 Madras Mosaic
 Madras Mosaic, written by N Meera Raghavendra Rao and published by Parity Paperbacks, New Delhi, was released by former Chief Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal, IAS (Retd), on November 29 at Tattvaloka, Eldams Road,
Chennai.
Copies of the book were received by Savera Group of Hotels executive director Nina Reddy, HCL Technologies business head Jayashree Vaidyanathan and former Chief Secretary in the West Bengal government B S Ragahvan, IAS
(Retd).
Talking about the book, Vittal said he liked two things about it. The first was that it was dedicated to the author's brother-in-law, N Ramagopal Rao, who would patiently type pages and pages of articles written by the writer and that the royalty received would be used for the cuase of the handicapped.
In a lighter vein, he added that it was usually said a woman was behind the success of every man, to say what he did was wrong, but the author had acknowledged in her book that her husband was the inspiration behind her articles. Vittal spoke highly of the author's style which was very readable and that there was a twist in the tail in what she wrote. He said her style had the R K Narayan touch, which was evident in some pieces. To elaborate the point, he read out a few extracts from the book.
Nina Reddy said she was impressed with the chapter titled 'Ma-in-law goes five star', where a pen portrait of a person is beautifully made which brought out every detail of the old lady's personality and the cordial relationship she had with everyone.
Jayashree Vaidyanathan also went into details about this chapter saying she could draw parallels with her grandmother who would just say things which the mother-in-law seemed to express, which were typpical of the generation.
Summing up, B S Raghavan complimented the author on her keen sense of perception of life and people and putting it on paper so well, making her characters spring to life. He said the readers could easily relate to most of the characters and that the book should find a place along with writers like not only R K Narayan but authors of the genre of Somerset
Maugham.
The launch, organised by the Madras Book Club, was well attended.
S.Chitra
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