Jeffrey Archer amused by B'luru's infamous traffic jams

Bibliophiles' delight

On his second visit to Bengaluru, popular British author Jeffrey Archer on Tuesday launched the last installment of the ‘The Clifton Chronicles’, a seven-part epic saga about Clifton family. Archer was in Bengaluru in 2011 to launch the first book ‘Only Time will tell.’

Over 3,000 fans attended the launch of the book ‘This was a man’ in VR Bengaluru, Whitefield. Archer engaged the audience with his good humour and charm. People lined up to get their copies of the book autographed and a hug from the author.

Asked about his experience in Bengaluru, Archer expressed his amusement at the infamous traffic jams of the city. “A woman walking on the pavement overtook my car eight times and my car overtook her eight times. Two more times and we would have been engaged!” His favourite Indian author is R K Narayan. “He takes the story of an ordinary man from an unknown village and makes it so interesting that you keep reading from one page to the next. He is a real storyteller.”

With the completion of his seven-part series ‘The Clifton Chronicles’ Archer is all set to pen his next book, a collection of short stories. “As I worked on these seven books, I came across many interesting stories. I have made sure to pen down at least three sentences so I know what the story is ab­out. Once I am back in London, I will start working on the book,” he said.

Describing the process of writing, he said that he usually did not know where the story was going. “If I write a good line, I look up and tha­nk God seven times,” he said.

He expressed his displeasure at Donald Trump being elected the president of the United States.

Test matches real cricket
“I was amazed that after all the remarks he made about women, 37% women voted to make him president!”Archer wants to be head of the Indian cricket team and does not like the concept of Twenty-20 matches. “Test matches are real cricket.” He expressed his displeasure of Bollywood as well. “I interacted with some youngsters here and I told them not to become Bollywood movie stars because it would be a complete waste of their time.”