Facebook is going places if it isn’t already there. Apart from all the kittens and Marvel spoilers, the “book”, as they call it, is turning out to be the go-to platform for social experiments.

On July 21, St Stephen’s College principal Valson Thampu wrote a post on his Facebook page stating that he was planning to write a “potboiler” titled “The Vixen of Stephenville”.

“I have never tried my hands at writing detective fiction. Am strongly tempted to write a potboiler under the title – The Vixen of Stephenville,” Thampu said in his post.

“I shall turn to this as and when time permits. Maybe, I have to wait till I get a little time to myself, which will be, it seems, only after retirement. The plot, though, is with me, ready made and full-grown, complete in all details.”

Then, a few hours later, he deleted the post and put this out:

Everyone’s reaction

Many believed that Thampu was hinting at the PhD scholar who has alleged sexual harassment.

“To use the word vixen in the title of his novel is reflective of the sick mindset of Thampu. It shows his intellectual bankruptcy and proclivity. In the backdrop of the sexual harassment cover-up by him and the Supreme Court dismissing Thampu’s efforts to get a stay vacated, one could hazard a guess that he is alluding to Nandita Narain or the victim,” said a representative of the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA). Nandita Narain is the President of DUTA and came out in support of the PhD student.

But Thampu later clarified to The Indian Express: “I have clearly written that it will be a work of fiction. I don’t see the problem. If it was contextual, why would I say that I’ll write it post-retirement? I would write it right away. First and foremost, I am a writer and author, and that is what gives me the greatest satisfaction.”

I want to play a game.

So, basically Thampu was playing jigsaw from Saw. He wanted to test the media and its voracious appetite for news by playing some mind games. He was sort of right, though. The Press Trust of India picked it up with the headline “Thampu to write detective fiction on St. Stephen’s!”. Some mainstream media organisations carried the PTI report.

But, if that’s the bait you are using Mr Thampu, then, I will bite.

A review in time:

The Vixen of Stephenville by Valson Thampu

It’s been a long time coming but Valson Thampu’s new book is finally out.  I just finished reading all the 420 pages and it’s nothing but brilliant.

Way back in 2015, when Thampu announced his intent to write The Vixen Of Stephenville, he sparked a controversy regarding the content of the book. At the time, Thampu was in the midst of a controversy in which a PhD scholar from St Stephen’s college had accused a professor of sexual harassment.

We all know how that turned out. St Stephen’s College was shut down by the government for producing more controversies than degrees. Even so, one can’t deny the fact The Vixen of Stephenville is highly inspired by Thampu’s days as principal.

Being the first in a trilogy, Vixen lays the foundation for Pullav Thomson, our everyday protagonist loosely modelled on Thampu himself. The first book is a juicy telling of the events that lead to Thomson becoming a detective. Told in first person, the novel unfolds like any other novel, first introducing a simple crime that later proves to be anything but simple. What makes this book a clutter-breaker is the fact that Thampu so seamlessly manages to merge real events into his fictional plot that it makes Dan Brown look like an academic.

Even though Stephenville is an obvious reference to the college, in the book it is more a state of mind than a town. Everyone from the town is an allegory of Thampu’s psychological traits. My personal favourite is the town priest who perfectly embodies Thampu’s secularism.

The book opens with a dream sequence of a girl breaking into the local chemist. As the plot develops, we are introduced to yet another character from Thampu’s life. Deepak Mehra, a tabloid blogger who first breaks the story of the “Pharmacy Theft”, reminds us of  Devansh Mehta, the editor of St Stephen’s Weekly’ that was banned by St Stephen’s college.

There are many such obvious similarities in the novel that make us sceptical of the foreword of the book that constantly stresses on the fact that the book is purely a work of fiction.

Well it has to be fiction because no one’s life can be as exciting as Pullav Thomson’s. Not even Valson Thampu who was number 7 on Times’ list of most stirring educational authorities in 2016.

What entertained me the most, is the plot twist in the end. The “Vixen” turns out to be Thomson himself. Even though I saw it coming from page 10, the denouement left me smiling.

Exposing Thomson as the Vixen of Stephenville, Thampu not only transcends the boundaries between protagonist and antagonist beautifully, but he also very subtly takes a stand for gender equality. Bringing to light the fact that there is no male equivalent of the word “Vixen”, Thampu artistically uses a female adjective for his male lead and somehow it fits perfectly.

Waiting with bated breath for Thampu’s next, “Fire under the bridge”, that is going to be about his love-hate relationship with the media. We’ve started reviewing it Mr Thampu.