Why not History?

Learning about the Indus Valley script and how it hasn't yet been deciphered filled me with a sense of exasperation and guilt. Exasperation because Indians the world over have excelled but we've allowed our past to confound us. The line that joins us to our forebears is buried in symbols and seals. I wrote the book with the optimism that a translation table waits to be discovered and that the Greatest of puzzles will be solved. I dedicate this section to events, people, that which has inspired me to write the book.

Saraswathy: The names of the seven Mahanadis in the hymns of the Great Vedas chanted even today if you do a Ganapathy Homam or take your car for a puja. If those ancient prayers refer to a Saraswathy River, one of the 7 holy rivers of this great sub - continent then there surely it must have existed. And that is where my story begins. River, Laughter, Moon & C. Where a River flows there is life and laughter and life’s other never ceasing tantalizing experiences follow.

CALICUT AND THE INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATION? WHY NOT?

The story I wrote sought the humble town on the southern west coast as the sanctuary of a precious bronze age relic. There was a reason. Where do you fly to if you have cataclysm at your doorstep? Do you flee from your motherland or do you take a chance – venture beyond the forest and plains you were used to and go where the sun dips at the end of the horizon. Imagine if this were 4000 years ago. The settlers of the the great Saraswathy and Indus valley found sanctuary in Calicut because South of the Vindhyas, in the plains where the Vaigai sets off from the western ghats and finds the Bay of Bengal there was a culture that had settled since 1.5 million years ago. People lived , settlements thrived, a culture rich and textured bloomed and remains even today. The region called the Tamilakam that comprised of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, South Karnataka and South Andhra where settlements dating back to 2500 BCE have been found and where pre historic man was also found.