Healing, writing and memories of Kerala

Abraham Verghese, who will be se Ws RS 3 headlining the Bangalore Literature Seer Festival on 2-3 December, discusses his love for Kerala, his latest best-seller, The Covenant Of Water’, the role of medicine, and growing up in Ethiopia with his childhood friend Ammu Joseph

- Ammu Joseph

Chapter 2 of Abraham Verghese’s latest novel, The Covenant Of Water, describes a wedding. I doubt if my paternal grandparents’ wedding, in a similar church with similar rites, was anywhere near as dramatic as this one, but the scene brought back fond memories of my beloved Amma (as we called her, rather unusually). She, too, was more or less a child bride. She, too, was diminutive. She, too, inherited her husband’s son from his first marriage. I cannot remember the last time a novel evoked such personal memories for me.

Over six months after the publication of Covenant, Verghese hardly needs an introduction. The book remains on The New York Times and National Indie best-seller lists, half-a-dozen international editions are already out and, of course, American talk show host Oprah Winfrey’s enthusiastic promotion of her 101st book club pick has no doubt vastly expanded its fame and reach.

Covenant is the fourth in the series of books that have firmly established Verghese as a writer of note. His debut novel, the fascinating and best-selling Cutting For Stone (2009), and his two highly acclaimed works of non-fiction, also described as memoirs, The Tennis Partner (1998) and My Own Country (1994), each broke new ground in multiple ways. His short stories have been published in a number of prestigious journals. He has also been a regular contributor to well-known publications like The New Yorker, The New York Times and The Atlantic for many years, writing mainly on topics he cares deeply about: health and healthcare.