CHENNAI: Soumya Ayer’s fascination for the genre comes as no surprise for somebody who spent her childhood regaled by stories from Hindu mythology narrated by her father. Her first three books, all written for children, took their cue from the legends of the Hindu Pantheon. When the time came for the fourth book, she felt she needed to shift gear and move into different territory.
“The market is saturated with writers interpreting mythology, and there was no way you could make yourself stand out from the rest,” Soumya mentions, via a Zoom video call from Singapore where the author is currently based.
it so happened that she moved into children’s fiction with her fourth book, ‘The Ghost of Malabar’. Edwin, a twelve-year-old boy in Fort Kochi, encounters the ghost of Velu — a fisherman who was killed by the Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama.
Edwin is initially frightened and revolted by the sight of the figure without a nose, arms or feet, but gradually a bond develops between them. This becomes the premise for Soumya’s story, around which she weaves a whole narrative interweaving history, fantasy and local culture.
Historical backdrop
The kernel of the story — a boy, a fisherman’s ghost and Vasco Da Gama — had occurred to her back in 2008, she recalls, but the impulse to flesh it out into a book would not come until 2016, when she volunteered as a guide for an exhibition at Singapore’s Asian Civilisations Museum.
The show featured textiles, paintings and other objects that passed through Asian port cities between the 16th to 20th centuries, and things started falling into place. Fort Kochi, once a major trading hub that was subject to a wave of violence by Vasco Da Gama and his fellow explorers, proved to be just the backdrop.
“We usually read of Vasco Da Gama as this great explorer who discovered the first sea route from Europe to India. That’s how it’s also taught in history lessons at schools. While it is certainly true, not much is known about the violence he inflicted on Calicut and Cochin. During my research for the novel, I got to learn that some 35 fishermen were tortured and killed on board his ship.
I have tried to work each of these details into my novel,” Soumya added. Fort Kochi, with its mix of Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Hindu communities living in relative harmony, has been a constant source of fascination for researchers and historians.
During her research, Soumya made a trip to the region and got to witness first-hand its rich history, its confluence of several cultures, and the syncretic nature of its social fabric. To her, all of this simply cried out to be told into a story. Some of the objects she encountered on her trip, like a crown at the Hill Palace in Tripunithura, also find their way into the book as crucial narrative devices.
Boy and ghost
The heart of ‘The Ghost of Malabar’, however, lies in the relationship between Edwin and Velu, the fisherman's ghost. Edwin’s initial attempts to keep away from Velu, adding to it the fact that the ghost is invisible to anybody else but him, provide room for ample humour. “Since this is a children’s book, the ghost had to be an endearing character, so we see him pulling pranks on Edwin and others,” Soumya adds.
As the narrative progresses, the tone shifts from fun to spooky and mysterious, and the bond between the two protagonists keeps growing stronger. The book features illustrations by Delhi-based graphic designer Isha Nagar, who also designed the book cover. Neither Soumya nor Isha have met or spoken to each other. “I got in touch with her through HarperCollins. We communicated mostly through emails,” Sou - mya adds.