"Cocoon" and the Value of Patience

Back in 2009, after my first novel, Tangled Roots, was published, I had a bit of an awkward time around the London Book Fair. As part of the Fair, the British Council brought over some writers from India in a bid for cultural exchange. They asked for local, London-based writers to act as buddies for these important visitors, and I stepped up to help. I was paired “after careful consideration” with a writer I  had never heard of called Bhalchandra Nemade. The fact that I had never met him meant nothing, because he was clearly someone important. This was his bio which I posted on my blog around that time:
Bhalchandra Nemade’s first novel, Kosala, is considered a modern classic in Marathi literature. His works depict the indigenous lifestyle of the Maharashtra region in India and Marathi culture. Tikasvayavara, a work of literary criticism, won him the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1990. His works have been translated into other Indian languages and English. Nemade is from the village of Sangavi, Maharashtra. With a Ph.D. and D.Litt. from the North Maharashtra University, he taught in many places retiring as Gurudev Tagore Chair of Comparative Literature at the University of Mumbai. He has been a member of the Sahitya Akademi, serving on its Executive Board and General Council from 1998-2002.
It was a great disappointment to me that his visa never came through, and so we never did get the chance to become ‘buddies’. But we did have a short and lovely email exchange and I did read a translated version of his novel, Kosala (Cocoon), which I absolutely loved.
Fast forward to late 20014. Out of the blue, I received an email from a publisher saying that Professor Nemade’s novel was going to be published in a new translation, and that the Professor was asking if I would be willing to write a quotation to be used on the book jacket! I can’t tell you how pleased and honoured I was. I duly wrote the quote, sent it back and then duly forgot all about it — until this past weekend.
In the post there was a package, secured by twine, with Indian postal stamps all over it. I opened it to find this:

 
along with a lovely note of thanks. This novel was first written, in Marathi, in 1963. I first learned of it, and fell in love with its universal characters and concerns, in 2009. And now, in 2015, the intersection between two writers of different ages, times and cultures is there for everyone to see:

 
(I know the photo isn’t so great so here is what I said: Cocoon…provided me with a window into a world that I had believed would be very different from the one I have experienced here in Britain, and previously in America…Incredibly encouraging and compelling.)
Patience really can be rewarded.