Tapendu K. Basu

The Author and the Emperor Tapendu K. Basu

The Author and the Emperor is the parallel story of an aspiring New York based writer, and his namesake, the great Emperor Kanishka, who in the second century ruled over a vast empire stretching from the river Syr Daria in Central Asia to the Gangetic delta. More questions remain than answers are found in historical texts about Emperor Kanishka. Why did the Emperor forsake the Kadphises surname after the death of his father, Vima Kadphises? We know of his successors; but not about his wives. His headless statue, preserved in Mathura Museum, asks. "How did he die?" A palace conspiracy? A spurned wife? I patched the gap in historical data with plausible fiction. Our present-day author Kanishka is born in Mathura, India, the emperor's second capital. "He will become a great writer," says his father who moves with his teenage son to New York City. After his father's death, Kanishka drives a cab to support his mother and himself. Disheartened by his failure to succeed as an author, he faces another crisis when his disillusioned wife leaves him. Kanishka makes a snap decision to trace the footsteps of his illustrious namesake. During a perilous soul-searching journey, he is held hostage in Pakistan. After months in captivity, Kanishka makes a dramatic escape across the India-Pak border. Does the author find fulfillment? Who are Holly, Mariah and Daisy...