Manil Suri's Blog

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Just received this. Of course, lists are highly subjective, but it did give me a kick to see "The Age of Shiva" so high up. Check out: Best Books of the Decade.

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).
Last week, I went to Emory University and the Atlanta Queer Lit Festival - great audience, but I got the impression that the festival (and audience) leaned more towards poetry than fiction. Attended my first poetry slam - wasn't sure which word the emphasis lay on - finally decided that the way to enjoy such events is to look at them as performance art more than anything else. (The performers were very young, very energetic and very earnest.) The true delight was meeting my co-speaker Staceyann Chin - besides being a terrific stage presence and a wonderful writer, she also has a way of genuinely making you question your assumptions. And in food news, I met the octopus of my life - grilled and served on pork belly stewed with onions - I'd return to the new 'Iberian Pig' restaurant in Decatur just for that.

Mumbai's going to be interesting on this trip - I'm hoping to see the way through the difficult parts of my next novel by making the same trek that the characters do - from Mahim up to Juhu, and perhaps beyond. Let's hope the right inspiration shows up along the way.

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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.


First Week: Wrote several pages a day, and managed to get the first draft to where it was two-thirds complete. (Have been working on and off on this since Sep, 2000.)

Second Week: Tried to start the final third and realized that the problem I knew had been looming all along was now upon me. And there seemed no way to go past. Went meticulously through every possible option I could think of - nothing worked. Decided that perhaps the novel just wasn't meant to be. Angst, depression, indigestion, insomnia. Reluctantly gave up.

Third Week: Had a great idea for a completely different novel. Dove into it.

Fourth Week: Came back home with thirty pages of new novel. Quite pleased, though still suffering from insomnia, indigestion, etc from tabling 60,000 words of first novel.

Fifth Week (back home): Spoke to my agent and told her what had happened. She said that other authors had been just as convinced as I that they should give up on a novel - but that they usually found a way to work it out after a while. She wanted to read what I'd written. So I started putting it together for her - rereading it, cleaning it up, etc. And suddenly, it came to me. No, not a way out of the problem, but "WHAT THE NOVEL WAS ABOUT." Something staring me in the face, which I'd somehow failed to notice before.

Sixth Week (current): I'm starting from page one now, really cleaning things up. I feel I'm the kind of writer who needs to more or less perfect each chapter as I go along. I'd been trying to get through a rough draft of the whole thing, and that just didn't work very well. Much more optimistic now that I'll find a way out, though I won't know for some weeks - not until I've reworked the first two-thirds (which I'd already written) and try again to go past. (The feeling of dread that had been looming all summer due to the difficulty I knew was coming has dissipated, thankfully.)

Looking back at novels 1 and 2, I think I went through similar "ordeals by fire" for each. In "Vishnu" it happened right at Chapter 3 - I couldn't figure out how to prevent the ambulance from taking away Vishnu's body and ending the novel there and then. After being blocked for a year and a half, the solution turned out to be remarkably simple - left me a bit baffled why it took so long to figure out.

"Shiva" was even worse. I went for a month to the wonderful MacDowell Colony in summer, 2002 but ended up throwing away everything I'd written there. I just couldn't get a handle on Meera, and decided I'd simply not write about her - the novel would be about Ashvin, when he was grown up. Fortunately, I gave Meera one more chance, and this time, she let me in. Still took several more years.

So anyway. If the 2/3 complete novel works out, it will take a year or so more to finish. If not, it's anyone's guess how long I'll be slogging away. Ah, the glamorous life of a writer. Stay tuned.

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Here's me together with the other residents - visual artist Travis Ivey (with the cat), writer Shannon Fowler next to him, composer Dennis Tobenski next to her (he's the one to thank for the photo - see more on his blog). In the row above, writers Edan Lepucki (whose essay on the experience you can read on The Millions) and Ben Fountain. And in the top row, next to me, visual artist Stephanie Ognar. Such a great group, and ah, we were all so happy.....

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.

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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.


Spicy Indian Shrimp

1 lb raw shrimp – peel and devein
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp salt
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped finely
6 good sized garlic cloves, minced
1 large tomato, finely chopped (or use about 1 cup canned)
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Rub shrimp with ¼ tsp each of cayenne, turmeric and salt and set aside at room temperature. Meanwhile, heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook 7 minutes or until tender. Add garlic and cook 5 minutes more, stirring frequently, until onion is golden. Add tomato and ¼ tsp salt and cook until tomato liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally (about 8-10 minutes). Add remaining cayenne, turmeric, coriander and cumin and stir for 3 minutes until raw taste of spices disappears.

Increase heat to medium-high and add shrimp. Stir fry until opaque – do not overcook. (This should take 1-2 minutes per side, depending on size of shrimp – cut open one to test if it's cooked.) Take off the heat and blend in cilantro and lemon juice. Serve with plain rice.

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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.
First of all, I'd forgotten how long it takes me to read 700 pages (Doniger apologizes that she intended it to be a brief survey, but the book "got the bit between its teeth and ran away" from her). It took me over two months, simply because the book is so dense and compelling that it's hard to skip over anything. (NOTE TO SELF: Never write a novel over 300 pages again.) The material is not tedious academic-type stuff, but well-written, witty exposition crackling with energy. It's obviously not for everyone, but if you enjoy mythology and are interested in Hinduism, this is the book to read.

I can't imagine too many people who'd agree with everything Doniger says. (Being born a Hindu myself, some of the introductory material made me feel like a specimen she had fixed on a slide and was about to examine through a microscope.) Although the book is backed by decades of research, the very title says it all - this is an "alternative history." TRANSLATION (and WARNING!): the author is quite opinionated about everything, and uses all her considerable skills in interpetation and analysis to further her points (not to mention her vast knowledge of Hindu mythology, which she constantly mines to create supporting examples). One of her central theses is that the voices of both women and lower castes, which one might suppose were automatically excluded, have in reality found their way into the evolution of Hinduism. The larger goal that she tackles - a formidable undertaking - is to show how Indian history has shaped Hinduism. It's quite fascinating to watch her corelate the Vedas or the Upanishads or the Epics with what was going on at that time in India, politically and socially speaking.

If this were a review, I'd now carp about a few things to show how clever I was - find some inaccuracies or omissions or misinterpretations (please refer to online reviews of the book for these, including some of the controversy it's caused). But in keeping with the rating system I developed in the seventh grade, I'm simply going to end here, and say the book is the opposite of "boring." That means entertaining, interesting, exhilarating and even, for some, upsetting and infuriating. Well worth reading!

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).
Anyway, we ended up talking about Bollywood and South Indian politics and ads for Tamil films (which is what her fascinating book is about). [Note: This is the inexperienced interviewer speaking - I must have used the word "fascinating" about 300 times - the last 3 uses in the space of 10 seconds at the end really make me cringe.] But you'll love this video - Preminda has a number of great photos and video clips about film posters that the talented folks at UMBC have spliced in. Plus, we had great fun doing it. The book is wonderful - do read it - you can buy it online.

P.S: You can see some more of my film posters (Hollywood, not Bollywood) on my art website - if you scroll down, you'll catch a poster of "The Death of Vishnu" masquerading as a Bollywood film.

I've been having a great time being the mathematics consultant to the Folger theater for their production of Tom Stoppard's play Arcadia. I figured I'm probably never going to get closer to a theater production, so I even managed to wrangle a credit in the program for the play. Anyway, the play is quite amazing because of all the mathematics that Stoppard puts in it (along with about a dozen other topics - everything from Romanticism to Garden Design). But I've been concentrating only on the mathematics - the iterated algorithms, the fractals, the chaos, the population dynamics. If you want to learn more about these topics (especially in connection with the play), I invite you to watch the above video. Also, go to the Folger website, where I've put up a bunch of other links to help understand the math.

Several scheduled events related to this: On Friday, May 15, the Folger is
sponsoring "Fractal Friday" - a pre-theater talk where I will explain some of the mathematics highlights behind the play. On Monday, May 18, the American Math Society and the Math Assoc of America are jointly sponsoring an event on theater and math, where I will talk to cast members and the dramaturg about the challenge of representing mathematics (and mathematicians!) on stage. On Thursday, May 28, I will be moderating a talk-back at the Folger, with cast members and the director. And finally, on Saturday, Jun 13, members of the Folger will get to ask me about the math in the play to their hearts' content (as usual, other questions, such as the meaning of life, will also be entertained).

OK, it's not the Pulitzer, but when my agent sent me this link, I have to admit I was tickled pink. Thanks once again to my friend Jose Villarrubia for the great photograph! (I'm sure the modeling agencies are lining up as we speak....)