Nikhil V Damle and Dr Sunil H Karamchandani pay tribute to that master teller of stories, Jeffrey Archer.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Nitin V Damle
The day was March 25, 2011, and the venue was Crossword at Kemps Corner, south Mumbai.
Even now, I remember the butterflies in my stomach; the only reason was that I was getting a chance to be in the same room as the legendary Lord Jeffrey Archer, also known as Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare, the person my parents blamed for my obsessive reading habit.
The occasion was the launch of Only Time Will Tell, the first book of The Clifton Chronicles.
As luck would have it, I had reached Crossword at around 3 pm because I wanted to browse; the store was packed by 5 pm for the 6 pm function. I did manage to buy two copies and have them autographed by Jeffrey Archer; I even clicked a photograph with him.
He also comprehensively denied a sequel to Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less.
I just hope that I don’t end up doing what a lot of people did when Sachin Tendulkar retired from cricket… they stopped watching cricket. I hope I don’t stop reading.
There has never been another Tendulkar. There will never be another Jeffrey Archer.
— Nitin V Damle, Mumbai
The prodigal author,
Cometh The Hour… October, 5, 2026,
Not a second more, not a second less.
Shall we tell the world?
Yes, As The Crow Flies
With The Fourth Estate,
Can and able.
Jeffrey Chronicles… no more.
This was a man.
First Among Equals,
On the path of glory
Mightier Than The Sword.
Not a False Impression but A Matter of Honour,
A word for a word,
Lots of twists in the tale that time has stopped to tell,
His Best Kept Secret.
The eleven commandments
Never turning a blind eye
Always Hidden In Plain Sight
The son of fortune — Jeffrey Archer
— Dr Sunil H Karamchandani, Mumbai
