Read Of The Week (Dec 24 to Dec 30)

The Viceroy’s Artist by Anindyo Roy is a compelling fictionalised retelling of the Indian travels of the famous nonsense poet Edward Lear. Drawing inspiration from Lear’s journals, Roy masterfully combines the dual journey — of travel through the subcontinent and the depths of Lear’s psyche. Each chapter in the book features vivid illustrations by Saurav Roy that capture the journey’s essence and pay tribute to the beloved artist. Somewhere in the foothills of the Himalayas, a 62-year-old English painter falls off his sketching stool. Overweight, asthmatic and prone to attacks of epilepsy, Edward Lear is nevertheless on a mission — to paint the mighty Kanchenjunga for his patron, the Viceroy of India.

Lear is an oddity, an outsider, simultaneously fascinated and repelled by the world the British have built in India.

Even as he battles the fatigue of travelling on pony carts, jampans and trains, Lear reflects on those who run the vast machinery of the British Empire — administrators and missionaries, officers, kitmutgars and kamsamahs.

Duelling pompous British officers with his wry humour, Lear turns his ear to the polyphony of local languages to compose nonsense poetry with a uniquely Indian flavour.