Wednesday, April 20 2005 09:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: After four novels, five collections of poems, a picture book and a travelogue, noted writer Vikram Seth is working on a 'double biography', which he expects will be out by October this year (2005).

Aptly titled 'Two Lives', the book is based on the lives of his "Indian grand uncle and German grand aunt".

"The book is set partly in India, partly in Germany and partly in other places," Seth told sources in New Delhi yesterday (Apr 19, 2005).

He said that the process of writing the book began after the death of his grand aunt, when at his mother Leela Seth's insistence he began interviewing his grand uncle.

"I interviewed him, giving him something to do. And I did it initially partly out of a sense of duty. But then I was very fascinated by his story and the book happened," the writer said.

The book is also based on letters written by his grand aunt to his grand uncle, who was a dentist and whose right arm was shot off in the war.

On what inspires the writer in him, the 53-year-old Seth said, "It could be a little conversation, a poem or rhyme. Questioning it and trying to imagine people's lives is how books are written."

The writer, who divides time between London and New Delhi, said, "Writers are nothing but elevated gossips. What we do is make things 'chatpata' (spicey)."

Seth's last book was 'An Equal Music', a novel, which was published in 1999.