window._taboola = window._taboola || [];_taboola.push({mode: 'thumbnails-a', container: 'taboola-below-article-thumbnails', placement: 'Below Article Thumbnails', target_type: 'mix' });Latest News
In 2005, when the novel ‘The Cry of the Cicadas’ was published, or at any point during the last seven years when 500 copies of the book got sold, G Reghunatha Pillai, the author, has not had fifteen minutes of fame.
But, by chance, when Pillai’s son found the book being put up for sale in an online bookstore recently, the controversy that erupted has seemingly gifted a second life to the book and its author.
After the seven-year hibernation, ‘cicadas’ are set for a new life as Pillai is hoping to get his second book, ‘Cicadas Take Life’, published this year.
Pillai, a bus conductor with the KSRTC, had chosen to highlight the degradation in the society in his novel
‘The Cry of the Cicadas.’ Pen Books Private Limited, now defunct, had brought out the book, which was made available in bookstores at just Rs 70.
However, Pillai’s son had stumbled upon the book in the online store, printasia.com, in worldcat.com, which is an online library, and in abebooks.com, which is yet another site where used and out-of-print books are also available.
The books were being sold for double the price without the knowledge of the author.
Pillai has filed a case with the Anti-Piracy Cell, who are yet to crack the riddle. But Pillai is not a disappointed man. ‘’Finding it in the online stores had baffled me initially. But then the good part is that the book has come to limelight again. So, I am only motivated to come up with my next book, which is completed and is in my computer. I am looking for a publisher who could do justice to the plot,’’ Pillai says.
‘Cicadas Take Life’, the to-be-published book, revolves around a village hit by development woes. It tells the story of a group of people who get uprooted when their little hamlet turns a concrete jungle.
The first book had sold only 500 copies which Pillai believes was a failure on the part of the publisher. The reason why he wants a reputed publisher to take up his second novel.
The new one is not a sequel. It is an entirely new book, he says. Then why the word ‘cicadas?’ ‘’They say a cicadas hibernate for seven years, so this could be called a comeback for the writer in me. So the name,’’ says Pillai.
Hailing from Kilimanoor in the suburbs of the district, he is presently attached to the East Fort depot.
Comments
0 comment