About The Book

Professor Ananda Lal suggested I write something about A Worm’s Verse because he felt it was unusual. Why have I picked on this form? What influenced me to structure a novella in verse?

Rev. K.T. Grogan, S.J., my English teacher in school, was a stickler for simple prose. A form difficult to master: for students who did not come from English-speaking households, a burden of a lifetime.

Professor P. Lal, who taught me in St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta, in the mid-1960s, encouraged me to explore my universe. For me, the universe is largely a socio-political one that I can’t ignore.

And in the University of Calcutta I met Dr. R.K. Sen, who taught me there is a lot more than romanticism in literature. He tirelessly drilled in me that neoclassical literature is fundamentally a search for form.

Here in A Worm’s Verse I have followed the three teachers who influenced me most in my life. I kept my verse simple, using everyday words. I explored my universe which is seen through my prism. You may like what you see or you may not. And I deliberately chose a form that enables me to rhyme but gives me the flexibility to carry a conversational tone all through.