Over millennia, hundreds of thousands have arrived on this land and been bewitched by its mysticism, its warmth, and its food. They have explored this country’s diverse geography– the icy deserts of Ladakh, the forests of the northeast, the backwaters of south India, the mangrove deltas of the east, the burning deserts of the west, the harsh canyons of the heartlands, and so much more– and have partaken of the country’s many languages and many cultures. Some come in search of meaning and lose themselves on the ghats of the Ganges, others come to indulge in the royal luxuries of erstwhile kingdoms. Many have stayed behind. India, with its incessant chaos, is unlike any other place on the planet and in the books on this list, we read about authors celebrating their tryst with this country.

Those days, First Light and East-West: The Bengal Trilogy by Sunil Ganguly

Sunil Ganguly penned the melancholic history of Bengal, from the days of Indian renaissance till the partition of the region as the colonists left the Indian subcontinent in the aforesaid books. In short, this was a mammoth task. Glimpses of Naxal movement and Muttijuddho of Bangladesh featured as well. To paint vignettes of days bygone, to capture a turbulent time that saw Indian society ushered in with historic reformations, widow-remarriage act, abolishing child-marriages, structuring western scientific education, 1857, indigo-farming, the political ideals of Bengal and rise of Rabindranath’s prowess and contemporary Bengali literature… history comes alive in these books. These three books are masterpieces of Bengali literature, where our history and heritage comes alive. 

Many a times I have walked in the old dingy lanes of North Kolkata or sipped coffee at the iconic Coffee House of College Street, only to feel goosebumps remembering events narrated in these books. In fact, I bought the third one, East-West from Chakravorty, Chatterjee and Co, housed right on those historic streets. Ganguly has brilliantly penned down events that shaped a number of incidents that changed the British Raj to the sovereign republic of India in his unputdownable masterpiece, from a commoner’s perspective. No doubt those days were the ubiquitous winner of the prestigious Sahitya Academy award. 

Contributed by Madhurima who writes about places and all things delicious at the Orange Wayfarer.

Journey Through South Indian Kitchens by Nao Saito

When Nao Saito, a Japanese architect, moved to Chennai, little did she expect to be drawn into the kitchens of this part of the world. She spends time sharing food with friends in their kitchens and learning about South Indian cooking, the ingredients, techniques, and equipment. As you flip through the pages, you can smell the fragrance of curry leaves and mustard as they hit the hot oil, the nutty aroma of chutney, coconut steaming in the puttu maker. For every house she visits, she draws the floorplans of kitchens. Illustrations of the arivalmaniyar, spice jars, pressure cookers, and various other artefacts from these kitchens fill the pages. Besides recipes, there are Nao’s insights on what she gathers from the interplay between the human element and space they cook in and consume food. She compares and contrasts them with her memories from home. The book is beautiful and deftly put together. If you are into the genre mishmash of topics as distinct as architecture, cookery, and culture, then this is the book for you!

Following Fish: Travels Around the Indian Coast by Samanth Subramanian

The travelogues in this fine volume by Samanth Subramanian revolve around all things fish. Samanth takes you on a journey around the Indian coast with him as he delves into the lives of coastal communities and learns about their history, culture, commerce, and food. He goes in search of the prized hilsa in West Bengal, shares toddy and seafood with locals in Kerala, spends time with Pavara community in Tamil Nadu and tries their fish podi, and digs into Malvani and Koli fish dishes in Mumbai. In one of the essays, he writes about a tradition in which a ball of herbal paste is stuck into a fish’s mouth and then the fish is thrust down your throat. Besides fish, recipes, and anecdotes, the book also offers social commentary into the lives of these communities and how tourism and urbanisation, in places like Goa and Mumbai, are impacting their livelihoods and traditions. In-depth journalism combined with steller (and humourous) storytelling make this book a gem.

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

There is one book that comes into my mind when thinking about India: Shantaram. Despite it not being a typical travel book, it explores deeply Indian society and life in Mumbai. The protagonist is an ex Australian prisoner who flees to India, where he ends up working in the organised crime of the metropolis. Crime intertwines with deep thoughts and humanitarian support to the local poor who live in the slums. The dichotomy between bad actions and good thoughts accompanies the reader from the beginning to the end. A really well-written book that has a pleasant pace from the start and involves you more the longer you read it. I cannot wait to read the second part, The Mountain Shadow.

Contributed by Odoardo Girardi from Migliori Romanzi Storici.

Lion by Saroo Bierley

Lion (previously called ‘A Long Way Home’) is the true story of a young Indian boy called Saroo, who becomes separated from his family and, after many traumatic experiences, ends up being adopted and moving to Australia. Finally (spoiler alert!), as an adult, he finds his home town and is reunited with his family. It is a beautiful, thought-provoking story, and highlights the plight of the millions of children worldwide who don’t have access to the things that we so easily take for granted. The book also gives an insight into India as a country, and like any other place, it has both beauty and a darker side. Personally, it was really eye-opening to learn how divided India is, with race, religion and language. As so many tourists only visit India to see the famous sites, staying in luxury hotels, it is refreshing and confronting to get a raw look into the slums of India, and how the people living in them survive. Overall, the book shows that no matter what the circumstances, we all have the choice to be kind. Everyone should read this book; it is a fact that often seems like fiction but is a heartwarming story that demonstrates the true strength of the human spirit.

Contributed by Jenna Rank from http://www.iknowthepilot.com.au.

Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh

Taking a train in India is a unique experience. I love train travel, seriously, really love it. And I was on a train. In India. When I started reading this book. I travelled on many trains in India, not 80, not the luxury ones, but I did travel in all the other classes apart from that. The great thing about Rajesh’s book is that it takes you right back there. Each time I’ve picked it up since, I’ve been RIGHT BACK there, sleeping in 3AC, seriously needing the toilet, getting takeaway food from the restaurant, wondering if we will EVER arrive. This is a great book to read about Indian train travel before you go, while you’re there and when you get back. It is totally true to life. You’ll laugh and you’ll cry and it will make you miss India incredibly so.

Contributed by Sarah Carter from LetsGrowCook. 

Korma, Kheer, and Kismet: Five Seasons in Old Delhi by Pamela Timms

In this mouthwatering book, Pamela Timms writes about scouring recipes, stories, and food history while living in Old Delhi. Page after page brims with local favourites like sheer kurma, chhole bhature, and shakarkandi. She meets locals, spends time chatting with shopowners, goes back to eat her favourite dishes, and tries recreating them in her kitchen. The stories behind getting hold of a family recipe are intriguing and, sometimes, hilarious like the time she meets Gogi uncle who claims to have originally invented the recipe for Ashok and Ashok’s mutton korma or when she goes in search of a place where she can watch daulat ki chaat being made and realizes that in post-Mughal Delhi, the light of the moon and dew are not essential ingredients to this magical creation. In Timms’ book, Delhi is not just the setting for her adventures but a bewitching character with many moods and countless layers of secrets. Go on a ride with the author through the gullies and bazaars of Old Delhi and eat, eat, and eat!

City of Djinns by William Dalrymple

City of Djinns is William Dalrymple’s account of the year that he spent living in Delhi in the early 1990s and what he learned about the city from its inhabitants. Written in a style often referred to as new journalism, the book is a combination of a history lesson and an eye witness account. While recounting Delhi’s long history, Dalrymple weaves in his own anecdotes and stories that relate to the broader story he’s telling. Insightful and well-written, City of Djinns is a must-read before visiting Delhi.

One of the people who reveal to Dalrymple Delhi’s hidden secrets is Dr. Yunus Jaffery, an expert on Delhi’s Persian heritage: “Dr Jaffery said that very few people in Delhi now wanted to study classical Persian, the language which, like French in Imperial Russia, had for centuries been the first tongue of every educated Delhi-wallah. ‘No one has any interest in the classics today,’ he said. ‘If they read at all, they read trash from America. They have no idea what they are missing. The jackal thinks he has feasted on the buffalo when in fact he has just eaten the eyes, entrails and testicles rejected by the lion.”

Contributed by Wendy Werneth who blogs at The Nomadic Vegan.

Epic City by Kushanava Choudhury

Kushnava’s Epic City is equally an exploration into belonging to his birthplace as it is a treatise on how this grand chaotic city on the throes of decay, often left but seldom forgotten, can still thrive, exuberantly, day in and day out through her inhabitants and their idiosyncrasies. Kushanava talks to people, some who came to the city after losing everything and built a new life and some who had it all and then lost it all in the city, on how Calcutta has shaped their existence, hopes, and dreams. Throughout the book, he tries to figure out how relationships play out, between the city and those who live and work in its chaos, and what it means to be home. Epic City is a microcosm of Calcutta, not always functioning most efficiently, but always welcoming, always exuberant.

If it’s Monday, it must be Madurai: A Conducted Tour of India by Srinath Perur

Srinath Perur went on ten conducted tours in and out of India to gain a fresh perspective on travel and lived to write about them! The essays, in which he travels from Maharashtra to Tamil Nadu, from Meghalaya to Kerala and even joins a group tour (read: sex tour) to Uzbekistan. The essays are peppered with hilarious anecdotes and pithy observations. Srinath’s portrayal of individual idiosyncrasies and individual idiosyncrasies when trapped in a group away from home is funny but not without empathy. It’s more than just a travel book in that it is not limited to the destination or the local culture but includes the narratives, both personal and interpersonal, of the visitors as well.

Borderlands by Pradeep Damodaran

The ten essays in this book are about nondescript places along India’s borders, the people who live and work here, and their unique struggles. Far from the fabric of the country’s heartland but nearer, geographically, to people and culture from a different country, these places exist in the liminal zones of our collective geopolitical consciousness. Stories of communities who have been neglected and marginalized by countless governments in the name of security, stories of locals in search of identity, of finding meaning in their unique geopolitically sensitive homes, stories of children who join children from another country for a game of football, or small businessmen whose livelihoods depend on international farmers markets fill the pages. Each story speaks of a unique challenge, offers a unique insight but there’s a common thread running through all of them, these man-made barriers called international borders that do nothing more except inhibit the growth of these borderlands.

The Magic of Traveling: Follow the Locals by Bistra Yakimova

The book introduces impressive people from all over the world to you. It will transport you to (un)usual places seen through the prism of locals’ life. It will show you their adventure and put you in some comic and enlightening situations. One of the book chapters brings the reader amid chaos in India. Two ordinary travellers get in the middle of bustling life, totally unprepared for what seems to be a test for the character. Following the locals chasing rickshaws in New Delhi, exchanging gifts with a merchant in Jaipur, or repeating their driver Rashmi’s mantra “Incredible India, sir!”, memorable experiences are bound to happen. You’ll realize you can actually thrive amid chaos. 

“Everything works out because chaos rules and no one tries to dethrone it. The sooner you get used to chaos, the happier
you’ll be. The sooner you master chaos, the more successful
you’ll be.”

Contributed by Bistra Yakimova from The Magic of Traveling.

Is That Even a Country, Sir!: Journeys in Northeast India by Train, Bus and Tractor by Anil Yadav

The northeastern states of India are often ignored and overlooked, and are not given their due attention, be it in the political scheme of the country or in any discourse claiming to think about India as a whole. This emotion, palpable in most residing in these seven states, is also evident throughout the book in which Anil Yadav and his friend Anhes Shashwat recount their experience of the politically unstable Assam and the rest of the northeast during the early 2000s.

When violence in Assam broke out before elections in 2000, Yadav and Shashwat were out of work journalists who thought if they can report what they see live, they will become renowned in the reporting medium and thus they ended up on a journey through the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland. They travelled in spite of warnings and threats from the police, army, terrorist and separatist groups, and spoke to the locals to get an insight into the political, social, and economic scenario. There’s no sugarcoating in these pages; the reporting is raw and rooted in the unique tensions of the region.

No Path in Darjeeling Is Straight: Memories of a Hill Town by Parimal Bhattacharya

Parimal Bhattacharya taught at the Government College in Darjeeling in the early nineties when the Gorkhaland agitations were slowly receding to the backstage but their effect was still fresh. Parimal meshes his understanding of Darjeeling as a place that is rife with romance and nostalgia for the average Bengali with the town’s colonial history. Against the backdrop of the breathtaking Himalayas and tea gardens, he talks about the hard labour of the local communities that built the town but now feel subjugated by the majoritarian Bengali community of the state. His prose is evocative and empathetic, as inspiring as Khangchendzonga itself, his cast of characters include his students and his acquaintances, his colleagues and their tryst with AIDs. We read about his search for an obscure Lepcha village, his foray into the homes of locals where he is ushered into their traditional customs and worldview.

No Full Stops in India by Mark Tully

The ten essays in Tully’s book argue how the westernised Indian elite has lost touch with ground realities and the millions of Indians who struggle for sustenance and survival in the country’s heartlands. His commentary on events such as the kumbh mela in Allahabad, cultural imperialism and colonialism, controversial events like the Deorala sati in Rajasthan, riots in Ahmedabad, Operation Black Thunder and more offers a fresh perspective on India’s unique socio-political structure and problems. He argues that India’s progress towards the next milestone should not be a form of emulating the west but an organic breakthrough realised through self-actualisation and the integration of all her inhabitants.

Love it or hate it, you can never escape India without a clutch of stories! Tell us about your favourite travel books about India in the comments!


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Mohana & Aninda

Mohana and Aninda are travellers and advocates for car-free travel. Two-together is their travel blog where they document their travels to encourage and inspire readers to seek solace in new places, savour local cuisines, and relish both unique and everyday experiences. When they are not travelling, they are actively researching trip ideas and itineraries, obsessing over public transport timetables, reviewing travel budgets, and developing content for their blog. They are currently based in Edinburgh and exploring Scotland and beyond by public transport.

13 responses to “India in Books: People, Culture, Travel, and Food”

  1. Soumya Gayatri Avatar
    Soumya Gayatri

    This is such an amazing list. Have so many more to read now.

  2. madhuonthego Avatar
    madhuonthego

    Those are interesting books,I would love to read them

  3. theworldonmynecklace Avatar
    theworldonmynecklace

    I wish I knew about these books so I could have read them before I went to India a couple of months ago – I guess I will just have to read them to reminisce now instead

  4. bluemarblevagabonds Avatar
    bluemarblevagabonds

    Thanks for this post – I love reading about India, so I’m surely saving this for later! 🙂

  5. Amy Aed Avatar
    Amy Aed

    This is such a perfect post! I have read a couple of these books by Monisha Rajesh and William Dalrymple, but would love to read more. Also, I watched the film adaptation of LION and it was incredible – I must read the book!

  6. Tara Tadlock Avatar
    Tara Tadlock

    I will have to add all these books to my list! What a great way to curb my itchy feet during lockdown AND learn something!

  7. Kaushik Sarkar Avatar
    Kaushik Sarkar

    How can you leave out G.V. Desani’s time defying classic “All about H.Hatterr” or V. S. Naipaul s “India: A Wounded Civilization” or Bill Aitken’s “ Divining the Deccan” or Pankaj Mishra’s “ Butter Chicken in Ludhiana” or Geoffrey Moorehouse’s “ Calcutta” or …. oh my god.. it goes on, doesn’t it ?

    1. Mohana and Aninda Avatar
      Mohana and Aninda

      The list is endless, isn’t it? Those are some wonderful suggestions! Could you send us short write-ups on one or two books, similar to the ones in the post, so that we can add them to the post? We’d love to have more books on post-colonial India by Indian authors on this list.

  8. Miriam Menkarius Avatar
    Miriam Menkarius

    I am only familiar with Lion because of the movie but this looks like an amazing list to work through!

  9. Martin Avatar
    Martin

    I like the sound of the 80 trains book. I’ve added to my ever growing Amazon wish list. It’s my hope that one day I can travel through India via trains. I too love train travel. It’s not so much the trains but the travel by them is a wonderful thing. In a world that favors the instant and the fast trains are a love letter to slowing down and enjoying the world and your time as you move through it.

    Have you read The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy? I’m drawn to the beautiful and poetic writing but have read that it’s a frustrating and difficult book to read.

    1. Mohana and Aninda Avatar
      Mohana and Aninda

      Totally love train travel! Growing up, we mostly traveled by train. Stopping at stations along the way, buying snacks, watching the landscape change…train travel in India is charming.

      I have read and I recommend The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. It is political and a heavy read but I enjoy her writing. It’s a book that will make you reflect. Have you read The God of Small Things?

      1. Martin Avatar
        Martin

        Your early train travels sounds wonderful. Those are the sorts of things that weave into the fabric of ourselves and become a part of us.

        I haven’t read God of Small Things but know of it! From what I’ve read, it is supposed to be better or at least an easier read. I should probably start with that but there is something about The Ministry of Upmost Happiness that really appeals to me.

        Thanks for the recommendation on the latter! If I get around to reading it then I’ll let you know what I thought of it 🙂

  10. Anja Avatar
    Anja

    My favourite (so far) are the William Dalrymple books – really detailed and thoughtful. I also like some of the Paul Theroux books on train travel, and travelling by train has been one of the highlights on my first and only India trip so far. While I only know travel books on India by Western authors, I am so pleased you included travel books by Asian authors and I will definitely bookmark some and try to read them. I tend to buy my books second hand, and if I cannot get them second hand, I use smaller online shops so I’m really pleased your recommendations aren’t calling for A’zon clicks like 99% other book recommendations on travel blogs.

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