Writer Claire Scobie smelt a story each time she walked into a book store. Like most people who are in a relationship with languages and words, Claire enjoys browsing through racks filled with books. So enamoured is she of bookstores that she is writing a book on it.
“It is a travel book on India but one that journeys through its bookstores in different places in India. It is a book that discovers the India of today through its writers, readers and book stores,” says Claire.
The first chapter of her research on independent neighbourhood book stores in different places in India begins in Thiruvananthapuram.
Ever since she came to India in 1996 for a yoga course, Claire seems to have found it difficult to stay away from India. She is on her 18th trip to India and she is already planning the next one. She will be leading a group of tourists for a literary tour of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur and also attend the Jaipur literary festival.
“So we will be covering the golden triangle but we will also visit places that have inspired famous books. For instance, we will pay a visit to Mughal emperor Humayun’s tomb in Delhi, which was written about in William Dalrymple’s book The Last Mughal and in his travel book City of Djinns . Books shops in Khan market in Delhi that used to be frequented by Khushwant Singh would be another place of interest,” explains Claire. Her work in Delhi as a journalist in 97-98 will come in handy during this trip.
Although it was yoga and Ayuveda that brought her to the country, gradually it became a fascination that went beyond that.
In fact her first novel The Pagoda Tree that unfolds in 18th century India explores the clash of cultures and the conflicts of interests as the dawn of a new era brings far-reaching changes in the societal and economic dynamics of India. Her novel had its beginning in a news item about the last Devadasi in Andhra Pradesh, which piqued her curiosity. “I had heard about courtesans in Lucknow but had never read about the Devadasis or their existence in South India. For my research, I visited India four times and spent time in Thanjavur, Madurai, Trichy, Chennai, Pondicherry and Kerala too,” recalls Claire. Libraries in London, Chennai and the Saraswathi Mahal Library in Thanjavur provided a wealth of information on different aspects of India but not enough on the Devadasis. Her research acquainted her with the poetry of Muddupalai, a courtesan at the court of Pratap Singh, the Maratha king of Thanjavur.
To trace the life of Maya, the protagonist of her novel, Claire discovered “history on her feet.”
“I walked through the places where Maya would have lived, the houses where she would have lived, the houses of the ‘dubashis’ (interpreters)… I have tried to take myself back in time to learn about Maya and her romance with a British officer. Fiction writing needs you to be a time and space traveller,” she says.
While the book has won good reviews in Australia, it is yet to reach bookshelves although the author hopes it will soon be sold in India as well.
“During all my trips to the city, one place I always visited is Modern Book Centre. The diversity of the topics covered in such bookstores never ceases to surprise me. From philosophy and spiritualism to travel, history, fiction and current affairs, there is so much variety. I always come here to buy two and end up buying ten books. In that mix, there are new authors and stories. There is a magic.. Finally, I have to find a tailor to get it bound and then pack it and ship it to Sydney,” says the petite writer as we meet up with her in, yes, Modern Book Centre.
“Back home in Australia, when I open the books, I can smell India in the pages and feel the warmth. It is such a tactile feeling,” she says.
Claire remembers how her request for books on Mumbai had given her a pleasant surprise when she opened the package and found amongst the travel books, a book that she had always wanted to read but had not yet got her hands on – Degree Coffee by the Yard by Nirmala Lakshman.
Agreeing that local book stores are a vanishing breed in her native Australia, she feels that these small retailers know the pulse of the reader more than online sellers “though I have also bought books online,” she admits.
