Saturday, September 23, 2006

In Kolkata for a bit

I'm in Kolkata for a couple of weeks and don't know a great many people here, but I must talk to live, else I'll never get any work done, and then things won't work out as I intend them to, and I'll recede in life instead of advancing.

So if you're a Kolkata blogger, or even a Kolkata reader of my blog, and would like to meet, then email me. I must warn you that I'm an absolute demon: grumpy, poker-faced, silent as a ticket clerk, inscrutable as a cloud, and given to endless curses and complaints. But if you're sunny enough we may be able to overcome these difficulties.

And, by way of other diversions, here's Amitava Kumar on another writer, also Indian, who did not want to meet when in town. Amitava, come over to Kolkata - it's not working out for you at Vassar.

5 comments:

Jabberwock said...

I must warn you that I'm an absolute demon: grumpy, poker-faced, silent as a ticket clerk, inscrutable as a cloud, and given to endless curses and complaints.

Dude, that's your writing you're describing. As a person you're a cutesy-cuddly teddy bear - so stop trying to scare away the lady fans!

Chandrahas said...

Jabberwock - Now you've let the cat, or shall we say the bear, out of the bag, and all my lady fans, who were sending in emails in droves and even offering to travel to Kolkata from places like Dhaka and Guwahati, have abruptly all stopped writing in since the afternoon of September the 26th. Call yourself a pal?

J. Alfred Prufrock said...

Is the invite limited to wimmin?

Chandrahas said...

Prufrock - Certainly not. I won't deny that I prefer intelligent female company, but I can hardly hold it against you that you happen to be a man. Email me and let us meet by all means. I don't know about you, but with all the rain that's been pouring down in Kolkata I've certainly taken to wearing the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Chandrahas said...

Morristhepen - Thanks very much for those very kind words. Writers, as you probably well know, are committed to scrutinising everything carefully except praise, which they promptly file away inside their heads and then repeat to themselves while drifting off to sleep at night, or the next twelve times they see themselves in the mirror.

I took a look at your website and thought it had plenty of smart work. If I were you I wouldn't trade in that left brain hemisphere just yet - it's valuable exactly where it is.

Welsh readers are especially welcome on The Middle Stage - this is not a site which treats the members of all nationalities impartially. Please camp here all day if you like, and bring along all your friends.