"It was a wonderful experience interacting with you and appreciate the way you have planned and executed the whole publication process within the agreed timelines.”
Subrat SaurabhAuthor of Kuch Woh Pal“No thali is complete without those lovely spicy tidbits on the side. The book is replete with trivia to regale your friends over beer or kaapi (bet you didn’t know the ubiquitous dosa can be spelt in more ways than you can find fillings to stuff in it)!” – Dev Nadkarni.
The book has selected essays on general subjects as well as the author’s observations of life in Singapore.
The errant but smart-cookie domestic help, the glib chicanery of door-to-door salespeople, the virtues of the humble domestic broom, the street corner scrap dealer, smartphones, a whole list of vegetarian delights… nothing is unimportant enough for the author not to expand into a three-hundred-and-something word piece. It’s cabbages and kings at a whole new level!
Bifocals and a Walking Stick is like a thali brimming with endless goodies and then some. Etymology, linguistics, history, philosophy, sociology, technology – and that’s just a few of the topics that the book touches upon. And dry as those subjects might seem, they’re contextualised in a slice-of-life sort of way. And then there are the travelogues – from Luxembourg to Singapore and Mangalore by ship, air, road and rail.
M. Gopalkrishna Bhat
M Gopalkrishna Bhat (b.1935) was born and educated in the coastal city of Mangalore. He has been a resident of Mumbai for the last six decades.
A lifelong insurance professional, Bhat has travelled widely in the course of his work and for pleasure. He also reads voraciously, favouring the droll, tongue-in-cheek styles of R K Narayan, Bill Bryson and Roald Dahl among several others.
Gopalkrishna Bhat’s flair for language and penchant for clever puns is widely recognised among his inner circle of family and friends. He is a true linguist, being fluent in Konkani, Kannada, Tulu, Hindi, Marathi and English besides being a student of Sanskrit. His other interests include music, cryptic crosswords and Scrabble. His writing style may be best described as “light -hearted and insightful.”
Bifocals and a Walking Stick is his first book. He may be reached at mgb1935@gmail.com
