Three-quarters of a Footprint: Travels in South India [Paperback]

Joe Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 9, 1995

For five months Joe Roberts was a guest of the Trivedi family in their flat in Bangalore's Baghpur Extension. Major Trivedi, a military Brahmin, was given to reciting quatrains of Nostradamus; Atul, his 18-year-old son, was more concerned with Guns n' Roses; while Mrs Trivedi, with her neighbour Mrs Sen, took charge of her visitor's plans for travelling around Southern India. Roberts journeyed to the jungle beyond Mysore - a jungle that, contrary to expectations, was only little trees and dappled glades; to the queen of the hill stations, Ootacamund, to which generations of English colonial officers had retreated, transforming an Indian plateau into a passable imitation of Bournemouth; and to Kovalam, which he visited in order to see the Kathakali dancers, but where he also found himself dining with an Australian pornographer. And he also travelled to Cochin, on the Malabar Coast, and shared a railway compartment with a drunken Bristolian who seemed unimpressed with everything but Indian moonshine. But Roberts always returned to the ground-floor flat in Baghpur Extension, and to his friends the Trivedis. This is his account of his travels.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Black Swan (February 9, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0552995665
• ISBN-13: 978-0552995665
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,447,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short Review, June 19, 2000

By 

Harlan Crider (Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Three-Quarters of a Footprint (Hardcover)

This review is simply in appreciation to Joe Roberts for a wonderfully wry and descriptive book of Southern India. My daugter is planning to spend a college semester in Kerala and I have been searching (mostly in vain) for an unbiased travel book on the area. Guide books don't convey the sounds, smells, color and people one meets. Three Quarters of a Footprint certainly does, in addition to informative footnotes explaining complicated history and religion. The only things which would have improved the book would be a better map identifying Joe Roberts' trips to various towns and villages and perhaps some photographs. All in all, a very good read.