Life really works out in the most unexpected ways sometimes. When I moved to Mumbai nearly four years ago, I barely had a piece of writing to my name. Now, I’ve had the great honour of being invited by a publisher to participate in a book launch.
The book is called Delirious Delhi, written by Dave Prager who has the popular blog Our Delhi Struggle. It’s “a story of American jugaad. The new book for expats who are trying to make sense of Delhi, and Delhiites who want to make sense of expats.” I haven’t met the author, but I love the description and think the book will be both a very informative and entertaining read.
I’m going to be leading the discussion with Dave at the Mumbai launch event, so you know it will be fascinating! If you’re not doing anything, do come along. As per the invite, the launch is being held at Crosswords in Kemp’s Corner (south Mumbai). It’s free.
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{ 56 comments… read them below or add one }
yeah, its a good opportunity.dont miss it.i wish u all the success.
sharell,do u hav potentail to write movie script?.if u hav so u can save bollywood films .bollywood films lack good script and it always copy from other language film mostly from tamil.
I’m not sure that I have skills as a script writer but a friend of mine is writing one (right, Barns).
And Tamil copy from Malayalam and Malayalam copies from Telugu , Telugu from Marathi , Marathi from Bengali , Bengali from French , French from American and Americans from Japanese and Japanese from Malaysian and Malaysian from Hindi and so on..
So Simply Everyone is copying Everyone !
I just happened to see Hollywood Movie ‘IMMORTALS’ and believe me it was full of Comedy , though it was meant to be Action-Thriller and !
Trying to, Sharell!
(This is so cool, by the way. I am totally going to tell everyone I know in Mumbai to go. Doing an interview with Dave myself, too!)
Haha, get tweeting Barns!! And just as long as you don’t like his book more than you like mine.
Barns ,
Is that going to be a Hindi , Malayalam or English movie ?
Sharell, I’ll just have to read it and find out!
Vidhyut, no idea – first draft is mostly in English though.
Very cool, Sharell! Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
For sure, I’m interested to find out how it goes myself!
That sounds interesting. You’re a VIP now Sharell ! I hope you have good sun glasses
Yes, and I have been wearing them more and more lately!
Is this a good thing or is it bothering you ?
It’s very much bothering me. I’m the anxious, paranoid type!
Best wishes, Sharell. Albeit, palm fronds always look greener on the other side of the fence, but what a great life you have!
Awesome! how exciting. I really like Our Delhi Struggle, should be a hoot of a book, and good work on the hosting job.
Ha… Dear Dave, I’ve feeling Sharell will hog the limelight.. You better watch out.
It’s a good thing I don’t like being up in front of crowds! Thankfully I don’t have to give a speech or I’d run a mile.
Oh I love their blog as well. Brings back so many memories of Delhi to me. Have fun Sharell!
Hey…thats great… I am a regular of only two expat blogs…one is yours and one is Dave’s… I am excited about their book release…
Another book to add to my collection
Sounds like an interesting read…
Yup, you’re well and truly on the India journey now!
Can’t wait to read this one. Will kindle edition be out?
Sharell, will you ask him if the book is going to be available for Kindle? It looks like a fun one. You should have a fun time at the book release!
How exciting. I wish I could come out and see it. Have a fun time!
I’m planning on being there! Looking forward to meeting you, Sharell!
Is there a way this can be video recorded and uploaded on Youtube? Wish I could make it!
Does anyone else find it disturbing how publishers give attention to them white folk and their experiences in the third world.I dont see it happening vice versa ! Colonial publishers ..
Maybe if them brown folk had some worthwhile things to share about their experiences in the first world (and could write well in English), publishers would give attention to them too!
Sharell ,
You mean to say that there is no brown man in the world who has something worthwhile to say about the First world in well-written English ? I doubt it !
I feel that that if , assume for a second , millions of such brown man are present in the world who have something worthwhile to say about first-world and can also express well in English , only one or two would get any attention from publishers.
I also feel that its very much easier for even a mediocre writer/author to be popular or get a good deal in India if he/she happens to be from the so called first-world(I wonder why Africa is not called first world when human inhabitable first there only
)
Of course I don’t think that. I was just writing a silly reply to the way he presented his comment. Sorry.
I got my book deal in my own country (Australia) so I must be excused and can’t really comment on the state of publishing in India. Would be interesting to see how the deals that foreigners get in India compare to deals that Indian authors get though. All I know is that Indian publishers tend to give very low deals to first time authors (I read it in an article somewhere), and hardly even pay an advance. I would say I got much more in Australia than what I could ever get from an Indian publisher.
In all seriousness, I’d like to explore this more. I wonder why this is, because India is quite fascinated by all things western. Surely there must be demand for books about Indian experiences in the west, particularly as so many Indians are going there these days. The Inscrutable Americans was a hit — why can’t there be more?
Sharell ,
“I got my book deal in my own country (Australia) so I must be excused and can’t really comment on the state of publishing in India.”
Obviously , you are not in that category(“mediocre”).I was just expressing it as random thoughts.Sorry , if it was felt directed at you.Actually , I don’t like to stay on mediocre places , blogs and books.The fact that I am hooked to this blog is enough to prove that what you write is too good to be called mediocre.
I see a genuine intent and purpose in your writing even if I can have disagreement on many point of views of yours about India.
@Vidyut, well I’m honoured that you find my blog and writing worthy enough to stay here — your input is really valued and is often really enlightening. Hope you’ll continue to stick around. It’s the people who contribute a lot to make my blog interesting.
“I wonder why Africa is not called first world when human inhabitable first there only”
@Vidyut
These terms were defined during World war II and cold war era, to categorize countries based on who’s aligned to the Allies (1st World), who’s aligned to Communism/Soviet Union (2nd world) and who’s non-aligned (3rd world). Gradually these definitions came to reflect the socio-political and economic status of the countries.
@inferiority_complex
No its not disturbing at all and I am an Indian. And to answer you, Indian authors are very well renowned too: Salman Rushdie is a Man booker and booker of booker prize winner.
Check out Anurag Mathur’s : The Inscrutable Americans
It’s a book about an Indian guy from a village in India and his experiences studying in a college in US.
Even Suketu Mehta wrote a bit about his ’1st world life’ in US in his book : Maximum City and as far as I know…he got snapped up by a really good publisher.
The Inscrutable Americans is such a funny book. I wish someone would write a similar one about Australians!
Can the folk down under be perceived as ”Inscrutables” Sharell?
Well, no I guess not.
I don’t think there’s anything difficult to understand about the average Aussie. Our animals are more mysterious than us!
“The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri is a fictional novel ‘that describes the struggles and hardships of a Bengali couple who immigrate to the United States to form a life outside of everything they are accustomed to, being caught between two conflicting cultures with their highly distinct religious, social, and ideological differences.’
I found it depressing.
It was made into a movie directed by Mira Nair in 2006 starring ‘Tabu’ & Irrfan Khan. the film had favorable review I think.
There are already tons of books about India, Indian Culture, Indian travel, Indian Business.
I have noticed that a typical thing for a young west European traveller visiting India for the first time does is go on Internet and search for his fellow countrymen in India and take their opinion.
@inferiority_complex: The answer to your question is simple economics. Indians rarely depend on books when it comes to understanding foreign culture or travel. So there are no buyers for these books.
But I don’t understand this. If Indians are so interested in western things like TV etc (where they seem to learn what they believe to be “western culture”) why not books, especially if written by Indians who can share their experiences abroad. I would love to read such books, and I’m not Indian as such.
Sharell,
I am pretty sure there are stories and experiences of Indians in the west published out there. Maybe much less than what the west writes about us. But I have two points to make here:
1. How many publishers actually are interested in such stories anyway ( Indian publishers i.e.) and in a movie crazed India – most of the viewing population gets a view of the west ( not the best view) through song sequences, NRI stories and other Bollywood portrayals. This medium seems to sell more than the reading medium. The inscrutable americans was funny and broke that mold at the time it got released but it wasn’t a bestseller in India which proves there are no takers here. Indians prefer to get their ideas of the west from movies
2. The begging question is – Are Indians in the west really having experiences that can fill up a book..hmm. Not so much in my opinion. Most Indians I know went abroad and built an India around them wherever possible. Point I am making is that Indians are not so interested in the idea of ‘cultural exchange’ .
@ Raghavan, really good points and you’re probably right too. In most cases, I’d rather read a book than watch a movie, but it’s quite the opposite here.
“If Indians are so interested in western things like TV etc (where they seem to learn what they believe to be “western culture”)”
We conclude from Hollywood movies?
“Does anyone else find it disturbing how publishers give attention to them white folk and their experiences in the third world.I dont see it happening vice versa ! Colonial publishers ..”
Actually they do.
Take NYTrash for e.g. They often recruit Gunga Dins to write articles about India and the US…like that one Joseph dude from Kerala who write crappola about India in NYTrash all the time,
Then there was another article about how a desi guy after living in the US for 10 years came to India and couldn’t live here went back to the US. Sharell recently linked it here and he even came and commented. Now you need to think why this arbitrary dude/article even got published in NYTrash, Because he was dissing India.
That’s why desi lefties if they rail against India and Indian/Hindu culture usually get noticed in the west and are often given prominence. This is SOP.
Manny, I have warned you not to speak about my employer like that!! You disgraceful fellow!
Oh yeah! I keep forgetting! Sorry! Sorry!
I don’t see why not. I just requires good Indian writers willing to write about their experiences in the West. What is remarkable about Sharell, and the authors of “Eat Pray Love” and “Holy Cow” is their self-derision and honesty.
From what I know, Indian authors are more interested to write about Indian society right now. India is a good book subject !
I wouldn’t know about authors published in India (I’ve only heard about Chetan Bhagat’s “2 States,” in which he writes about his real-life experience courting and trying to marry a Tamil girl), but there are too many Indian authors to name that have published books that are at least circulating in U.S. bookstores and libraries. For example, TAMASHA! mentioned Jhumpa Lahiri, then there is Anita Nair, Padma Viswanathan, Indu Sundaresan, Shoba Narayan, Anne Cherian, Uma Krishnaswami, Monica Pradhan, Padma Venkatraman, and on, and on, and on… Most of them write about the emigrant experience, some of them don’t, but whatever the topic, I see Indian names up and down the fiction aisles of the libraries here. Your next question should be, “Where are all the male Indian authors hiding out?”
How thrilled am I — I just found out, I’m the one who will be unveiling Dave’s book. 8)
I am sure it would be a nice experience to sit and talk especially now when you yourself are an Author.
Sharell, you’re going places. That’s awesome!
Congrats Sharell.
Highlights of the night, for those that were interested but couldn’t make it!
http://deliriousdelhi.com/2011/12/06/mumbai/
Oh, and I did ask Dave about whether the book would be available on Kindle. He said not in the short term but it will be available on Amazon US in paperback soon, and in the mean time people can order copies from India.
http://deliriousdelhi.com/buy-now/