Top News

Why do I write? I write to keep my dementia away,” said Bhaichand Patel at the launch of his latest book, Across The River , a love story set in Old Delhi. At the event, Bhaichand spoke about his love for Delhi, especially Old Delhi. He talked about how, in earlier times, friendships between Muslim and Hindu families existed, but with “invisible lines that were rarely crossed.” He added, “There were boundaries in terms of how far you could go in expressing that friendship.”
He started the evening by telling the audience, “I know you all are here for Shashi Tharoor.” Tharoor, who was supposed to be part of the panel, couldn’t attend because of the Parliament session.

‘IT’S A BOOK WITHOUT POLITICS, BUT IT’S A VERY POLITICAL BOOK’
Every time the discussion touched on religion or politics, Bhaichand would say, “But I don’t want to be political. I don’t want to give any political statement.” To this, Pavan K Varma joked, “Bhai, you can’t be more political than this.”

FOR THE LOVE OF FILMS
Bhaichand’s home is filled with black-and-white photos of Indian film stars, and the walls are covered with movie posters. So, when he wrote a love story, someone asked, “Will this be a film?” “The book started as a film script,” Bhaichand said. “But then no one was interested in it. So I thought – I like writing, and I love movies and I love Indian movies, especially. So, I wrote this. I don’t think in current scenario anybody will make this story into a film.”
During the event, Bhaichand also shared personal stories. When asked about the message behind the book, he said, “My message is that we are all really decent people, basically.