Thank you to TheIndianBookClub.com for publishing this blog post
It all began when the coronavirus pandemic hit the UK in 2020. I was forced to take a break from my busy work schedule and afforded the rare opportunity to pursue my dream of writing – a dream that I had kept parked for thirty years. I already knew that I wanted to write fiction – a historical adventure, to be specific.
I remember with some fondness our regular family trips to a dusty North London cinema in the early 1980s. The adolescent me in my school uniform, shuffling along a row of dark red velvet seats with my family until we had found the number corresponding to our paper ticket stubs. We’d then sit through the trailers, eagerly anticipating the main feature.
Usually, we’d see Amitabh Bachchan, Bollywood’s ‘angry young man’, fighting off hordes of bearded bad guys; impossibly glamorous dance sequences, catchy romantic ballads, all while my mum passed along samosas and pendas to my brother and me. Sometimes, however, we’d see a Hollywood film. On one such visit, we watched Raiders of the Lost Ark. From the opening sequence with the giant ball rolling towards Indiana Jones, I was hooked.
Nothing can quite match the drama and excitement or incite the same sense of wonder as historical fiction done well – whether it was the conspiracy style of The DaVinci Code, the all-action style of Indy, or the innocent witness of history trope, like in Forrest Gump.
When I set about writing, one thing was certain from the start, the primary setting would be India. No country in the world has such a long, rich and complicated history, so much of which still remains relatively unknown, even within India. There are fantastic books by authors like Amish Tripathi and Ashwin Sanghi which revolve around historical and mythological themes, but there are still so many stories yet to be told. Since Prime Minister Modi has come into power, the change in the mood of music became palpable at a global level as Indians became more vocal in their proud reclamation of their history, which had long been viewed primarily through the lens of the British Empire.
My research for The Curse of Muziris started at the little-known Harappan Civilization, which spanned across over 1 million sq km, from around 2500 BC. Theirs was the largest literate society in the ancient world, bigger than the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations combined. I read stories based on the mighty Mauryan Empire – especially the reign of Ashoka the Great, whose lion is the national emblem and eponymous chakra sits in the centre of our national flag.
Then, I stumbled upon Muziris, and was immediately enchanted. It was clear to me that this was where I wanted my historical adventure to be located. A major trading port in ancient Asia – and perhaps even the world – in the first century, Muziris was described by Pliny the Elder as ‘the first emporium of India’. As I delved deeper into my research, I found that the town was linked to some of history’s most important historical and religious events, and then appeared to have mysteriously vanished!
The recent strides in women empowerment in India, evident in their rise to senior roles in politics, business and academia, and the progressive increase in the number of women sporting icons at a national and international stage are nothing short of inspiring. I carved my protagonist, Dr Harveen Gill, in the image of that modern nation. A bright and fearless Punjabi woman, Harveen has to fight at every step of her career in archaeology to make her mark on the world.
Now that I had a location and a heroine, all I needed was a story that tied the two together. A tale that began in the first-century port town of Muziris, its rise and rise to becoming one of the greatest trading ports in the ancient world, to its ultimate collapse and erasure. These old-world trails would then need to lead the reader into Harveen’s present day, as she makes startling discovery after startling discovery on her path to uncover the secrets of Muziris – secrets that the deadly Vatican Secret Service needs to keep hidden forever.
Once the initial plotline had been sketched out, I set about writing the story in a manner that would keep the reader on the edge of their seat, a thriller that was action-packed from the first scene to the climax, with all threads coming together at the end – almost. But the next challenge that awaited me was the most daunting yet.
Finding a publisher who shared my vision for this first book and saw the potential for a series with Dr Harveen Gill at its heart proved to be quite challenging.
Even as the book was being met with rejection, real-life archaeological excavations began to reveal that the extent of the trade between Muziris and Rome was much greater than previously believed. A sphinx ring, such as the Roman Emperor would have worn, was uncovered in Pattanam. Indian artifacts started to emerge in Myos Hormos and Berenike, the main trading ports of Egypt. I felt certain these discoveries would be of great interest to readers in India. This was reaffirmed by the wildly positive reception of historical fiction films such as S.S. Rajamouli’s RRR – the Indian public clearly had an appetite for well-told stories rooted in their history.
Finally, after nearly two years, over 100 rejections and a couple of offers which didn’t quite feel right, I met the team at Pan Macmillan India. They loved the book from the very first read and helped me edit and refine it into the version released earlier this month.
This journey has not been an easy one. But the moment I held the physical copy of The Curse of Muziris in my hand for the first time, I knew it had all been worthwhile.
I have derived the greatest joy in this process from hearing positive feedback from my readers. I hope that you, dear reader of the Indian Book Club blog, would grant The Curse of Muziris the opportunity to thrill, intrigue and entertain you. I would love to hear your thoughts on the wonders I have concealed within its pages.
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