The most feted author in town isn't Salman Rushdie or Jhumpa Lahiri or Sir Vidia. The farewell parties for Pawan Verma roll on inexorably even as he draws a farewell calendar for others. "I've attended only three so far," moaned a fellow author who's an equally immoveable Page 3 fixture. "Pawan must think I hate him." One hopes Cyprus' newspapers have a Page 3 section. Then again, considering Pawan's flair for promotion, they will by the time the Indian ambassador ends his stint out there!
Bibliofile
John Irwing's Indian circus maximus, the Page 3 factor— Pawan and promotion and Tharoor's riotous assembly
Speaking of the media, Shashi Tharoor's way too diplomatic to ever voice his opinion of journalists in public, but he offers a clue in Riot, his first work of fiction in several years (due out in August). Prominent among the cast of characters is a US journalist called Randy Diggs, which serves, one presumes, as a job description as well as a name.
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