Shreekumar Varma is an Indian author based in Chennai, playwright, newspaper columnist and poet. Born as HH Prince Punartham Thirunal of the Travancore Royal Family, he is the great great grandson of the artist Raja Ravi Varma and grandson of Regent Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, the last ruling Maharani of Travancore. Sri Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma is the titular Maharaja of Travancore. Next in line are Revathi Thirunal Balagopal Varma and Punartham Thirunal Shreekumar Varma.
His novels include Lament of Mohini (Penguin) and Maria’s Room (Harper Collins). His books for children include Pazhassi Raja: The Royal Rebel (Macmillan), Devil’s Garden (Puffin) and The Magic Store of Nu-Cham-Vu (Puffin). The Magic Store of Nu-Cham-Vu and “Maria’s Room” are also available as digital “talking” books for the blind and the dyslexic.
His two award-winning plays, The Dark Lord (directed by Vinod Anand) and Bow Of Rama (dir. Noshir Ratnakar), were staged by The British Council (1986) and The Madras Players (1993) respectively. His play, Platform, was staged by The Madras Players in January 2005. (dir. N. S. Yamuna) His play Midnight Hotel (Madras Players) had ten shows in Chennai and Bangalore in March, April, May and August 2009. His play Nathu’s Dream (Bala Vidya Mandir) was produced as a musical in September 2010. (dir. Neeta Shrikanth) His political play Five (Thespian en) was performed as supper theatre to a packed Chennai audience in November 2010 (dir. Ajit Chitturi). His play Cast Party premiered to full houses in March 2012. It was produced by The Madras Players and Boardwalkers and directed by Michael Muthu. His first short play Ganga at Rishikesh premiered at The Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Fest in Chennai in August 2012, produced by Stray Factory and directed by Mathivanan Rajendran and Venkatesh Harinathan
He has written regular columns for The Hindu, The New Indian Express, The Economic Times Madras Plus, Ritz Magazine, Fiji Times, Chennai Times and the Deccan Herald. He has contributed poetry, fiction and non-fiction to several anthologies, including Poetry Society of India volumes, Aesthetica Quarterly Review, Pulse Berlin Magazine, A Hudson View Poetry Digest, Where The Rain Is Born: Writings from Kerala (Penguin), The Puffin Book of Poetry for Children, the Puffin Book of Funny Stories, The Tenth Rasa: An Anthology of Indian Nonsense (Penguin), A Cup Of Chai & Other Stories (Unisun Publications), Favourite Stories for Boys (Puffin), Bring Down The House Lights (The Madras Players), Tonight: An Anthology of World Love Poetry (The Poets Printery, East London, S. Africa), Kerala Kerala, Quite Contrary (Rupa Publications), Get Smart: Writing Skills (Puffin), Chicken Soup For The Indian Spiritual Soul (Westland), Why We Don’t Talk (Rupa), Dark Moon Rising (Puffin), Urban Voice 04 (Leadstart), Funny Stories for 7-year olds (Puffin), Only Men Please (Unisun) and Indo-Australian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry (Authorspress). He has translated poetry and fiction from the original Malayalam into English for the OUP Anthology of Malayalam Dalit Writings in Translation (Oxford University Press). For more on Shreekumar Varma go to Wikipedia. And his website.
Shreekumar’s hobbies and interests coalesce – writing, reading and music. Among his favourite writers RK Narayan, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Vladimir Nabokov rank foremost among others, too numerous to cite at random. He loves writers with a love for words, and who can touch something in you. He recently read Jaspreet Singh’s Helium, Aruni Kashyap’s The House with a Thousand Stories and Anis Saleem’s Vanity Bagh. Right now he is reading Anu Kumar’s It Takes a Murder and Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar’s The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey. Shreekumar started to read The Luminaries some months ago, and intends to get back to it soon. As for a special time or place, Shreekumar reads wherever, whenever – at night, in the afternoon, in the car, while travelling; generally in bed nowadays.
Now over to Shreekumar Varma’s Feedback
Shreekumar: It was interesting. And lead me on.
Q: Now tell me what you thought of the book, the good the bad and the ugly!
Shreekumar: It took me into a world and I wanted to know what was happening. It intrigued me. When it split into two worlds, it still worked for me, though it became a little elaborate and complex. Maybe because of this, I thought it closes abruptly. I would have liked to know more about the two women, their interactions and what they think of each other s mill.
Q: Is there anything or character that struck you especially, stayed back. You can answer with a simple “No” too. :)
Shreekumar: The murderer and Agnishikha.
Q: Your verdict in a sentence or two on Culling Mynahs and Crows
Shreekumar: A world well and temptingly created, but not fully explored in itself, probably because of some detours.
***
Filed under: Book Review, Novel/Book, Real Readers Real Feedback, Share This Tagged: Real Readers Real Feedback, Shreekumar Varma
