They walked together, against the setting sun, into the picturesque Portuguese villa that houses Sunaparanta in Goa. William Dalrymple led the way, posing animatedly for the shutterbugs, while Olivia Fraser smiled demurely. With William leading, they made their way to the intimate courtyard, the perfect setting for this edition of the Shanghvi Salons titled, “The Muse and I.” Before a packed audience, Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi engaged the couple in a candid conversation that explored their relationship and the impact of love on their creativity.

u00a0The beginning was brimming with poetic prose as William confessed that for him it was love at first sight. “Olivia and I were invited to an event in London by an Indian friend. There I saw her across the room and I was instantly smitten.” At that event, William realised he knew one of Olivia’s cousins and on the pretext of borrowing a ‘hideous scarlet jacket’ from her cousin, he tried to find out more about Olivia. But the storyteller couldn’t weave a convincing tale, and it soon became clear that it wasn’t the jacket he was after. “It unravelled embarrassingly, and I also found out that Olivia was not available.” But that didn’t stop William from courting her. In fact, the author moved in next door to Olivia, and when her relationship didn’t work out, he swooped right in.