Good ol’ Vernon

Photograph: Rajib De
Mathures Paul meets a 71-year-old author of books for children, teenagers and young adults who has even tried his hand at ‘sexy stories’ told with humour

Ever wanted to meet Enid Blyton, Richmal Crompton or Frank Richards? Well, dreams sometimes have this uncanny knack of coming true and someone equally talented lives just around the corner, so to speak, in Kolkata. Vernon Thomas likes to travel in schoolbags.
This 71-year-old author of 118 titles for children, teenagers and young adults, not to forget the 250 adult stories he’s published in leading journals in India, England, South Africa, Scotland and Italy, is, in popular parlance, “still good to go”.
If you’re wondering why you never heard of him all these years, you’re forgiven. For like he says, “I took up writing in 1967. Between 1968 and 1980, around 100 stories were published in the Teenager, a magazine edited by Father Mark Fonseca. He is my guru, my mentor and when he left the magazine he introduced me to some publishers.”
Leading journals like The Illustrated Weekly of India, Women’s Era and Eve’s Weekly published his stories, mostly in the kids’ section. “Though I cannot judge my writing style, people say that as far as romantic fiction is concerned, it is very close to Dennis Robbins. I wonder if this is a compliment. At the age of 12, I wrote my first story titled Identical Princess. I was then at St Xavier’s School and my teacher asked which magazine I would like it to be published in. I replied, The Illustrated Weekly. But my teacher thought it should be published in a journal meant for children. I refused the offer! My father never wanted me to study literature, for he thought it would make a teacher out of me. So I took up commerce at the University of Calcutta and soon joined Jessop and Company in the billing department. I worked there for 23 years and took early retirement, for I wanted to concentrate on writing.”
Vernon’s early efforts include Roses For Remembrance (1973), a collection of short stories for teenagers, and Hidden Beauty (1973), a collection of short stories for children. Then came a favourite of his, Little Girl of Dove Cot, that has his aunt’s home in Assam as the backdrop. “It’s a book about a naughty girl who turns good. In the book she was not happy being with her stepmother and wanted her father to separate. But it is The Statesman that made me take to writing. My cousin encouraged me to write a piece called It’s A Dog’s Life for the ‘Now And Again’ column. It was refused but was subsequently published in Eve’s Weekly! But then again, the pieces that followed were published in The Statesman.”
A number of adult short stories by Vernon were published in Dublin’s Personality magazine (the most famous being When Love Is Gone), Story World, Red Star Weekly, South Africa’s Southern Cross, Catholic Fireside of London and Italy’s Messenger of St Anthony. “I always wanted to pen original stories, but publishers insisted on writing adaptations and retold versions. Nevertheless, much of my writings are original.”
Now for something more interesting. Would you have guessed that Vernon, the creative hand enjoyed by children and teenagers, is a writer of what he terms “sexy stories?” It’s true. He feels Shobaa De and Kushwant Singh write “porn books” that lack humour. “I wanted to prove that adult jokes can be made without being crude. They can be humorous. The first of my sexy stories was published in The Illustrated Weekly in 1969 by none other than Kushwant Singh. Between 1994 and 1999, a few sexy stories were published in Debonair and Fantasy. I proved my point and stopped writing sexy stories.”
Having been writing for 38 years, what does Vernon feel about the market? “When I began my career, there were few publishers for children. The present day market is very different and I must say that JK Rowling is quite fascinating. She gets into the plot without preamble.” As for his achievements, “it’s a novel titled The Wasted Years. When it was published in 1977, it moved off the shelves fast. Since India was experiencing the Emergency period, there was a shortage of paper supply. After 28 years, I have decided to re-release the book and have already approached Penguin. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.”
Though Vernon’s writings have been published across the world, he has never left West Bengal. He has been to Darjeeling but not to Delhi or Mumbai. “My mother was an invalid. So I took care of her. Moreover, I love Kolkata and do not want to leave.”
Along the way there had been incidents that have disheartened him. “Recently I received an award from the Indian Catholic Press Association for my writings. It is the national association of Catholic newspapers and periodicals, news agencies and publishing houses, journalists and teachers. But I did not know I had been selected for the honour. When the ICPA informed my publisher’s office in Kolkata, they informed them that I was not in the best of health. So the award was left with them in October 2004. It was only in March 2005, when my secretary visited the shop, that he got to know of the award and collected it.”
The multifaceted author has a fan club in Howrah. All his stories have Kolkata as the backdrop but the characters have English names, for “children love English names in English books”. He is currently working on a book called The Clever Confident Trickster. It’s about a girl who wanted to be an actor. She took on the role of a robber and went about divesting old ladies of their bags. “It’s a true story. But for the conclusion you have to wait till next year.”
Sadly, for the last 10 years Vernon has been writing books though he lost most of his sight because of two faulty cataract operations in 1994. He writes entirely from memory and dictates everything to his secretary.
Well, is he a JK Rowling? A visit to the corner bookstore soon enough may provide the answer.