many crucial meetings and events on one hand but also missed many back home in Kolkata. Some of the major events which I missed out on were – Kolkata International Film Festival 2013 closing ceremony and cocktails & dinner party at Chandra’s Green Project, launch of Agni Mitra Paul’s boutique at the Avani Mall in Howrah christened Agni, Saharasri Subrata Roy’s cocktails & dinner party, Renu Roy’s invitation at The Bengal Club, Madhu Neotia’s invitation to Rhapsody with Ms Usha Uthup at the Jhaal Farezi and quite a few invitation to marriage functions.
Anyway, with winter setting in, the frequency of events and social happenings would increase manifold and the days ahead would sure be very very hectic.
ess bee