A la Alfred Hitchcock who peeped into a frame every film, there are authors who couldn’t resist giving us a peek-a-boo flash of themselves in their books.

1. Ayn Rand: in Atlas Shrugged.

as Galt takes Dagny around his world, they encounter ‘A young woman stretched out . At the sound of their car,she leaped to her feet in a single swift moment. She had dark, disheveled hair and large,piercing eyes.

‘She is a writer. The kind who believes that when one deals with words,one deals with the mind.’ says Galt.

 

While on that, the closest physical resemblance to Ayn. Helen Mirren.

2. Agatha Christie: I wonder if Ariadne Oliver, Hercule Poirot’s crime-fiction writer friend, bubbling with multiple possible motives to every crime,ardent apple-lover, fervent believer in ‘Now if a woman were Head of Scotland Yard…’. Or is it gentle, grandmotherly Jane Marple?

Zoe, who plays her on Poirot series, does bear a striking resemblance. Closer home, yesteryear actress Shammi would be a dead doppelganger.

3. Arundhati Roy: In ‘The God of Small things’, she appears as ‘Rahel. Her wild hair, the dark tumble, was tied back to look straight though it wasnt. A tiny diamond gleamed in one nostril . She had absurdly beautiful collarbones. There goes a jazz tune, thought her future husband.

The closest actress who could play Arundhati,

Kitu Gidwani. The classiest , finest bone structure I saw.

or

Kangana. Wild hair, obviously.

Ques: Can you think of more examples of author Selfies?