Customer Reviews

Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in Small Town India

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1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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

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. :)

Butter Chicken in Ludhiana is a chronicle of Pankaj Mishra's travels
in various Indian cities like Bundi, Udaipur, Bangalore, Benares, etc.
Mr. Mishra meets various people along the way, and recounts interactions
in each episode, often quoting entire conversations verbatim.

The first thing which strikes the reader of this book is Mr. Mishra's
seeming desire to seek out the worst in his fellow-Indians.
He automatically imputes the people in this book with the
worst motives (often in places where he is no position to guess -
for example, a snide comment about drivers on the Delhi-Jaipur highway
committing suicide in frustration or assuming that the boys
at the Madras rail station are hanging around their grandmother only
for the "inevitable cash gift"). Mr. Mishra rarely sees beyond
the grime and dust immediately surrounding him, and launches into a
diatribe against people and places the moment he gets an opening.
This is probably the reason he fled India - he now lives in London.

The big problem with this book, however is that it is little
more than a diary of events which happened to Mr. Mishra on his
travels. India is confusing, but this book even more so. What
exactly is the author trying to convey ?

A few chapters are quite bizarre.
In the nice small town of Udaipur, for instance, instead of
trying to understand why the people there are different,
he complains that in spite of all he did "my notebook
remained blank", before launching into a long and
ultimately pointless story about Munna, a migrant
from Ghazipur. The entire Benares chapter is an almost
verbatim transcript of two conversations, and Mr. Mishra
gives credence to some convoluted logic narrated to him
to explain the eve-teasing phenomenon.

Mr. Mishra takes a simplistic view of the explosive growth of
satellite TV in India - he makes no attempt to understand the
positive aspects of this phenomenon. He is clearly not interested
in making an effort to understand people either - in one incident,
when he meets people he doesn't like in a train, he avoids them
by moving to a different compartment. He freely reports overheard
conversations - eyes rolled to heaven - mostly amongst people
depicted as utterly despicable. One can confidently say that
the people he describes are not typical, but then Mr. Mishra seems to love sinking his teeth into a juicy bad guy any time he can find one.
One gets the feeling that Mr. Mishra could easily have made a
living writing parts for villains in soap operas and Bollywood
movies.

Ultimately, Mr. Mishra's sneering attitude, adopted from Naipaul,
fails, because he has none of the compassion for India which
lies behind Naipaul's questioning facade. The book remains
a Naipaul-crossed kid's first foray into writing - an embarassing
foray, which is best forgotten.

First things first. This book is not devoted entirely to either butter chicken or Ludhiana. This book is strange. Neither does it present things with the fresh, unjudgemental perspective, nor does it portray any particular viewpoint. At best, it represents an author's futile attempts to put himself in a visitor's shoes. It's almost like the funny accent that ensues when an Indian teenager tries to speak American English. If your idea of a travelogue is a collection of unconnected, sketchy details of various towns in India, go ahead and pick up this book.

Considering that this is the author's first published book, one should not be too judgemental about him. Probably he's got a few aces up his sleeve. I'll wait for them.

Coming from a small town in North india, I have been badly disappointed by this book. Pankaj Mishra supposedly is writing about his travels and travails as he trips thru the country. Yet the glasses he puts on are that of a foreigner who finds fault with everything Indian. This is funny too, for Mishra tries to poke fun at the way Indians speak English. This presumes that Mishras own prose is exemplery. In fact it is not. At times it does get tiresome,repitative and dated. Another thing strange is that Mishra rarely finds anything positive in the tremendous development taking place in all these small towns. Hailing from Ludhiana, the town after this book is titled, I can swear that our town is booming. So if we cannot speak great English, should we feel inferior? Anyway all Indians in the book have been made out to be inadequate characters. Maybe Mishra wanted a good foreign review. Still as a travel book this is a failure. In fact Lonely Planet's India Guide gives you more insight in far witter form. So my advice-- avoid reading this one. Unless you want to be bored.

This book is not just about India. It is a melancholic account on the destruction of traditional life by a globalised, money ridden economy. The author longs for the simple sensual pleasures which, in his opinion, India of old used to offer.

About 200 years ago Europe had the same problems with industrialisation India today faces with globalisation. Even now, in countries like Spain, Europe encounters them. The result is always the same. People have more money, but, in the long run, can buy less with it. They have to adapt to the rhythms of machines and computers which are different from the ones of the human body. They have to work faster and harder than ever. Today, European bodies are full of tensions. The quality of sex and food is not good. The social classes are still there.

Mr. Mishra does not offer a solution. Europeans who are searching for for a way out, experiment with alternative life styles but this too often results in esoteric 'ecos' and 'ethnos' many of which are quite unattractive, drug ridden and boring. This is because for most Europeans it is too late. Their bodies are too spoilt and sick. It is to hope that Indians whose bodies still might be more sensitive to the violence of money and machines will be able to work on viable, attractive solutions. This is when India truly would be a light to the world.

what a book! the tongue-in-cheek title should be reason enough to give this book a trial. for once we have a travelogue that gives a personal twist to back-packing in India. the insight that the author possesses leaves one stunned and hooked. Mary Roy, mother of Arundhati Roy, makes an appearance as well. and what irony, WHAT wonderful irony!

The author has done a great job with his subject matter. An eye opener for anyone who wants a true taste of how the majority of Indians live-- not just the metropolitans and the "National Geographic" rural Indians...Great Job on his first!!

Quite a boring & prudish account of his travels. I have travelled quite a bit, but never have I such a disconnect as with this book.
To each his own, I guess. All in all, a book well worth AVOIDING.