This year’s ‘The Hindu Lit For Life’ fest was much more than being just a meeting place of word wizards and book lovers. It was about authorship, debates, issues and the general state of Indian publishing, as envisioned by the locals and visiting writers. Among those who came visiting, I pick two writers to write about today for personal reasons. One of them influenced me a lot with the compassion with which he treated the stricken when he wrote about the then terrifying disease called AIDS, while the other initiated me into the wonderful world of wildlife.

Among the word wizards who participated in the fest, standing out for his stature, speech and strong connections to Chennai was Dr. Abraham Verghese, Professor for the Theory and Practice of ­Medicine at Stanford University Medical School and who was dubbed ‘The Human ­Whis­perer’. He is an alumnus of Madras Medical College (he got his MBBS degree here).

Having been deeply affected by his first two books, My Own Country (where the AIDS stigma is broken down) and My Tennis Partner (another touching tale, this time of a drug user), it was a wonderful ­moment to meet and exchange a few words with him.

That led me to his first novel, Cutting for Stone, published a little while earlier. Semi-autobiographical, the story travels across cities and continents – Madras to Addis Ababa, Asia to Africa – to tell the tale of conjoined twins who are born to a nun and a doctor. The first several pages are dedicated to Sister Mary Joseph Praise and Dr. Thomas Stone, and to the birth of the boys. Using hardcore medical jargon and graphic descriptions, Verghese paints a realistic ­picture of hospitals and medical situations which are gripping and gruesome at the same
time.

Like his earlier books, Cutting For Stone too draws you into the vortex of life and death, hope and despair, freshness and fatigue. And as the narrator’s search for his father goes from page to page, you too are searching with Marion. Along the way, human emotions, strengths and weaknesses are laid bare for all to see and identify with. And that too in words that are strung together beautifully and seamlessly.

If you loved Verghese’s earlier non-fiction works, you will love this one too. And if you have never read him before, try this.

A word of caution: Parts of this book are not really for the weak-hearted.

* * *

Another speaker who left an impression, not just because who he was but what he stood for, was Valmik Thapar. His book Tiger Fire: 500 Years of Tiger In India (Aleph) is a must have for wildlife, especially tiger, lovers.

Arguably, the most magnificent predator to walk the earth, the tiger, has been the topic of much debate ever since its numbers have begun to dwindle over the recent decades. Feared, worshipped, admired, photographed and, of course, hunted, the animal has captured the imagination of humans since recorded history.

Who is better placed to helm this project than perhaps the world's foremost authority on the Indian tiger? Here, Thapar knits together personal accounts, myths, and stories from the past to come up with a comprehensive tome, complete with stunning photographs and illustrations.

The contents of the book range from Emperor Babur’s encounter with the animal in the 16th Century to tales from naturalists, writers, photographers and tiger enthusiasts down the centuries, including François Bernier, Walter Campbell, Thomas Williamson, F.W. Champion, Kesri Singh, Jim Corbett, Hugh Allen, Richard Perry, Arjan Singh, George Schaller, Kenneth Anderson, M. Krishnan, Peter Jackson, Fateh Singh Rathore, Kim Sullivan, Tejbir Singh, Jaisal and Anjali Singh, Aditya 'Dicky' Singh, K. Ullas Karanth, Dharmendra Khandal and Dhritiman Mukherjee.

Culled from over a million words (both published and unpublished) on the animal and several thousand photographs, the accounts and pictures assembled show us the tiger in extraordinary and compelling detail.

Using his unequalled know­ledge of wild tigers, derived from almost 40 years of obser­ving them in their natural ­habitat, Thapar presents a ­lasting testimonial to an animal that has dazzled the human race.