The first floor of the Odyssey Bookstore was packed last weekend, for the launch of The Auspicious , Shobana Ravi’s debut novel. The author is a popular Tamil news reader/presenter, who stole the hearts of millions with her voice and stylised manner of news reading for 30 years at the Doordarshan Kendra, Chennai.
The novel was launched by K K. Pandiarajan, Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture and, the first copy was received by noted film director Gautham Vasudev Menon.
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The plot revolves around an idol mafia that has taken posession of certain antiques, and the action that unfolds in getting them back, shuttling from South India to Kashmir and Uttarakhand. The Minister said that he found the book riveting: “In this action packed narrative, Shobana has woven a world where many incredible incidents take place.”
The novel, according to him, has a good dose of romance, action, adventure and is highly relevant, given the current developments in the world of idol theft. “The intrigues related to idol theft and the complexities surrounding it has been comprehensively explained.”
“Abduction, violence, romance… all aspects Shobana has dealt in her novel seem to align with my vision of a film, and I wouldn’t hesitate to adapt a plot from her novel,” said Gautham. He said he sees a range of emotions in her work and is impressed by the narration, which is what he believes makes women better writers.
Nonagenarian BS Raghavan, a retired IAS officer, who spoke on the occasion, said that the daring nature of the author is reflected in the complex theme she has chosen for for novel.
“My career as news reader lasted for 30 years (1975 to 2006) and then I took voluntary retirement. After this I had a lot of time to pursue my various passions such as fitness (yoga and tai chi), writing poems, and singing (Carnatic),” said Shobana.
The author recalled how it was only after after penning down the first 10,000 words of the story that she took the book seriously. “I just went with the flow, I created the characters and they behaved in a manner they were supposed to. My experience in life, my point of view influenced the narration and I did research as and when it was required. In fact, I would only know at a time what my next two chapters would be, and take up research just for that.”
Shobana completed the work in January 2018, but feels that whatever she has written in her novel has become more realistic today, as “some of the themes dealt with in the book have taken centre-stage now,” she says.
The Auspicious , published by Blue Ocean Books (₹299), is available at Odyssey Bookstore and on Amazon.
