India, Sept. 1 -- Was your novel On the Banks of Mayyazhi (translated from the original Malayalam by Gita Krishnakutty) informed by your experience as the cultural attache at the French embassy in Delhi?

The novel is about my home town, Mahe (Mayyazhi), which used to be under French rule. Then, the nationalist wave started gaining prominence, and people in Mahe got involved in the independence struggle; it was a period of great historical turmoil. I witnessed all that, but I was inspired to write about my home town because it's a unique place - it's very small and covers only about 10 square kilometres. There's a river on two sides and on one side, you have the sea. What's interesting is that there's a bridge over the Mayyazhi river. Hal...