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December, 2010 archive

Review: Butter Chicken in Ludhiana by Pankaj Mishra 0

In Butter Chicken in Ludhiana, the author documents his travel throughout the country and his encounters with people from different backgrounds and aspirations. He brings out the contrast in cultures in the different parts of the countries when he writes about how the Deccan Herald carried an article on how the state government was planning to set up new libraries in Shimoga and Bhadravati and how this would not be newsworthy in some other parts of the country.

The book also covers one of the major problems foreign women and  women in India face when they step out of their homes (which is rarely written about), you always have to be on “red alert”, so a woman’s perspective is always different, especially while travelling . He meets some famous people like Mary Roy, the famous litigant and many not so famous people , but each one of them has an interesting story to tell. This book was written in the 1990’s, a lot has changed since then, but it is still an interesting read. 

Butter Chicken in Ludhiana, Travels in Small Town India by Pankaj Mishra

Pages: 273

Publisher : Picador India, Revised edition : 2006