Talking travel

Five authors, five books and a variety of different places to set their stories in

Five authors, five books and a variety of different places to set their stories in

Don't ask any old bloke for directions
Author: P G Tenzing
Publisher: Penguin India
Price: Rs 250
Rating: JJJJ

Beyond the Dunes
Author: Juhi Sinha
Publisher: Penguin India
Price: Rs 275
Rating: JJ

Curious Companions
Author: Jake Bullough
Publisher: Grasswork Books
Price: Rs 300
Rating: JJJJ

Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi
Author: Geoff Dyer
Publisher: Random House India
Price: Rs 395
Rating: JJJJ

The Impossible Journey
Author: James A Coghlan
Publisher: Roman Books
Price: Rs 199
Rating: JJ

In West Bengal, he fell in a dhaba rubbish heap and had the pleasure of rubbing his "President Bush" in the "noisome, squishy, multicoloured mess". In another dhaba in Ladakh, he chatted with the moron who had tried to cook rajma at 17,000 feet u2014and was confronted with a black cleaning cloth so dirty it was almost alive. In Assam he was pleasantly surprised to note that the women look you right in the eye, and in Nagpur, intrigued to observe that his religion had been politicised. In every state a crowd would gather to stroke and marvel at his bike, and mechanics hardly ever cheated him. Lonely Planet could get a tip or two from his extensive researching in Pulga Tulga, to say nothing of the Baga home of Frank and his extremely friendly daughters. You will purse disapproving lips at the crude expletives in the book fewer times than it will have you cackling with laughter.

This book is less an exhortation to get on your bike and zoom off around the country (arthritic fingers and sore buttocks, no thanks) and more the inspiration for a petition to get this fellow back, training to infuse his colleagues with his cocky irreverence, his dedication to family and religion and his completely mad but wonderful sense of humour. If anything could put life into our King Kong bureaucracy, it's crazy but brilliant guys like this one.

Beyond the Dunes (Journey in Rajasthan), is of a more earnest and self-congratulatory flavour, and Juhi Sinha manages to sneak in her own IAS connection apparently her husband is "senior" in the cadre (Tenzing mentions his tenure but you'd need Google to tell you what a big shot he was.) This author is a middle writer and documentary film maker, and the influence of both genres pervades this book. It comprises a dozen essays, each one set in a different location of Rajasthan and one in Sikkim and some interesting but controversial trivia such as the cultural affinity between the French and the Rajasthanis, the savvy Rajasthani adoption of the word "heritage", and the discovery that the rasagulla actually originated in Bikaner.

Not a bad book to carry on sightseeing jaunts in Rajasthan if you like prose sprinkled with expressions such as "replied in the affirmative" and "not a whit surprised".

Definitely carry Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi to Varanasi.

This book has a corporate construction. In the first vertical, we learn through the low-self-esteem Jeff about the intricacies of life as a British journalist junkets, interviews, all that. Then Jeff perks up and has a lyrical, sexy romance no one could have imagined him capable of. Venice is incidental.

A new division now starts with a narrator, never named but more relaxed and probably younger than our Jeff.

His experiences and observations are picturesque, offensive, and hilarious. There's a Dutch woman who believes that dolphins can be seen in the Ganga, a god man "with grey hair and beard that looked like it was made out of the fur of a long-haired animal, mythical in origin, close to extinction and completely incontinent", an ATM that rejects his card thus teaching him the true meaning of Time, the elaborate concept of darshan, and more.

At one point he urinates in the holy river. No one stops him. As this unnamed narrator starts going loopy, it gets funnier and funnier. This book is randomly endorsed by famous writers, but don't let that put you off.

Curious Companions has no celebrity endorsements but unlike most hyperventilating blurbs its "formidable talent" testimonial is accurate, though Jake Bullough's PR quotient is tragic.

This young man bicycled all the way from Ireland to India. His book tells of his journey, the places he passed, and the people he spent time with. Through these experiences he shares his views on fundamental subjects like politics, sex, drugs and religion. His language is crisp and engaging. The illustrations are charcoal sketches of people he met on this fantastic journey. Get a copy and read this book if you possibly can.

The Impossible Journey runs in the other direction. A group of soldiers of the Imperial Indian Army are carrying "classified cargo" from Rawalpindi to London by car, and this book is really a string of diary entries, not a "novella". This book is set in the Second World War and is an Origami version of Jake's bicycle ride. Itu00a0 brings alive the realities and values of a Scottish working-class family of the time, and a world where every soldier's captain was a distinguished hero from an aristocratic family; and was good looking, impossibly brave and selfless.

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