All New

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To celebrate my rather good news of a publisher for novel two I thought I’ll do a make-over for my tired looking blog. Welcome to ‘Tartan & Turmeric’ a real merger of Scottish and Indian updates on this blog. I feel enriched by the two cultures that I share and often switch from one country to the other in all my writing and status updates on FB and Twitter, so why not on the blog too?

Summer is only a week away and I look forward to bright long days of sunshine. I must confess the weather makes one less inclined to sit inside and read a book so that is my excuse for still being on page 436 of Sarita Mandanna’s ‘Tiger Hills ‘ that I referred to in my last blog. I’ll give a fuller comment on the book once I have finished reading it. She was in the longlist for the Man Asian Literary Prize last year.

Awarding Philip Roth the Man Booker Prize 2011 was controversial with Carmen Callil walking out of the judging panel.The choice of books can be so subjective just like any work of art.

I do hope you like my new spiced up blog.

10 thoughts on “All New”

  1. Divya

    Blog's looking good! 🙂 Congratulations on getting book 2 published. I'd like to read your books… are they available in India? Also, what are your final thoughts on 'Tiger Hills'? Just curious! 🙂

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  2. Leela Soma

    Hi Divya, Great to see you here. I often read your reviews in the 'Hindu'. My book is available from Flipkart' in India.Still to finish 'Tiger Hills'. Fantastic descriptions of Coorg, great prose for a debut writer. Need to read it all before I say more.Have you read it? What are your thoughts?

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  4. Anonymous

    Ooh, lovely! I wonder if there's a Scots-Indian tartan? There's an official Italian-Scots one – widely seen at Italian-Scottish weddings in Barga, Italy's “Little Scotland”. Worth looking into…

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  6. Leela Soma

    I have a friend from 'Barga' Marian. Yes there is a Rajput Tartan a miltary one as part of the Regimental uniform. Nice dark red. And of course 'Madras cotton' as you know got the design from Scots as early as 1700's.

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  8. Catherine Czerkawska

    Nice new look, Leela! Wearing my other hat, as a dealer in antique textiles, I love tartan – and there's such a strong Indian connection with Scottish textiles, too! I once had an editor query my use of the term 'Indian Cottons' in the 1700s, (it was in the historic parts of the Curiosity Cabinet) but it was accurate, they were sooo fashionable and beautiful, and had been imported since the seventeenth century. Also, the Scottish cotton industry was desperate to compete with the fineness of Indian Cottons – Margaret Swain wrote (in her book about Ayrshire Whitework) that an Indian spinner could spin a pound of cotton into a length of yarn 250 miles long. Don't think they ever managed anything quite so wonderful in Scotland though the Ayrshire Whitework baby gowns are very fine indeed – I'll show you one when you're next down here!

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  9. Leela Soma

    Thanks Rosemary. @Catherine your 'historic' research is accurate.The spinner of the finest cotton is true. I've heard my mum and grandma talk about it. Indian cottons are the softest and as children we wore them, perfect for humid sub-tropical Madras weather. Even now babies get to lie on Indian 'mull' a very soft cotton that is light and cool.Baby gowns or little chemise's are worn by tiny babies born in summer. You get the best cotton and the best silks in India. I'd love to see your collection at the 'Curiosity Cabinet' next time.

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