.
He has successfully survived a decade in Bombay, the
city he loathes and loves. He was born in Kerala, the
southern state of India, and is a fundamentalist when
it comes to protecting Kerala culture, literature and
cuisine.
His major worries in his life are his liver, Archana
(wife), Julie (dog) - of course not in that order -
and he loves all of them though he abuses them at
certain times.
He is the publisher and managing editor of Frog Books,
a Mumbai-based publishing house, launched in March
2003. It has, so far, brought out two books —
CrossRoad, a novel by Jasmeet Chhabra, and The Rape of
News, compiled and edited by Poolani.
The Rape of News is getting rave reviews, enthusistic
support and high sales. The theme of the book is:
‘Should papers sell editorial space?’ The book is the
outcome of The Times of India’s announcement that it
is marketing its editorial space in that paper and
other publications the group publishes. As a result,
corporates and individuals can pay money and feature
in news columns or other editorial space. Is this
ethical, the book asks.
“Will — or should — other newspapers follow suit? Is
this the end of the end of the ‘news is sacred’
concept?” Those who have featured (29 writers) in the
book comprise media critic Sevanti Ninan, veteran
journalist P K Ravindranath, Mid-Day chief editor
Aakar Patel, Newsweek senior editor Vibhuti Patel and
columnist V Gangadhar.
Frog Books intends to publish at least one book a
month. He is also giving the final shape to a literary
quarterly.
In 1994, Poolani had co-authored (with Supriya
Madangarli) one book in English titled Narmada Diary,
and has published a collection of poems in Malayalam,
his mother tongue. Two of his books will come out
shortly. One book is a collection of his interviews
with literary figures (from Olivier Todd to O V
Vijayan) and the second is collection of his
investigative reports that have appeared in several
publications in the last decade.
He has acted in street plays, wrote screenplays, and
painted and sculpted some vague artforms when he was
young. He was associated with a radical left-wing
movement, something he considers as a joke now. He can
be contacted at
