It was in 2004 that the Tsunami struck the shores of India and neighbouring countries. The devastation was huge and the loss was unaccountable.
The destruction on television was running in a wild loop, long after the Tsunami had done its work and bid adieu. Amidst all this, I started reading a barrage of blogs and websites that were constantly updating and writing about this natural disaster. One particular post that I read back then struck deep within. It questioned and shook my entire understanding of my fellow men, my country (as we define it) and my self. That post was written by someone who went by the name Dilip D’Souza. And the particular post was this one: TV, Tsunamis and Too Many Dead.

From then on, I became a fan of Dilip’s writings – his wit, his subtle way of reminding us of our wrongs, his simplicity and his philosophy. Even my book was perhaps infused with the flavour created by numerous re-readings of his works. It has been almost 5 years now since I read that first post and I have, almost, never missed a post or article of his.

A few weeks ago I learnt that he was going to be in Bangalore for the launch of his book, Roadrunner. There were three events organized in this city. The first one involved Rahul Dravid and Ramchandra Guha. I chose to skip this one – I didn’t want to attend an event where the crowd was going to be large (owing to a star cricketer). I chose the third event. It was at the Oxford Bookstore, where my book was launched a few months ago. Tagging along with Taksh (whom we had to carry along, irrespective of his future liking/disliking of literature), the Mrs. and I reached well in time to see Dilip in person for the first time.

It is an un-describable feeling to be able to put a face to all those numerous articles that you have read and pondered over. Dilip is not only a wonderful writer, he is an equally wonderful speaker as well. After the reading session and discussions, I stood behind others who had queued up to get their copy of Roadrunner signed by him. The Oxford staff by then had, to my pleasant surprise, recognised me and they fetched my book to hand it over to Shobha Narayan and Dilip. Before the event, a night before in fact, I had thought a lot about whether I should offer my book to Dilip, hoping that he would read and give me his feedback. Finally, I had decided to drop the idea – my book was nowhere near the kind of writings that Dilip creates with his play of words and thoughts. Neither was my book close to any of the wonderful books out there that people should be spending their time on. So, this was a complete surprise when I saw the Oxford staff member walking towards me with two copies of my book. And what took me aback (in a nice sort of way) further was that Dilip asked for my book to be signed. This was just not the way I had anticipated things to be. When Dilip heard my name he asked whether I was “Dhi Only One”, which is a former alias of this blog. Now that was indeed an honour to know that he had read this blog.

The Roadrunner, with its nice colorful cover, now resides on my bookshelf. And its first page has something which I am going to be proud of for a long time to come:

Ladies and gentlemen, do go and get a copy of the Roadrunner. It will be well worth your time. And you will also do well to follow this blog – Death Ends Fun. Enjoy.