Mookonda Kushalappa takes you back to the year 1834, offering you an account of a beautiful, complex place and its multi-faceted people

“I was brought up in Bangalore but my grandfather lived in Coorg and I used to visit it often. I was fascinated by the place and began reading a lot about it and there was a hunger in me to tell its story.”

So he did. His novel Long Ago in Coorg delves into the history of Kodagu in the modern era beginning from the invasion of the British East India Company in 1834 and going all the way to the present day existence of the Kodagu district. “Some of the interesting aspects of the book include the Coorg War of 1834 fought between the British and the Coorgs, the rebellion of 1837 where a pretender tried to claim the throne of Kodagu and the Gandhian movement in Kodagu,” adds Nitin.

History has always been a reigning passion for this 27-year-old software engineer who also makes iphone apps, blogs, sketches, writes poetry and edits on Wikipedia.

“The past fascinates me,” he says adding that the distinct culture and tradition of Coorg, which makes it an eclectic melting pot of sorts added to his fascination for the place. “The culture is essentially Dravidian with West Asian influences and fantastic theories abound about the place.”

In addition to this book, he has written another, also based on Coorg history, “The book is called The Early Coorgs and is based on Kodagu’s mythology, prehistory and early history before 1600,” he says.

On future plans he shrugs, “Well, honestly I don’t plan anything long term, I take one day at a time. I try to be different and do what I like. But yes, more writing will definitely happen.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Society / by Preeti Zachariah / Bangalore – April 02nd, 2014