A Brush with Mr. Naipaul

Suresh Subrahmanyan draws freely from his life experiences to present this compendium of acutely observed columns. His métier, humour and satire, and his abiding love for the English language, resonate on every page. He delves nostalgically into his childhood, ruminating on, among other things, boarding school escapades and a wide spectrum of music that saturates his life. He paints a vivid portrait of India's contrariness with a light brush, warts and all. Politics, sport, the arts, current affairs and selective autobiography - they are all grist to the author's mill. As he himself says, 'I write for fun. If the reader is amused, it's a bonus'. Suresh Subrahmanyan is refreshingly different from others of his ilk. He is known for his eclectic tastes, partial to wit and satire, a cricket tragic (in Aussie parlance) and an aficionado of music of varied genres. Small wonder that he has been a regular columnist in leading newspapers. His writings, covering a wide range of subjects, come as a breath of fresh air. This delightfully humorous collection of his choicest columns, impeccably written, will lift the reader's spirits. N. Murali Chairman, Kasturi and Sons Ltd (Holding company of The Hindu Group) and President, The Music Academy