CHENNAI: "Mole deals with the life of the public at large, especially those we see in our daily lives," B. S. Raghavan, former civil servant, said during a programme conducted by the Madras Book Club on Ashokamitran's Mole. The book is the English translation of the Tamil novel Ottran, which was released in 1985. The English translation was released last year.

In the book, the author has penned down his experiences during an international writing programme held in Iowa city in the early 1970s.

Mr. Raghavan said he liked the novel for three reasons.

"Firstly, the author allows the reader to judge for himself. Secondly, even the translation reads like the original and thirdly, because of the lucidity in translation."

Sashi Kumar, chairman, Media Development Foundation, said the author's commonplace characters were easily identifiable in society. "The author has romanced these ordinary characters and enjoyed it. The characters are not in black and white and there are no villains in this novel," he added.

Author Mr. Ashokamitran said he never intended to write the novel when he was in Iowa.

But two years after his return, an American magazine, Span approached him with a request to write an article. Only then it occurred to him that he could write a novel.

The author made special references to a few characters like Ilaria, Bravo and Abie Gubegna.

He said only India sent its best writers, including Jnanapith awardees, to the international programme.

N. Kalyan Raman who compiled the English translation said he was surprised that only four reviews of the book were published in the press.

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