Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5727 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

STEPHEN FRY
`Sanjeev Bhaskar is the perfect guide to the endlessly astounding universe
of sensations found on the subcontinent. Witty, observant, honest,
affectionate and informed, he brings India alive on the page. His
beautifully produced and dazzlingly informative book made me want to drop
everything and take the first plane out.'

Synopsis
Sanjeev Bhaskar, the comedian and writer behind The Kumars at No. 42 embarks on an epic and highly personal journey through modern India. Sanjeev's characteristic humour and unique take on the country form the heart of this beautifully written travel book that became a Sunday Times bestseller in hardback when it accompanied his BBC series. Exotic and diverse, richly colourful and endlessly complex -- India is one of the most exciting countries to visit in the world today. Sanjeev Bhaskar of Goodness Gracious Me has visited his Indian relations there over many years, but this is his chance to delve deeper into what makes this country so fascinating, perplexing and often challenging to visit. As Sanjeev travels from Delhi to Bombay, Jaipur to Calcutta, he meets ordinary and extraordinary Indian people from every background, and brings his natural warmth and sense of humour to these encounters. Although often baffled by the eccentricities of India, our endearingly good-natured guide never fails to find humour in these situations.Sanjeev's India is also a personal journey as Sanjeev meets old relatives who reveal their moving and often traumatic stories of Indian's turbulent and bloody past, and comes to understand a little more about his own roots.

During his trip Sanjeev is invited to a middle-class wedding in Delhi as well as witnessing the poverty of the slums in the Calcutta backstreets. He wryly observes the polo-playing Maharajah jet-set in Jaipur as well as the kitsch of Bombay Bollywood, and experiences the Ganges lit up by a million floating candles for the ancient ritual of Diwali as well as the majestic colonial architecture of the British Raj. With such an engaging and thoughtful travelling companion, we find ourselves going beyond the cliches to reveal a country steeped in history yet at the forefront of new technology, at once confusing, astonishing and jaw-droppingly beautiful.

From the Back Cover
As a young British Asian growing up in 1960s London, writer and actor Sanjeev Bhaskar was fed stories of exotic old India - of cobras and leopards, trapping fireflies and riding in rickshaws. But his childhood visits to the old country revealed stifling heat, powercuts and the pervasive aroma of cow dung - baffling to a young boy brought up in an England of fish and chips and light drizzle.

Now, years later, Sanjeev embarks on a uniquely personal journey through the heart of India, where he is reunited with old relatives with traumatic stories of Partition - but also discovers a shiny new India of high-tech industry and glittering Bollywood kitsch. Sanjeev paints a unique picture of this chaotic, beautiful and remarkable country - this is India like you've never seen it before.

Customer Reviews

A Very funny book and TV series
This is a funny and imaginative approach to Indian cultures and festivals.
I enjoyed both the TV documentries and book.
Funny, informative, plain great!

Not trying to be Palin
I'll admit that I'm a bit scared of the BBC and its travel telly at times. I luv Kumars, so to know that Sanjeev was going to be fronting a show was exciting but I was also afraid it was going to be disappointing. Luckily, he doesn't disappoint. The book has a lot more in it than I'd expected. I thought it was going to be just more fab pics, but the words and story are great. It's really like Sanjeev is there with you. I like that India seems just as strange and exotic to him as it does to me.