Renowned author and journalist Dom Moraes visited the British Deputy High Commission in Mumbai on Wednesday to formally launch his new collection of poems, 'Typed With One Finger'.

Moraes, along with two hundred or so admirers, listened to his assorted works recited by actor Denzil Smith in a dramatic baritone accompanied by the haunting and Bluesy synthesiser of musician Steve Sequeira.

Dom Moraes, 65, was born in Bombay in 1938. His father was the editor and author Frank Moraes. With him, Moraes travelled through Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia. He began his career at an early age and wrote his first book, on cricket, when he was 13.

"When I first started to type at the age of eight and nine I wasn't taught to type so I typed with one finger," said Moraes when asked about the significance of his book's title. "Until today, I type with my one finger (on my) computer."
   
At nineteen, Moraes published his first book of poems, 'A Beginning', which won the Hawthornden Prize for the best work of imagination in 1958. Moraes remains the first non-English person to win this prize, and also the youngest.

He wrote his autobiography, 'My Son's Father', when he was 30.
 
Though Moraes has never learned Hindi or any Indian language and recently told The Hindu, "I don't think I belong anywhere," he has travelled to every corner of India and beyond for material and inspiration. "I have lived in a great number of countries," said Moraes when asked whether his work is specific to India.

Moraes, with his single-digit style, has produced a large body of work encompassing twenty-three prose books, including a biography, 'Mrs Gandhi', and over twenty television documentaries from England, India, Cuba and Israel for the BBC and ITV.

'Typed With One Finger', is a reaction to his travels in India and beyond that Moraes himself describes as dark. "[The work] has gotten more dark," said Moraes. "I think most people's lives get darker."

The book contains a collection of old and new works that all serve "as an interpretation of how I see me," said Moraes.

What is the central message of Moraes's latest work? "I don't go around sending messages," he said.

When asked whether the day's performance was an appropriate representation of his work, Moraes paused, straightened somewhat, and said: "The reading was very well done."

Photographs: Jewella Miranda