Paper Boats by K. S. Venkataramani

THREE of these Essays were origin¬ally published in East and West in more or less the present form. “The Indian Beggar” appeared in Sep¬tember, 1913, “On Fishermen” in Feb¬ruary, 1913, “The Hindu Temple” in February, 1914. I sent a reprint of “The Hindu Temple” to Mr. A. C. Benson, who promptly replied to me as follows, on March 2nd, 1914:
“I have received your paper on the Hindu Temple and have read it with very real and lively interest. It throws a perfectly new light upon the whole question, and I am very grateful to you for bringing it before me in so picturesque and impressive a form. I cannot help feeling that a number of similar sketches on Indian Life and Customs would be of great service to us here in England.”
This generous letter awakened in me the dream of authorship. I have been moved ever since with the joy. The Great War broke out in August, 1914, and Mr. A. C. Benson again, in one of his letters, dated April 11th, 1918, advised me to “defer publication until affairs are more settled”. This delayed the launching of ray PAPER Boats till the present day.