Perhaps we immigrants are inspired by the challenges our children go through to assimilate into this new culture and want to share stories from the war zone. (It certainly isn’t to become the next J.K. Rowling.)

Sanjiv Sinha took a techie approach to the problem of finding a publisher.

A father of 2 daughters from Dallas, Texas, software professional Sinha recalls making up stories for his 4-year-old a few years ago. The stories touched on the common issues faced by desi children in the US – joining a preschool where no one looks like you, bringing lunch that invokes laughter from your classmates, and so on.

The stories were the inspiration for Alisha’s World, a charming picture book revolving around the eponymous Alisha, perhaps a composite of Sinha’s kids Riya and Shibani, who the book is dedicated to. The book has 3 stories revolving around the third-grader Alisha and her experiences at school. Joining a new school at the start of the book, Alisha faces the typical cultural challenges of a second generation Indian American. She navigates them with the help of a loving family, understanding teachers, and good friends. The glossy book is illustrated beautifully by Archana Sreenivasan.

After exploring options of finding a US publisher or using an American self-publisher like Lulu or Amazon, the software professional eventually settled on outsourcing! Alisha’s World is illustrated and printed in India and sold in the US for $17.99.

The books have been a hit at local schools, where teachers have used them to teach valuable lessons on multiculturalism and diversity. To help things along, Sinha set up the Alisha’s World website, which features information about the book, fun games, and a way to purchase the book.  A Facebook page keeps fans updated on Alisha and her adventures.

The quality of the book notwithstanding, finding a mainstream audience has been difficult. Says Sinha, “I need to sell just 20,000 books per year to break even.” He is looking at the library and school market rather than individuals who, he admits, might be reluctant to dish out over 15 dollars for the 40-page book.

Sanjiv, Riya and Shibani

In the works is the second book of Alisha’s adventures. A typical story deals with Alisha’s request for a sleepover and her parents’ misgivings about this quintessential American ritual.

“I find this endeavor just so much more creatively satisfying than my day job,” laughs Sinha.

Related posts:

1. Doing a World of Good World of Good is a small organization with a big...
2. Meera Masi introduces “Storyteller” Bilingual book publisher MeeraMasi is kicking off 2009 with a...
3. The Great Mathematics Experiment: ‘Real World’ Math By Enakshi Choudhuri Do you find yourself staring at your...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

But, eventually, her writing palled. Exposed to other diasporic writers whose craft was leaner and less florid, Divakaruni’s gushy style grew a little tiresome. I think I must have stopped reading after Unknown Errors of Our Lives (though I did read the Conch Bearer aloud to my child).

With One Amazing Thing, though, Divakaruni returns to a crisp, almost minimalist, style of writing that reminds one of all the reasons why she was so popular in the first place. It is a slim tome, barely 250 pages or so, and so absorbing that the words whiz by at warp speed, not even allowing one to pause to admire the literary style.

A motley group of would-be travelers waits for visa approvals at an Indian visa and passport office in an unknown city. When a massive earthquake strikes, they are thrown together in a struggle for survival. Quickly, roles are delineated; the leader, the caregiver, the rebel. After an abortive attempt at escape, the group realizes they are better off waiting for rescue. As water slowly seeps into their safe haven and  oxygen levels deplete, they decide to share the tale of one amazing thing in their lives to keep their minds off impending doom.

Not all the stories are equally compelling, but Divakaruni makes a capable attempt at creating the voices of a varied cast-there is an old white couple, a punk Chinese teenager and her grandmother, a black army vet, an Indian graduate student, Indian visa office bureaucrats, and an angry Muslim young man. The voices are credible and the stories interesting. As they tell their stories we get a glimpse into these diverse lives, only to witness the common thread that makes every human story recognizable and familiar.

With One Amazing Thing, Divakaruni gets her writing mojo back; fans will be delighted with the book and new readers will be appreciative.

This is an early review. The book arrives on the shelves in February 2010 and is available to pre-order at Amazon.

Related posts:

1. Palace of Illusions – Book Review By Vidya Pradhan Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni has made a name...
2. Book review – The 3 mistakes of my life By Vidya Pradhan “Books like these,” huffed a friend, “expose...
3. Book Review – Unaccustomed Earth By Vidya Pradhan Reading a short story is like watching...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The corrupt politician

The manipulative bureaucrat

Swiss bank accounts

The well-connected guruji and his numero-astrology

The item bomb and the casting couch

Crazy movie fans

Film shooting in Switzerland

Rigged award ceremonies

The oppressed Andaman tribal

Police brutality and corruption

The Mumbai underworld

Drug deals gone bad

The honest cop and his inevitable transfer

The khadi-clad activist

The intrepid journalist

The Bhopal gas disaster

The earnest documentary maker

Call centers

Dynastic rule

Mail order bride scams

The North Indian wedding and its excesses

Pakistani terrorists

Hellfire missiles

Construction sites rife with corruption and hazard

Prayag, Sangam and naked sadhus

Rajasthani forts and Rajput honor

The dumb Texan (who spawns his own set of clichés)
27 Indian stereotypes

1 incredulous reader

6 suspects

Six Suspects has been optioned by British producer Paul Raphael’s Starfield Productions and BBC Films.

Related posts:

1. Book review – The 3 mistakes of my life By Vidya Pradhan “Books like these,” huffed a friend, “expose...
2. Book review: One Amazing Thing A motley group of would-be travelers waits for visa approvals...
3. Book review – Marrying Anita One of the benefits of leading an interesting life is...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

She quickly settles into the Delhi party and clubbing scene but the suitable boy keeps eluding her. Many almost-Prince Charmings and more Ugly Ducklings later, her quest to connect is still alive as she bids the reader goodbye.

Though autobiographical, “Marrying Anita” is more interesting as a look at the changing social mores in urban India. The Delhi scene Anita describes is startling, with commitment phobic young men taking full advantage of the sexual liberation of career-minded women. The women are the aggressors, determined to separate themselves from the marital ambitions of the previous generation and yet there is a wistful need for connection. Anita herself rides an emotional roller-coaster, being attracted to the most unsuitable men and dismissing offhand any prospects that look even remotely likely. I was puzzled by her behavior at first, but it dawned on me that she perhaps was unconsciously sabotaging any possibility of a real relationship.

The book is a curious mixture of hopefulness and pathos. When Anita finally embarks on a somewhat serious relationship, she exhibits a combination of high expectations and neediness that all of us remember from our teenage years, and that seems out of place in an older, more experienced woman. She breaks it off for what it would seem to an older generation to be a trivial reason, then transfers her affection to a completely unobtainable object of desire, mooning over him like a lovesick puppy. “Marrying Anita” left me glad I was in a committed long-term relationship where there was no need to play games.

As for literary style, the book starts off well, with overtones of “Eat, Pray, Love”, Elizabeth Gilbert’s lovely travelogue through life. But it soon veers off into self-indulgence, forsaking any sense of chronology or continuity. The chapters are like samplers; pick any one for a quick read. The prose is effortless, though it has a tendency to pretension sometimes (I still have to look up the meaning of “plangency”, but her tendency to occasionally use complex language could simply be the result of a long writing career).

Anita is surprisingly coy about her sexual adventures, a fact that could perhaps be explained in her acknowledgements where she thanks her parents for their “as-of-yet unconditional love and support.” This leads to the sense that she is holding back, which make the book feel incomplete.

Despite its shortcomings, I enjoyed reading “Marrying Anita”. It gave me insight into a social world that is closed to me and descriptions of Delhi are funny and witty without condescending. Take it to the beach for a fun read.

Related posts:

1. Book review – a good indian wife If Marrying Anita was a look at the changing mores...
2. Book review – The 3 mistakes of my life By Vidya Pradhan “Books like these,” huffed a friend, “expose...
3. Book review: One Amazing Thing A motley group of would-be travelers waits for visa approvals...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

“Books like these,” huffed a friend, “expose the vacuum in entertaining Indian literature.” He was referring to One night @ the call centre, Chetan Bhagat’s second book, and it was in response to an assertion by the New York Times on the blurb that the author was ‘the biggest-selling English-language novelist in India's history'.

After a sensational debut with Five Point Someone, a lighthearted look at life at the Indian Institutes of Technology, Chetan Bhagat became an overnight celebrity with the Indian reading public (the book completed 190 weeks on the India Today bestseller list in January 2008).

The first print of One Night.. , published in 2005, was snapped up in less than 3 days. But critics lambasted this offering. I remember thinking it was a rather maudlin and sentimental effort, with undesirably heavy doses of spirituality weighing down what could have been a satirical look at call centers and what the sudden push to prosperity has done for the Indian middle class. Still, a movie based on the book (tentatively called “Hello”) is in the works.

The 3 mistakes of my life, his third book, is equally mawkish.

Attempting to insert gravitas into a non-literary piece of work is always tricky; you run the risk of sounding like your grandmother’s dubious spiritual guru. The book attempts to frame a world view out of a few years in the life of an Ambavadi( Ahmedabadi) resident. (And what  momentous years! There’s the Bhuj Earthquake, the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Godhra train Massacre..all neatly fitting into two or three chapters.)

The author, inserting himself quite unnecessarily into the narrative, meets Govind, the narrator of the story, after the latter has attempted suicide. Recovering in the hospital, Govind reminisces about his life and the mistakes he thinks he made during crucial moments. I use the verb “thinks” because to most readers, his actions seem perfectly normal for anyone who doesn’t aspire to sainthood. It is an excuse to declaim on the sinfulness of premarital sex, communal tension and the sacredness of friendship. You realize that the author not only sounds like the neighborhood Babaji, he wants to be the neighborhood Babaji.  In an interview with the New York Times, he said, “I think people really took to the books mainly because there is a lot of social comment in there.”

Still, this book, like the others, is a zippy read. If, as the author claims, his role model is a Bollywood film( he also claims to make up his plots on a computer spreadsheet before getting down to writing) then he admirably achieves his object. 3 mistakes… is as entertaining as Jai Santoshi Ma and has about as much depth and resonance. I guarantee that you will probably be intrigued enough to finish the book, but in 6 months will be hard put to remember what the three mistakes were. They’re fading from my brain even as I write.

Consider it a disposable book – buy it, read it, and pass it on. At Rs. 100 for most paperback versions in India, it probably costs less than a cup of tea. Somehow I can picture it perfectly on a cart at the railway station. If you’re traveling, pick it up; it is at least as entertaining as the latest filmy rag-mag.

Chetan Bhagat’s first two books are available on Amazon.

Related posts:

1. Palace of Illusions – Book Review By Vidya Pradhan Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni has made a name...
2. Book review: One Amazing Thing A motley group of would-be travelers waits for visa approvals...
3. Book review – Marrying Anita One of the benefits of leading an interesting life is...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This book was tailor made for me and I took it very personally. As a teenager brought up with Hindu middle-class values in a business family of the Bombay sub-culture, and then an NRI, ever since I woke up to find out I grew a brain; I still have an intimate connection with the city in my personal and professional lives. The book was exceptionally cathartic for me and it was easy to identify with its stories. I share much the same frustrations and longing for my Bombay (now Mumbai) as the author, and empathize with the author's passion about the subject.
The personality of a city, especially Bombay, is best described in stories. Bombayites love to hear and tell stories about her people. Why else would Suketu Mehta write this book and why else would his interviewees recite their stories openly, both at great personal risk, unless they were all Bombayites. On the same note, Bombayites love him for writing this book.

The stories in the book and the book itself illustrates what all Bombayites know deep down inside. We are a city where people's law prevails, survival of the fittest is the law of the land and all moral/fairness judgements are based on class-based democracy. This fact determines all our risk profiles. Suketu Mehta has powerful friends. His heart is at the right place. Therefore, he's safe.

Suketu Mehta is not as much an intellectual economist as he is a homeboy with good journalistic skills. He picks some of the top macro phenomena affecting the city, and illustrates them through the micro view into lives and stories of the people who represent the phenomena. This writing style delves somewhere between non-fictional documentary and fictional novel. It alternates between using real and fictional names without full disclosure about when. Although the book is honest, factual and revealing, please draw your judgments responsibly. Doesn't that go for everything you see and experience in the world of Mumbai? After all, Suketu Mehta is part of the very system that he writes about, admittedly so.

The book is a snapshot of Mumbai in the 90's, and most (not all) things transpose across to the 2000's. It would make an "outsider" cringe and an "insider" gaze endlessly into the void. It makes for a good read along with the novel Shantaram. Be prepared though, both are fat books.

Watch this space for more from Kashyap

Review cross posted in Kashyap's Glob

Related posts:

1. Book review – The 3 mistakes of my life By Vidya Pradhan “Books like these,” huffed a friend, “expose...
2. Fremont City Council candidate – Vinnie Bacon In honor of the upcoming elections, WNI is starting a...
3. Prague FAQs – the city where beer is cheaper than water This "City of a Thousand Spires" is one of the...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It has always been a puzzle why American schools cannot replicate the dominance and the reputation for excellence demonstrated by American universities. US students have always performed rather shamefully compared to students from other countries. In an international math assessment of 15 year olds in 2003, American students came 29th out of 34 places. The outrage reports like these have generated was the driving motivator for the No Child Left Behind(NCLB) act, President Bush’s accountability-laden education policy unveiled just a year after he took office. Linda Perlstein, who has been covering the education beat for the Washington Post for several years, decided to spend a year with an elementary school in Maryland to study the impact of NCLB on the school system. What emerges is a gripping tale of heroism, sacrifice and uncommon bravery on the part of the principal, teachers and staff of Tyler Elementary as they attempt to deal with the new standards and punitive threats that NCLB brings in its wake. After struggling with the new assessments for 3 years, Tyler Elementary’s federal funding is in jeopardy. Every year its students don't perform, Tyler faces worsening consequences. Situated in an impoverished neighborhood with federal money as its only source of funding, things are looking dire for the school when, in an astonishing development, the school exceeds expectations in the school year 2005-2006, with 90% of third grade students passing the reading test as compared to 35% just 2 years ago. The success catapults the principal and school to stardom as they are held as poster children for NCLB’s educational reform. While basking in the glory though, there is a terrible fear on the part of the school staff – what if this was just a fluke? To understand the true magnitude of the school’s achievement it is necessary to take a look at the typical Tyler student – poor, living in the projects, no access to early education, a hostile home environment, suffering from lead poisoning, often marginally developmentally disabled. How the teachers extract test-worthy performances from this motley bunch is saga of Tested. In the environment that NCLB was created, American schools have come to have a growing responsibility to raise children, not just educate them. No matter what the home environment, what the education level of the parent, what language skills are deficient, the American public and its legislators expect the schools to turn out healthy, happy, intelligent and educated future citizens. The amount of pressure this puts on the teachers is incredible. Schools are expected to behave like businesses even though as Jim Collins, author of Good to Great put it, “schools are unable to control the quality of their raw material, they are dependent on the vagaries of politics for a reliable revenue stream, and they are constantly mauled by a howling horde of disparate, competing customer groups that would send the best CEO screaming into the night.” In the face of this kind of pressure, the teachers at Tyler Elementary reduce education to its most elemental level. Till testing season happens in March, all the kids learn are reading and math. There is no time for science or social studies. Even reading and math are geared to the test. In reading comprehension a formula called BATS is used – Borrow from the question, Answer the question, use Text support and Stretch. The kids are tirelessly drilled on the test with no free time and reduced recess. In the mix are testing consultants, educational strategists and plenty of nit-picking oversight. Parental involvement is virtually non-existent. Somehow through all this, the teachers manage to keep their sanity till the tests are over and they can get back to the job of actually educating the kids and making knowledge fun. The book doesn’t cover how things were before NCLB, though the teachers often lament that they have no room for improvisation and creativity. It does deal at some length with the new Open Court and Harcourt syllabus and it is hard not to get cynical when you find out that President Bush’s brother Neil owns a company that sells educational software that is purchased by schools with federal money and family friend Howard Mcgraw III runs McGraw-Hill – one of the biggest curriculum and test providers in the world and the publishers of Open Court. What the book succeeds at is telling a fascinating story of how politics impacts educators. Tested is such a terrific read that I raced through the final chapters trying to find out if the teachers were able to replicate their success the following school year, as the journey to testing season was fraught with every pitfall you can imagine and then some. At the end of the day, the statistics appear to show that NCLB has worked in this beleaguered school but the book creates many questions for debate – have the kids really been educated? Are our brightest students being challenged creatively? Is the test-driven approach the right one? Is NCLB doing a real disservice to our kids? Most of all, can any school system that attempts to educate a group with diverse intelligence and economic background ever get it right? Cocooned in our affluent suburbs with rich schools, we think we are providing our kids with a multicultural, well rounded education by sending them to public schools. But the real war in education is going on in the inner cities and immigrant-heavy towns and our kids will all feel the ripple effects sooner or later. Linda Perlstein’s Tested is a must read for any parent wanting some transparency on the state of education in America today.

Related posts:

1. Uniforms in public schools? One Fremont school tries the experiment About one in four public elementary schools and one in...
2. American Khichdi – A review By Rohini Mohan Sunil Lala is a self published NRI...
3. The Great Mathematics Experiment: ‘Real World’ Math By Enakshi Choudhuri Do you find yourself staring at your...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Sunil Lala is a self published NRI author. American Khichdi is a collection of his musings in which he explores the life of the Desi who lives in America. From our obsession for Bollywood to our double standards when it comes to accepting our adopted culture, from the birth of an ABCD to the shock of the death of a loved one in a strange land, from life in India to the Khichdi that life is outside India; the book waxes eloquent on each of these varied topics. Talk about niche marketing – the book is aimed at the average NRI Joe who moved here and lives a life that is a strange mix of Indian Middle Class Morality and American Coolness. The writing style is easy and conversational, and the language is peppered with the occasional Hindi phrase; the Indian habit of lapsing into the vernacular at will which we are all guilty of. It attempts to unveil the Desi approach to life in a foreign country; do we integrate seamlessly or do we leave a trail of Little Indias in our wake? American Khichdi can be best described as a set of short articles about the many quirks and peculiarities that we Desis are famous for. Some of the observations are quite astute and hit the nail on the head. Some good food for thought in there. There is an attempt at wit throughout, and in many instances the examples can be quite amusing. The book does not hesitate to bash the Des and the Desi though, which sometimes can get slightly scathing – could have been avoided to an extent, I felt. All in all a pretty interesting read. It is not something that can be or needs to be read all at one go. You can pull it out for some quick timepass at the doctor’s office or while waiting for your son at the soccer game. What I liked best about it is the fact that it gives us the opportunity to laugh at ourselves a little bit. We are certainly stiff upper lip as a race and if I were to pick one single admirable trait in the American nature, it is their ability to joke about everything including and especially themselves. If the book can help us lighten up a little in true American tradition, it is well worth a read. Sunil Lala is an engineer by qualification and an IT consultant by profession. He is into screenwriting and film making. He also contributes online to the Hindustan Times. American Khichdi is available through online retailers like Amazon, Target and Borders. Sunil can be contacted through his website.

Related posts:

1. Book review – The 3 mistakes of my life By Vidya Pradhan “Books like these,” huffed a friend, “expose...
2. Book review – Marrying Anita One of the benefits of leading an interesting life is...
3. Tested – One American school struggles to make the grade By Vidya Pradhan It has always been a puzzle why...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Set in Afghanistan from start to finish without straying into the immigrant experience, Khaled Hosseini’s new book, ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ is reminiscent of Rohinton Mistry’s ‘A Fine Balance’. Richly developed characters and a solid storyline set against the backdrop of the turbulent events that have rocked the country, it is a tale of troubled people living in troubled times. Often when an author’s very first book is a runaway success, the second, while breathlessly awaited, ends up being a huge disappointment. Not so with this one. The heart wrenching, intricately woven story telling and the strong splendid characters are now trademark Hosseini. While living in India, I never did think of Afghanistan one way or the other, although it is one of our closest neighbors with a fairly big influence on our history. My association was limited to Afghani food: stuffed naans and shorbas; and the actress Khushboo who is apparently of Pathani origin. ‘Lie down with the lions’ by Ken Follet & Manna Dey’s Ae Mere Pyare Watan from ‘Kabuliwala helped me form a vague impression of the country’s landscape. And that was it, the extent of what I knew or cared to know about the country and its people. The Taliban brought out some shocked tongue clicking and the post 9/11 events opened my eyes to the fact that the nation, ravaged by two superpowers could not seem to catch a break. Hosseini’s first book, ‘The Kite Runner’ gave me a whole new perspective and awoke me to the fact that these are a people with a culture and a value system very similar to ours. Hosseini’s second book ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ did not come soon enough for me. Mariam and Laila are the two central characters of the book. Unlikely companions separated by a generation, they are thrown together by strange circumstances. Their experiences provide a window into the trials and tribulations of life in a country which has known no peace for decades. The place of the female child and woman in the Islamic world, while not a new topic, never falls short of its shock value; and shock it does in this book. The reader has a glimpse into the psyches of two women who have been raised in two different worlds, one is a barely educated country bumpkin, the other is a savvy, city girl, with a forward thinking, literary upbringing. How the two are caught up in the cesspool of events that rock their world and how it fosters a touching relationship between the two, which results in eternal love and sacrifice, is at the heart of the story. A surprise at every twist and turn, it is a book filled with rich dramatization and a lot of human interest. Hosseini lived a privileged life in peaceful pre-Soviet Kabul before he immigrated to the United States. He is from an erudite family and has been an avid reader and an amateur writer from his early childhood. A medical doctor by training, he was practicing medicine till almost a year and a half after Kite Runner was published in 2003, after which he settled down to fulltime writing. In 2006 he was named a goodwill envoy to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. Hosseini is a resident of the Bay Area. The idea for ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ came to him when he visited Afghanistan recently and was stricken by the sea change his country and his countrymen had undergone. It is almost always the women who fall prey to these unpredictable ripples in the tide, and this is what Hosseini seeks to capture and portray in this telling novel.

Related posts:

1. Kite Runner, the movie- True to the book By Rohini Mohan For those living in the San Francisco...
2. The Namesake By Nandini Minocha I didn’t think I could do the...
3. Curry – a tale of cooks and conquerors By Vidya Pradhan Curry has to be the most misunderstood...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Curry has to be the most misunderstood and most misused word in the food lexicon. Even in South India, where the word first originated as ‘kari’, it could mean a dry vegetable dish or meaty gravy. And of course, the British have adopted it for their very own in a form that is probably unrecognizable to most Indians. Author Lizzie Collingham traces the evolution of British ‘Curry’ from the time of the Mughals to its various avatars in the early days of British and Portuguese occupation in India. In her epicurean voyage, she discovers that there is no such thing as an authentic Indian meal. Indian food as we know it today is a product of our history of occupation and the fusion of various traditions brought in by the many nations that sought to conquer us.

For instance, did you know that chilli powder, which is almost universally associated with Indian cooking, was unknown to Indians before the fifteenth century and was introduced to the Indian palate by the Portuguese? Till then, pepper was the hottest spice known, both in its long and round form. Once the chilli plant was introduced, Indian cooks took to it right away, specially in South India and in just a few years, chillies began to be known as the ‘Saviours of the Poor’ because they provided a cheap way to add flavor to the basic meal of rice and lentils that the poor could afford. Many such fascinating facts make the book a gripping read. There is a long chapter on biryani, which is able to weave in Mughal history from Babur to Aurangzeb. By the time the Mughals arrived in India, the Indian diet had evolved into a primarily agrarian one, with the cow becoming a sacred animal. But the new rulers considered food a pleasure, and in the clash of

Recipe for Zard Birinj from the Ain-i-Akbari by Akbar's courtier Abu'l Fazl 10 seers of rice; 5 seers of sugar candy; 3 1/2 seers of ghee; raisins, almonds and pistachios, 1/2 seer of each; 1/4 seer of salt; 1/8 seer of fresh ginger; 1 1/2 dams saffron;2 1/2 misqals of cinnamon. This will make 4 ordinary dishes. Some make this dish with fewer spices and even without any; and instead of without meats and sweets, they prepare it also with meat and salt. One seer was equivalent to about 2.5 lbs and a dam was about 3/4 oz.

civilizations was born the Mughlai style of cooking with which Indian food is most associated outside India. The Mughals introduced many nuts and dry fruits from the mountainous regions they belonged to into the Indian style of cooking. Several accounts from British travellers to India from that period recount elaborate multi-course feasts at the palaces of the noblemen. Another chapter is devoted to chai or tea, which was introduced to Indians by the British as an import from China. An aggressive marketing campaign by the British was needed to get their subjects to try this new drink. Ms Collingham points out that though the British hardly made a dent in the way Indians eat, they had a profound influence on what we eat. Many new fruits and vegetables were introduced during their rule and even today the tomato is known in the east as ‘vilayati baingan’( foreign eggplant). The book also explains why most ‘Indian’ restaurants in Britain today are run by Bangladeshis and how and where chicken curry was introduced in North America. It traces the spread of Indian food throughout the world starting with the export of spices. With a rich masala of unusual facts about Indian food and a collection of recipes from Mughal times to now, ‘Curry – a Tale of Cooks and Conquerors’ is a feast for the gastronome. One last piece of trivia from the book –"the Japanese love curry. Every train station and shopping mall has a stand selling 'karee raisu'. There are even comic books in which the best ways of cooking curry are earnestly discussed by the main characters." * misqal – about 4 grams

Related posts:

1. Show Me The Curry! As any cook worth her/his salt will tell you, the...
2. Curry Sutra By Rohini Mohan Teena Arora, co-owner of CurrySutra, conducts cooking...
3. ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ – Splendid! By Rohini Mohan Set in Afghanistan from start to finish...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.