It was indeed a rare treat for the people of the Doon valley when they heard renowned English writer Irwin Allan Sealy read out, in his mellow voice, interesting excerpts from his latest book titled 'The Small Wild Goose Pagoda.' The reading was organised at the NIVH by the Dehradun Kendra of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and drew a select audience of book lovers from the valley.
This was one of the rare public appearances of the reclusive author who remains mostly confined to his home in Race Course, busy with his writing and other favourite activities.It is from his interest in one such other activity that this latest book emerged. He is extremely fond of building things and a few years ago, when the famous East Canal of the Doon valley was buried to widen the East Canal Road, Sealy brought the stones that had lined the canal and built a harp seat in his garden in memory of the vanished East Canal.
Sealy, who has been a Doonite for many decades now (and also spent part of his childhood here) brings in Dehradun in this book and the book thus becomes even more special for readers here. The book takes us to China too but then back we are in Doon! Before reading from the book, Sealy said that it was not always true that ideas were more important than things. "The pagoda I have built at my house exists and so does this book which talks about how it was built. Both are equally important for me", he said.
As the pagoda takes shape on his portico, Sealy introduces us, through the book, to a host of extraordinary characters who drift in and out of the 433 square yards. This is his first book in a decade and in it he gives us an evocative account of the drama of small town life, family history, nature and the passage of time. The book is also an extraordinary meditation on work. Written in an almanack form, the book hovers between fiction and non-fiction.
However, it is close to the author's life as he lives it from day-to-day. It is nothing if not the story of Sealy's own life in the Doon valley . Speaking on the occasion, Dr BK Joshi, director of Doon library, said the book was a natural history of the433 square yards that belong to the Sealy's home in the valley as well as a social history of Race Course. He greatly appreciated the felicity of language in the book.
Arvinder Singh, author and freelance journalist, said the book was off the beaten track -unusual. He said the element of the travelogue made it quite intriguing and interesting. Well-known journalist Satish Jacob also read out some passages from the book saying that the reader should not approach it as a conventional text. It was a unique book, he said.
The discussion was anchored by Aloke B lal, honorary secretary of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Dehradun Kendra. 'The Small Wild Goose Pagoda', also called 'little Wild Goose Pagoda', is one of two significant pagodas in the city of Xi'an, China, the site of the old Han and Tang capital Chang'an. The other notable pagoda is the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, originally built in 652 and restored in 704. The Small Wild Goose Pagoda was built between 707 and 709, during the Tang dynasty under Emperor Zhongzong (705-710).
Sealy's 'The Small Wild Goose Pagoda' is a natural and social history of 433 square yards of India. On this piece of land in the foothills of the Himalayas, the Sealy family have a small brick house with one and a half bedrooms, two and a half gardens, front, back and side,, an internet link with the world, and a terrace roof for walking under the sky. Here, surrounded by trees litchi, rosewood, magnolia, silk cotton, jacaranda, pear, a profusely flowering peach tree, Irwin Allan Sealy looks back on his life as he turns 60 and goes from householder to forest dweller (the two middle stages in the life of a man - as set out in the Indian philosophy).
lending depth and texture to a narrative written in the form of an almanack is his experience of building, after a visit to China, a pagoda on his portico.