India, Sept. 29 -- Before this translation of Benyamin's novel, I had read your translation of VJ James' The Book of Exodus. Though different, both novels borrow extensively from religious texts which are multilingual and context-heavy. In an era when sentiments are easily hurt, how cautious were you while translating these texts?

Kerala has always been a frontrunner when it comes to iconoclastic ideas, books, or movies. You will remember the 2021 New Yorker article by Richard Brody, praising the Dileesh Pothan-directed Malayalam movie 'Joji', which is loosely based on Macbeth, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Sometimes I wonder whether the Jnanpith winner MT Vasudevan Nair's 1974 National Award-winning film Nirmalyam (tr. Ritual...