A little over a decade ago, Pankaj Mishra traveled through the small towns of India and found they had shed their sleepy, half-apologetic air; brash and ostentatious, kitschy and clamorous, here was an India in transition. A convent-educated young woman from Jhansi aspiring to be a beauty queen; a rich young man in Gujarat speaking casually of murdering Muslims; Naxalites in Bihar trying to foment revolution; small shopkeepers planning a vacation in London - Mishra captured, with irony and humor, a people rushing headlong to their tryst with modernity. '"Butter Chicken in Ludhiana" is a marvelous travel book about small-town India, where the village and the city, the folk and the kitsch, and the comic and the violent threaten to converge' - Ashis Nandy. 'A love-letter to the real republic. No other book defines as clearly, and with such troubled irony, our last decade of change' - Amitava Kumar.
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About the Author
Pankaj Mishra was born in North India, in 1969. He is the author of a novel, The Romantics, which won the LA Times Art Seidenbaum award for first fiction; and a highly acclaimed book about the Buddha, An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World. Mishra writes for several publications, including the New York Review of Books, the New Statesman, Granta, the Times Literary Supplement and the Guardian.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just Stunning,
By vvp (India) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in Small Town India (Paperback)
I started this book one night just before going to bed,fairly certain that it will be some heavy stuff whose arcane language and endless descriptions will surely put me to sleep quickly. I ended up without getting a wink, even though the next day was a working day. I simply could not resist turning page after page. Midway, I started slowing down, savouring each sentence because I didn't want it to end. Frequently, I was just stunned. By the author's sharp insight into the minds of the people he met, especially in the first half, when he is in the north. The people he describes are not unusual or quirky. They are just everyday people. The kind Indians meet all the time in markets, bus stations and of course while in the train.(I can bet no one has described Indian train travel conversations as accurately as Pankaj Mishra has.) What Mishra does is point out with amazing sharpness, their quirks, their petty concerns, the conditioning of their minds, what's touching about their lives,and why these typical Indians are so so funny, when you step back and look at them,as if you were meeting them the first time. There is definitely something happening in Indian society. A huge undercurrent of social and economic change which in turn is changing the quality of people's values, customs, hopes and dreams.There's a lot of talk about the big city part of it, but no one's looking at the small towns. Mishra's focus on them is therefore topical, relevant and important. I have gone back several times to Butter Chicken in Ludhiana. Just to read my favourite portions, chuckle to myself and marvel at how real it is. That's the kind of book it is.
10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding,
By Siraj Irani (Mumbai, India) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in Small Town India (Paperback)
I personally think this book is amazing. I have travelled all over India myself and his description fits best to every little place he talks about. Extremely humourous and very informative. I would recommend this book to any person who wants to read about the true taste of India, its flavour and have a great laugh. I think Pankaj Mishra is a brilliant writer. I know I have read this book a number of times and will surely read it over and over again. Well Done. Kind regards, Siraj
5.0 out of 5 stars
I'm satisfied.,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in Small Town India (Paperback)
i ordered it from s.korea.
and i received it quite faster than i expected. so in that point iam very content about it. also book is also in good condition. i should start it tonight. :)
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