The Dublin Bookshop on Grafton Street was packed to the gills to salute the publication of Cauvery Madhavan's first novel. "It's a very emotional time for us all," said American Sue Booth-Forbes, director of the Anam Cara writers' and artists' retreat in West Cork, when she spoke at the launch.
"This is such a wonderful bright spot in this otherwise dust-filled and terrorised world," she said. "The juxtaposition of this kind of joy and the tragedy of so many individuals leaves me stunned and wordless."
The Indian ambassador, Prabhakar Menon, who visited ┴ras an Uachtarβin to present his credentials earlier this week, revealed that the President, Mrs McAleese, had broken the awful news to him.
"We met in the shadow of a very violent event . . . A book like this, in these circumstances, turns into a kind of symbol of resurgence, of continuity," he said.
The novelist, dressed in a dark green sari with gold trimming, has lived in Ireland since 1987. With her husband, Prakash Madhavan, a surgeon at St James's Hospital, Dublin, and their three children, Sagari (10), Rohan (8) and Maya (4), she heard SΘamus Hosey, RT╔ Radio 1 producer, followed by writer Alannah Hopkin, sing her praises.
The author's parents, Maj C. Guruswamy, a former army man, and Bollamma Guruswamy, in a cerise sari, were also there to witness the event. Pat Egan, whose late husband, T.J. Egan, was a surgeon at Limerick Regional Hospital, travelled up to Dublin for the launch. Other friends who came along included John McShane, a detective, and Anthony Finlay, a taxi driver. Linda and Tony Traynor, from Dunboyne, also joined the crush.
A small statue of Ganesha, the god of fun, sat on a table presiding over proceedings, and we did have a good time, in spite of the week that's in it. The book is called Paddy Indian and is published by Black Amber Books.