The home library, where he got introduced to classics, became his world. But, he kept writing.In between, he fell ill, returned to his homeland and later joined the advertising industry. “The British Council Library helped me discover beautiful English writers. Then, I revealed my identity. He was not very fond of school. “I wanted to escape as I felt it as an unimaginative place. In less than five minutes, he asked for the first 30 pages. When they got rejected, I started novels thinking short stories were not my cup of tea. I went to Hyderabad and there, I started working on The Vicks Mango Tree, set in deck oven Mangobaag,” he adds. His only solace was reading the books in their home library. All this happened on a Friday and things were set by Monday,” says Anees, who doesn’t like the idea of attending launches or award-ceremonies. Then, his world became the railway tracks and the dirt road to his home, elements one can find in The Blind Lady’s Descendants.After school, though he tried to study at a college, the place was too crowded for him.

I changed the names and the fate. 304, Rs 399. His books have won awards. Within an hour, he asked for the whole book and then the contact number. According to him, going home for lunch was his way of staying away from school. New books hit the market and publishers who once rejected him came asking for more. His family lived in a somewhat big house and he was lonely all the time. “It was a small town.Anees feels that the journeys helped him write without inhibitions.” In the small town, Anees lived as an unhappy child though he says he doesn’t know the reason. “Being in school for eight hours at a stretch was unimaginative for me!” says Anees. At our ancestral home, I used to stand at the gate watching trains disappearing in the corner. “I don’t know how this happens,” says Anees, who has five books to his credit. She lost her sight when I was 12 or 13 and regained it 20 years later. “I began with short stories. Bad luck, then, must have come in through the back door, for, by the time I considered myself grown up — thirteen or fourteen, at most, sixteen — I had started to regard it as a family member — our parents’ fourth child, someone older than me and younger than Sophiya — who would walk away with most of our small fortune much before I turned my present age — twenty-six.

Giving more insights into his inspiration, he says, “My grandmother was blind. It was not the era of television and he had no friends. The book was completed in six months,” says the writer who by that time, had sent his earlier works to almost all literary agents and publishing houses. Going there for books and coming back was like an excursion for me.All this time, his writing had been on the go.the blind lady’s descendants by anees salim Penguin Books Pp. I could see poverty and meet people. When I sit down and write, I like to sprinkle the story with humour. When I go to aplace, I might visit one spot — it could be a path I fell in love with for 10 days, and I come back with one good sentence,” concludes the author, who is currently working on a book set against the backdrop of Hyderabad. “It is set in Varkala, my hometown, and the house I grew up in. The whole day she sees people coming and going, and I decided to write about it. I used to go there only when we had a guest,” he adds.

In a place like Kerala, you don’t see poverty. I remember her wearing a scarf. I could starve. I don’t like to make a story more sentimental than it really is,” adds Salim, whose Tales from a Vending Machine showed how he packaged hilarity in a young woman’s airport lounge experience. He cites this newfound love for Varkala as the reason for placing his two books — The Blind Lady’s Descendants and The Small Town Sea there. “The idea of Tales from a Vending Machine struck me while I was sitting at Cochin Airport. “I googled and found a new agent, and sent him a mail in Hasina’s name. Interestingly, Anees’ books let readers know more about the Muslim community. For instance, The Blind Lady's Descendants gives a detailed account of circumcision prevalent in the community. Her character — the way she moved, talked and all — inspired me. In that way, the book is autobiographical in patches. His other works are Tales from a Vending Machine, The Vicks Mango Tree, Vanity Bagh and The Small Town Sea.