The Islander

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First a book and then perhaps a movie on the people of the Sunderbans. That8217;s how celebrated French author Dominique Lapierre describes his future plans.

Lapierre has been visiting the Sunderbans for the last 12 years. 8216;8216;My desire to pen a book on the Sunderbans sprouted twelve years back when some people in the island asked me to do something to help them. And I responded with the Dominique Lapierre Ambulance boat that went to some of the inhabited islands in the Sunderbans to hand out medicines to the poor villagers.8217;8217;

The author of the City of Joy was here again, this time on a dual mission. To inspect a number of charities that runs with his financial donations and to collect material for his book.

He spoke at length on the Sunderbans and its people that now looks to be the focus of his new book. The author feels that this is a rare chance for the world to know about the 8216;8216;pristine beauty of this unexplored land.8217;8217;

8216;8216;I am about 18 months away from the book that will be on the Sunderbans. It will be a non-fictional book with some fictional characters,8217;8217; says Lapierre.

Asked if this book will also see the same fate as his first book on the slums of Howrah Pilkhana, he says, 8216;8216;Some people have said that they are interested in making a documentary on the Sunderbans. If the book works out fine then we may consider making it into a movie.8217;8217;

Lapierre associated himself with an NGO called Southern Health Improvement Samity SHIS in 1986. The author, now 75, and accompanied by his wife8212;also called Dominique Lapierre, tells Sunday Express that in another year his other literary piece8212;a compilation of his meetings with what he calls 8216;8216;extraordinary people and experiences8217;8217; in the past years8212;will be almost ready.

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8216;8216;They are the people I have met all over the world, in Bengal, In India and in Europe. This book, too, will be non-fictional,8217;8217; says Lapierre.

Then the village and its problems take over. 8216;8216;Make sure to send your son to the primary school. You will definitely not want to see your son growing up to be a dumb man,8217;8217; he says in broken Bengali to a mother clutching her son.

8216;8216;We have a big educational project coming up in Bengal because I feel the future of India lies in education,8217;8217; he says.

So what brings him back to Bengal time and again? 8216;8216;It8217;s the love that brings us back here and we want to repay this country with some good work,8217;8217; he says.