Award-winning author Manu S. Pillai at the Kochi launch of his new book The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin, stealing his reader's hearts with sharp wit and waxing eloquent about the colonial history of India. In conversation with Manu was his collaborator and translator, Prasanna Varma, an author, poet and translator and her translation of Manu's Kendra Sahitya Academy award-winning book, The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore received much critical acclaim.