タグ: India_ENG

“Smash and Grab” Sunanda K. Datta-Ray (1984) Review | A dynamic history of Sikkim

★★★★★ A dynamic history of the kingdom of Sikkim that got annexed by India. I love this area of the east of Himalaya, it's a total mix of cultures. Soon after gaining an independence from Britain, India "colonised" a small kingdom, a dark page of history that nobody should talk about.

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Smash and Grab
Annexation of Sikkim
Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, 1984
433 pages
Read 2025.01

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
The book I had to look for everywhere but couldn't find as a physical book as it was practically banned as soon as it was published.

And, no wonder it was banned (well not banned, as that would be too scandalous, they just did not allow to print any more) it is by a journalist who personally knew the Chogyal, the king, so it's detailed and it's what he saw, heard, conversed and felt, as well as collection of newspaper articles.

And it doesn't look good for India.
India, who had until recently suffered the Imperialism is now putting Imperialism on Sikkim.
Lies, manipulations, false promises, guaranteeing personal gains, not to mention violence. Anything you can think of that is morally wrong, was done to Sikkim.
Cleverly manipulating the media to make people believe the Chogyal was the bad guy. They then tricked the modest simple people - you don't like the monarchy, this bad guy, then vote to be annexed by India.
The Indian officer in Sikkim already had all the power he wished, and the last blow was easy, just lie.

As mentioned in this book, the snap referendum was based on manipulations and physically impossible to run it in the remote area so quickly. Of course, if you vote against the annexation you'd likely beaten up, too.

It's very detailed and was difficult to follow for me who had no basic understanding of Indian politics.
But what was happening was clear, you cannot believe what you are reading with your eyes, it's incredibly similar to what British did to India; concentration of power in the hands of foreigners and dirty politics.
Yes the Chogyal was hostile towards Nepali, but there was certainly a room for compromise and he probably would have been the Chogyal for all.
It could have been a republic, also.
But no, India wanted it, the perfect location at the border, and took time to absorb it slowly but surely.
Now I'd like to know how Indian people think if this today, or maybe first of all if they are at least taught everything.

🔽 Where to buy 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

SMASH AND GRAB:ANNEXATION OF SIKKIM Kindle Edition

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●

SMASH AND GRAB:ANNEXATION OF SIKKIM Kindle Edition

●●● Amazon.it (Italia) ●●●
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2026-02-28

“A BRIEF HISTORY OF TEA” Roy Moxham (2003) Review | An informative history book around tea

★★★★☆ An informative history book around tea - which obviously focuses heavily on Britain, China and India. It is a nasty colonial history that we must not forget.

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF TEA: 
Addiction Exploitation and Empire (Brief Histories)
Roy Moxham 2003
258 pages
Read in 2020.08

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Very informative, it calls itself "brief" because it's the name of this series but it's not that brief, don't take it lightly.

A history book around tea - which obviously focuses heavily on Britain, China and India.
How British spoiled and destroyed the moral of China, with the famous final blow with the Opium War, and how they took advantage of India completely and systematically, simply for the benefit of British. 
It is a nasty colonial history that we must not forget, that Britain today is based on. 

Almost the same fate as chocolate, it's originally outside the European vicinity, so they decided to move to Africa which is close enough for easy trade and of course the cheap labour.
Cheap tea is made closer to to Europe, in Kenya today.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

A Brief History of Tea

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
A Brief History of Tea

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
A Brief History of Tea: Addiction, Exploitation, and Empire (English)

2026-02-28

“Chasing a blazing fire in the Himalayas” Anmol Mukhia, 2020 Review | History of Kalimpong’s Christianity
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★★☆☆☆ It was interesting for the first half, exactly what I hoped, about Kalimpong and its history. Then, it gradually changes the tone and he starts to preach.  
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Chasing a blazing fire in the Himalayas
A brief sketch of the (un)noticed Kalimpong Pentecostal revival
Anmol Mukhia, 2020
146 pages
Read 2024.5

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
It was interesting for the first half, exactly what I hoped. (Though I didn’t really know when I bought it)
It actually talks about the history and the background of the Christianity in Kalimpong and the area.
Then, it gradually changes the tone and he starts to preach.
The conclusion chapter has nothing to do with Kalimpong but just how to be a good Christian.
Not what it says on the tin, I skipped through towards the end.
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🔽 Where to buy 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●
Chasing A Blazing Fire In The Himalayas

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Chasing A Blazing Fire In The Himalayas

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
--
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2026-02-17

“Gitanjali” Rabindranath Tagore (1910) Review | India’s grand poet

★★★★☆ “Song offerings” to god by Indian poet Tagore. It opens your mind and heart to another layer of the world, away from the everyday rush life.

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Gitanjali
Rabindranath Tagore, 1910
48 pages
Read 2024.7


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
The famous Gitanjali.

It's a poem so inevitably it loses the beauty when it's translated.
I also looked a bit at the Japanese translation but it was better than the English version.

"Song offerings" to god, so I'm unfortunately not familiar with the sentiment as I don't know much, but it is nice and beautiful to read.
It opens your mind and heart to another layer of the world, away from the everyday rush life.

First Asian to receive a Nobel Prize.
He had a warm relationship with Japan and Japanese artists, but he was very critical of the Japanese nationalism in the 1920s and eventually stopped visiting Japan.

🔽 Where to buy 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Gitanjali (Pocket Classics) 

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Gitanjali

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Poesie: Gitanjali-Il giardiniere (Italiano)

2026-02-15

“The Room on the Roof” Ruskin Bond (1956) Review | Sense of belonging

★★★★★ His adolescence, friendship and first love, like any stories of this kind, but the sense of not belonging was too real and obvious, he really did not belong. A bittersweet love for his home, India.

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The Room on the Roof
Ruskin Bond, 1956
184 pages
Read 2024.08


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
First long novel I read of Ruskin Bond, and his first novel when he was still a teenager.
 
It talks of his own youth, of being a white English boy raised in India and not belonging anywhere. 
His adolescence, friendship and first love, like any stories of this kind, but the sense of not belonging was too real and obvious, he really did not belong.

Bittersweet, under the Indian sun the boy is undeniably in love with India, his home.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The Room on the Roof (The Originals) 

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Room on the Roof (The Originals)

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
La stanza sul tetto (Italiano)

2026-02-15

“The Anarchy” William Dalrymple(2019) Review | A gang of thugs
★★★★★+♥ Why was the East India Company so successful? Well, because they were disrespectful, aggressive, opportunist, deceitful and selfish gang of thugs. The book is such a cultural heritage not only because it’s insightful but also passionate and humane.

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The Anarchy
The relentless rise of East India Company
William Dalrymple, 2019
576 pages
Read 2024.08

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
A great book, definitely the top, the best.
It’s the topic I’ve always been interested in; how in the world could small England colonise India, a great power?

So is it like, Mughal Empire was a lion, and EIC a hyena?
A handful of gang, a mob, disrespectful, aggressive, opportunist, deceitful and selfish, who only thought of making quick money, took the gamble for their own profit.
They were hardly truthful to their employer, government or Crown either.
But East India Company was too big to fall, Britain was too dependent on the wealth India brought, so they nationalised it, and took over what EIC had, ie the power over the subcontinent, the start of the British India.

History is definitely more interesting and exciting than fiction here, the facts are fascinating but then you have Mr Dalrymple writing about it with his compassion, passion and humane sensibility, it becomes such a force, it’s so powerful, and utterly important.

This careful yet brave book focuses on the fall of Mughal Empire and how EIC took all the opportunities with aggression and lies, because that is what it was, and it’s hardly to do with the ability of EIC as merchants.
It contains endless anecdotes and references taken from the writing of the time that had been buried in the cluster of materials in India, so they are the facts that we were never aware of.
And facts are scary, truth hurts, historical facts almost always hurt Britain.
No wonder, sadly, some people don’t like Dalrymple’s books, history hurts them.

One particularly interesting character that I didn’t know about was Warren Hastings who loved and cared about India, unusual for EIC employee but had nasty enemies.

Again a great book, I’d even go as far as saying an important cultural treasure, and an instant classic.
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🔽 Where to buy 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The Anarchy

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Anarchia. L'inarrestabile ascesa della Compagnia delle Indie Orientali (Italiano)
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2026-02-11

“The Gurkha’s daughter” Prajwal Parajuly (2013) Review | Nepal and Diaspora

★★★★☆ Nepal and Diaspora, sense of not belonging where they live. Far from home people’s tradition and customs are distant memories while the feelings for home gets stronger.

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The Gurkha's daughter 
Prajwal Parajuly, 2013
280 pages
Read in 2024.09

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The Gurkha's daughter 
Prajwal Parajuly, 2013
280 pages
Read 2024.09


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
A collection of short stories of people who have different ties to Nepal.

It's about lives of people living in diaspora, sense of not belonging where they live.
To begin with, 
Nepalese people in Darjeeling area have a different sense of home, and not necessarily uniformed. 
And how about Nepalese in Bhutan who got kicked out to Nepal?
Or Muslim from Bihar in Kalimpong? 
A guy from Darjeeling in New York who's never been to Nepal?

The stories are subtly harsh and sad but not exaggeratingly dramatic, just like real lives of real people, they carry their own inevitable drama and the longing, between tradition and practice and sense of home.
Nice short stories.

🔽 Where to buy 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The Gurkha's Daughter: shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas prize

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Gurkha's Daughter: shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas prize

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
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2026-02-11

“Shattered Lands” Sam Dalrymple (2025) Review | Making of new Asia
★★★★★ 5 Partitions, not just one. From Yemen to Myanmar, The British India was one entity where cosmopolitan people had lived in a sort of harmony. An important history that was until now “forgotten”, and an important book.
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Shattered Lands
Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia
Sam Dalrymple, 2025
UK
528 pages
Read 2025.09


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
A great book on the topic that is shamefully unknown to a lot of us, even though it's not so long time ago and even though it totally shaped Asia today.
All the problems in Asia that we see on the news today are not simply because the local people are "naturally" violent, of course not, there is always a cause. 

And the cause is, this. The British Empire had ruled and gained much from the British India and local Princely States (so very wide, from modern day Yemen to Burma, to Qatar. Qatar! And British Empire had 25% of the world population back then) until one day they couldn't financially support it so they dropped the ball, without thinking of the very probable consequences, namely, the shattered lands and shattered people.

The book carefully follows 5 Partitions, rather than only the more widely known THE Partition between today's India and Pakistan. 
Myanmar, Arabian peninsula, India-Pakistan, Princely States, and Bangladesh.
People like me who knew so little would be surprised at how everything fell apart quickly, and be utterly shocked how millions of people crossed newly drawn borders each time. And every one experienced some horror; the violence, looting, rape, and many killing.
The consequences of the relocation, the migration, and of course of refugees like Rohingya people still remains as huge problems. 
```
Stereotypically, British officers’ works were full of lies and betrayals, their selfishness with their strong interesting in keeping their hands clean.
As a predicable result, people who lived in cosmopolitan societies, were suddenly put in various corners of Shattered Lands, and they turned against their neighbours because they now became their enemies.

What got me thinking most throughout my reading was how pre Partitions era things were more secular, and as the lands got divided it firmly became a matter of religions and ethnicity, it was all about nationalism, of the new nations that were born out of the shattered lands – again and again in the each phase of the Partitions.
Not that the colonisation era was good, but you cannot stop wondering, if we now want to end the fighting in Asia would we have to eliminate the notions of religion and ethnicity?
Letting go of the sense of community or tradition? The peace of mind it provides?
Is it really a dangerous thing to have a tradition?

I heard somewhere that people who experienced the Partitions, probably just like our grandfathers in Japan who were sent to the war, have preferred to keep quiet.
They chose to take the horror, errors and shame to their graves, and their children also kind of hesitated to insist.
However, now that it’s their grandchildren’s generation, things are now becoming uncovered and dusted off because they are finally opening their mouths to tell us.
And this might be one of the reasons why this book is written now at this moment in time, by this brilliant author who is in his 20s, and this is one of the reason this book will remain in the history to come.

The book has great details with wonderful storytelling skills, and most notably it has the marvelous sense of humanity, just like his father, Sam Dalrymple is such a humane human full of compassion and passion, with giggles – but he is already on his own feet, and how exciting is it that two Dalrymples are on the chart? Very.
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🔽 Where to buy 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Shattered Lands: INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AND PRIZE SHORTLISTED NEW HISTORY OF FIVE PARTITIONS AND THE RESHAPING OF MODERN ASIA

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Shattered Lands: INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AND PRIZE SHORTLISTED NEW HISTORY OF FIVE PARTITIONS AND THE RESHAPING OF MODERN ASIA
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2026-02-08

“Sikkim, Requiem for a Himalayan Kingdom” Andrew Duff (2015) Review | Fell in love with Sikkim

★★★★★+♥️ The more I read the more I’m interested in Sikkim, and this is definitely the most thorough book to learn about the end of Sikkim, and of the king, chogyal. It makes you want to go there… again.

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Sikkim
Requiem for a Himalayan Kingdom
Andrew Duff, 2015
320 pages
Read 2023.01

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
The history of the last few decades of the kingdom before it was annexed by India and the story of their last Chogyal, their last king, Thondup Namgyal.

The more I read the more I'm interested in Sikkim, and this is definitely the most thorough book to learn about Sikkim.
The author on the other hand, is Scottish who loved listening to his grandfather telling him about his journey to Sikkim when he was young.
In 2009 he finally managed to get to Sikkim, and in a Buddhist temple near Pelling, he met a strange monk who gave him a book to read.
The book was called Smash and Grab (my review here), the monk was Yongda who used to be the chogyal's Captain, and this is how his work has begun.
Andrew Duff knew he had a story to tell. And I'm glad he did.

From the 17th century Sikkim had been governed by a Tibetan king, Chyogal.
It has borders with Tibet (with China behind), Bhutan, Nepal then India, so it's fortunately or unfortunately located in a strategically important place, as such, of course all the great powers were all over this tiny kingdom.
During the British era, British called in Nepali to cultivate the land to boost economy, even though Nepal had been an enemy of Sikkim for centuries.
The mass immigration meant that the ruling race, Tibetan, became the minority.
Now, Britain has left India, and increasingly the last chogyal was vocally against Indian influence to maintain his kingdom independent.
Sikkim was split in half, those who supported the chogyal and those who didn't, which was not an unobvious choice for the majority of Sikkimese who were Nepali origin.
Was he only clinging to his personal power? His illusion? Was he unnecessarily influenced by his young American wife (Grace Kelly of the East)? Did he do his politics well? Did he had a choice?
It's a fascinating book that goes deep inside the life of the last chogyal.

All the essence of the Himalaya is here, between the big powers, India and China, and of course the British Empire, what could a tiny kingdom do?
But it's also his very personal struggles of keeping him kingdom, of his young American wife.
Many say he played his cards wrong, but actually, he had no chance of winning anyway against India.
Sikkim remains to be a unique little bits of India.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Sikkim: Requiem for a Himalayan Kingdom

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Sikkim: Requiem for a Himalayan Kingdom

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Sikkim: Requiem for a Himalayan Kingdom [Lingua Inglese]

2026-02-04

“Selected stories of” Rabindranath Tagore (1886-) Review | Mastermind of literature

★★★★★ These stories vary in the theme or genre, might be a love story, or a ghost story, or about family or friendship. It shows how expansive his talent is, but more significantly his stories are about honest, humble, and poor people.

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Selected Stories of Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore, 1886-
India
372 pages
Read 2023.04


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
I have read about how great Tagore's works are, but until you read them, experience them, you don't really know, of course.

There are many of "selected works of" kind of books, this one is from Fingerprint in India.

These stories vary in the theme or genre, might be a love story, or a ghost story, or about family or friendship.
It shows how expansive his talent is, but more significantly his stories are about honest, humble, and poor people. 
That is why after more than 100 years they do not get old and continue to touch people all over Bengal, India, Asia and beyond. 

Some stories stand out more than others to me, like "The river stairs", "The Cabuliwalla", "The son of Rashimani", "The master Mashai" "Living or Dead", "Fair neighbour"

🔽 Related pages 🔽
“Chokher Bali” Rabindranath Tagore, (1903) Review | Tragedy from India

“The Spirit of Japan” Rabindranath Tagore (1916) Review | Short but meaningful

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Selected Stories of Rabindranath Tagore

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Selected Stories of Rabindranath Tagore
(Not the version I read, but this is available)

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Selected Stories of Rabindranath Tagore (English)

2026-02-04

“My grandmother’s tweets” Geeta Gopalakrishnan (2018) Review |Female wisdom from Tamil

★★★★☆ Collection of stories associated with wise words passed down from Avvaiyar (a female poet from Tamil), female to female. Wisdom and warmth of the ancient India.

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My grandmother's tweets
Geeta Gopalakrishnan, 2018
India
340 pages
Read in 2023.07 


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Another book gift when I was in India. 
It tells little stories associated with wise words passed down from Avvaiyar (a female poet from Tamil, southern India, from 12th century), female to female.

It's not something to read like a story, something to open time to time to enjoy the nice little stories, 
It's a collection of little famous or historical, or legendary quick stories, so not really something to read all in one go, but something to go back to time to time.
Wisdom and warmth of the ancient India.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

My Grandmother's Tweets: Inspired by Avvaiyar's Ancient Wisdom

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
My Grandmother's Tweets: Stories Inspired by Avvaiyar's Ancient Wisdom

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
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2026-02-03

“Falling in love again” Ruskin Bond (2013) Review | Maybe it was a dream

★★★★☆ Selection of short stories from India’s great author. Most of them are bittersweet; like it’s almost a love story but not quite, it ends before it begins, so brief that it’s almost a dream.

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Falling in love again 
Ruskin Bond, 2013
India
197 pages
Read in 2023.04


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Compilation of short stories, of love from one of the most important Indian writers, he turned 89. (now in 2025 he's 91)

They are written in different stages of the author's life, and his stories seem very personal.
Many of the main characters' names are Ruskin, or Rusky, and they are based in Himachal, so it's not difficult to imagine that they are based on his childhood or youth.
Most of them are bittersweet, like it's almost a love story but not quite. 
It ends before it begins, or it's so brief that it's almost a dream.

Some stories are in the train, maybe on the same line, or one of his beloved, Sushila, reappears in another story, many of his girls simply disappear - yes, just like a dream.

🔽 Related pages 🔽
Ruskin Bond A room on the roof

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Falling In Love Again:Stories of Love and Romance

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Falling In Love Again:Stories of Love and Romance (English)

2026-02-03

“The First Principle, Talks on Zen” Osho (1981) Review | Sounds like just gossips

★★☆☆☆ His “stories I’ve heard” are spread around the book and sure it is fun to read, but I cannot help but think, yeah but this is just to get attention.

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The First Principle
Talks on Zen
Osho, 1981
India
288 pages
Read 2023.04


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

This one is much more painful to read than the first one I read earlier, The Book of Man.
It is a compilation of talks so taking that into account, so I'm sure listening to it live is more captivating, but as always not my thing anyways.

His "stories I've heard" are spread around the book and sure it is fun to read, but I cannot help but think, yeah but this is just to get attention, to keep the attention to him, and throw in some smart jokes here and there.

He disliked unnecessary disciplines from the established religions. 
No he hated them, so he would go against them, it's like a mixture of cult and hippie life, it probably was.

Not sure if I'll ever read anything else by him or about him.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●
The First Principle: Talks on Zen

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The First Principle: Talks on Zen

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
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2026-02-03

“The Book of Man” Osho (2002) Review | International cult

★★☆☆☆ I now get it, I understand why he was and continues to be so popular. He’s smart and eloquent, very rich and decadent, and encouraged all sorts of violence. His wish from the world was to follow the big power that was him.

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The Book of Man
Osho, 2002
Osho Rajneesh
India
226 pages
Read in 2023.04


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
Finally read something by Osho, though technically it's not written by him personally, but it's from his talks.

I now get it, I understand why he was and continues to be so popular. 
It's not like I don't understand at all what he says, but his talent lies and his aim was clear, to make you a follower, he's not hiding that either.
Becoming religious or spiritual itself is nothing unusual, and most of the times it brings good things. 
But what he says he wishes from the world is to blindly follow the big power that's him.

Maybe also he came at the right time in the 70s when people, especially American, wanted psychedelic experiences, when the West wanted the exotic East. 

One of his idea was that austerity is bad, and encourages people to enjoy life, which from Googling I understand he had a very luxurious and decadent life, riding around 93 Rolls-Royce just to show off, or manufactured and spread illegal drugs within his communities and beyond, or encouraged violence, where sexual violence towards kids became a norm. 
Definitely scandalous, whether conspiracy or not.

So back to the book, it's 100% an interesting to read as a book to read, as a study, but I won't go beyond that.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●
Book of Man [Paperback] 

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Book Of Man

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
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2026-02-03

“An Area of Darkness” V. S. Naipaul (1964) Review | A slap in the face

★★★★☆ I thought it’d be a travel journey where he saw poverty in India, spiritual and mystic and all that. How wrong I was, it’s a book that gives a slap in the face of those who think it that way.

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An Area of Darkness 
V. S. Naipaul, 1964
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul
304 pages
Read in 2023.08


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

I thought it would be a travel journey from Naipaul, a winner of Bookers and Nobel Prize, where he saw poverty in India, spiritual and mystic and all that.
Well, I was completely wrong. 

It is more like a connection or a journey through himself, in the atmosphere of India.
Not heard to imagine he was in some kind of depressed state, but his reactions are raw and cruel.
He's not here to pretend that there's beauty in the poverty, as many Western travelers claim. 
Instead, he talks of the exploitation of the poverty, the filth of the poverty, of the blindness, or ignorance, of the endless corruption and of the excrement of all the negative things human.
Not surprised it was banned in India, it puts off the Western people who want to see the mystic India.

He had a pretty unpleasant visit to the village where his grandfather is from, that he's happy to dismiss, this story alone represent the sentiment.
It's not the UK where he lives, not Trinidad where he's from, India is to him familiar yet very unfamiliar. 
It's definitely not a happy read, it's a slap in your hypocritical face that wishes to say the poverty is beauty, no it's a middle finger to anyone who says that. Brutally honest.
No wonder he's not popular in India... at all.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

An Area of Darkness: A Discovery of India

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
An Area of Darkness: His Discovery of India

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Un'area di tenebra (Italiano)

2026-02-01

“The Spirit of Japan” Rabindranath Tagore (1916) Review | Short but meaningful

★★★★★ A speech he gave at Keio University in Tokyo in 1916. Full of warnings for Japan that he had loved, at the time Japan was militarising too rapidly. However he still believed in the power of Eastern philosophy.

🔽 log 🔽
The Spirit of Japan
Rabindranath Tagore, 1916
22 pages
Read in 2023.11

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

A speech he gave as he was departing Japan at Keio University in Tokyo in 1916.
It is critical and full of warnings for Japan that he had loved, at the time Japan was militarising too rapidly. He strongly believed in the power of the East, that the power of Eastern philosophy 

It's well known that he though he was fond of Japan and its culture and arts, he was very concerned about the rapid Westernisation of the country, thus going towards the path of colonisers.
Looking at how his own country was getting consumed by the West and how Japan was losing its honourable self, he was unable to contain himself and gave this powerful speech.

However, his warnings are timeless and universal; this "modernisation" is a path to self destruction and the hatred and harm you force upon the others will always come back to yourself.
He strongly believed in the power of the East, that the power of Eastern philosophy would overcome the material power of the West, just like the sun that is always there even if the cloud might cover the sun temporarily.

Short but meaningful book.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The Spirit of Japan (Mint Editions (Voices From API))

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Spirit of Japan 

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
The Spirit of Japan (Mint Editions)

2026-01-31

“Anglo-Gurkha Relations” GL Rai-Zimmdar (2007) Review | Britain and Nepal

★★★☆☆ An interesting and original view on the matter of Nepal, its position between Britain and India. Make you realise how important Nepal has been in our history and how it’s been neglected.

🔽 log 🔽
Anglo-Gurkha Relations
Historical Account of how the Gurkhas Bestowed upon Queen Victoria the Gift of Indian Empire
GL Rai-Zimmdar, 2007
211 pages
Read in 2023.12


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Probably a self published book, but has an interesting and original view on the matter of Nepal, its position between Britain and India.
The author seems to feel it a mission to correct previous historians' fake stories, or misunderstandings, so I should have known the general or previous understanding of Anglo-Gurkha relations to appreciate this book.

This doesn't really teach you the general history Anglo-Gurkha Relations, but it does make you realise how important Nepal has been in our history and how it's been neglected.
It claims that the world has been misled because of the strong Indian and British influences.
I must find a regular history book on Nepal first.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Anglo-Gurkha Relations, New Edition: Historical Accounts of how the Gurkhas bestowed upon Queen Victoria the Gift of Indian Empire

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Anglo-Gurkha Relations: Historical Account of how the Gurkhas Bestowed upon Queen Victoria the Gift of Indian Empire

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
--

2026-01-28

“Darjeeling: A History of the World’s Greatest Tea” Jeff Koehler (2015) Review | Colonial history and Darjeeling

★★★★★ This book talks about Darjeeling tea – history, the people, the owners and workers, the soil; its problems are as iconic as its taste. Darjeeling tea is iconic, that no other place could recreate, yet it’s stuck in its colonial history.

🔽 log 🔽
Darjeeling: A History of the World’s Greatest Tea
Jeff Koehler, 2015
286 pages
Read in 2022.04


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
All about Darjeeling tea, in details. Extensively in details. 

It talks about all the background - history, the people (the owners and workers), the soil; the problems are as iconic as the taste.
Darjeeling tea is iconic, that no other place could recreate, yet it's stuck in its colonial history. 
And it's entirely based on the exploitation.  
A painful fact is, a cup of Darjeeling tea could cost more than a day's wage of the plucker. It's located in such a unique bit of the planet, that living there alone is a hard job (access to water, heating). 
And also uniquely, unlike other iconic drinks like champagne or whiskey or even matcha, Darjeeling tea is not as appreciated in its own country, India.

With all the problems, will people continue to drink Darjeeling tea? 
Will people continue to make Darjeeling tea?

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Darjeeling: The Colorful History and Precarious Fate of the World's Greatest Tea

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Darjeeling: A History of the World’s Greatest Tea

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
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2026-01-25

“No path in Darjeeling is straight” Parimal Bhattacharya (2017) Review | Complicated history

★★★★☆ A memoir, a nostalgia, of how this Bengali teacher who spent a few years in Darjeeling in the 1990. Their politics and sentiments are complicated, and he carefully observes them as an outsider.

🔽 log 🔽
No path in Darjeeling is straight
Memories of a Hill Town
Parimal Bhattacharya, 2017
200 pages
Read in 2022.02


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
A memoir, a nostalgia, of how this Bengali teacher who spent a few years in Darjeeling in the 1990.

I read quite a lot of books on the history of this area but this is more personal.
Their politics and sentiments are complicated, and he carefully observes them as an outsider.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

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

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
No Path in Darjeeling Is Straight: Memories of a Hill Town

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
No Path in Darjeeling is Straight: Memories of a Hill Town (English)

2026-01-25

“Nine Lives” William Dalrymple (2013) Review | Being holy in India today

★★★★★ It’s a travel journal, except that the focus is not on the places but the people these places “created”. These traditions are disappearing. As India is now going for a national holy story, as they call it Rama-fication, how long will these very local faiths last.

🔽 log 🔽
Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India
William Dalrymple, 2013
304 pages
Read in 2025.11


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

A slightly different touch to other books I've read from Mr. Dalrymple.
It's a travel journal, except that the focus is not on the places but the people these places "created".

The book focuses on the 9 people who are admired as holy and sacred, because they have been "decided" to be as holy being by the society, or sometimes they chose to, or maybe they have great skills like creating the religious art.

As always Dalrymple is all about embracing as things are, he's not here to judge, he's just here to pass on their stories and traditions to a wider world.
As he says, and indeed as he saw, these traditions are disappearing. 
They are not necessarily less religious but the modern India is now going for a national, standardised holy story, the nationalistic Hinduism, as Dalrymple calls it Rama-fication, rather than 1000s of very local stories.

India is lucky to have Dalrymple as their historian today, his curious eyes will record everything and with passion he shares with us.

The book focuses on;
A devoted Jain nun, dancer in Kannur Kerala, daughters dedicated to a goddess, but actually working as prostitutes, singers in Rajasthan, devotee of Sufi that embraces Hindu and Islam, Tibetan monk who was a soldier, idol maker in Tamil, devotee in Tarapith for a fearful goddess, and a blind singer in Bengal.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India (Vintage Departures)

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Nove vite (Italiano)

2026-01-23

“The Darjeeling Distinction” Sarah Besky (2014) Review | Dark side of the posh tea

★★★★☆ Darjeeling is the most expensive tea in the world, most well marketed and iconic – how is it that the workers remain so poor? A cup of Darjeeling costs more than a plucker’s daily wage, but not known because it’s always linked to luxury.

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The Darjeeling Distinction: Labor and Justice on Fair-Trade Tea Plantations in India (California Studies in Food and Culture Book 47)
Sarah Besky, 2014
258 pages
Read in 2022.11


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Exactly the topic I was interested in about the Darjeeling tea, its industry and its workers.

Darjeeling tea is the most expensive tea in the world, most well marketed and iconic - how is it that the workers remain so poor?
Uncomfortably, a cup of Darjeeling costs a lot more than a plucker's daily wage, but not known enough because the tea is always linked to luxury.

Darjeeling and Sikkim area not like the rest of India, indeed the majority of the people are ethnically Nepali. 
India would do anything to keep Darjeeling tea Indian, it's the most iconic single product and one of the most famous from India.
Gorkhas don't own anything, not even their history. 
Speaking of Fair Trade, since it's been forced on the locals, ironically, their lives became harder.

So iconic yet so exploited.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The Darjeeling Distinction: Labor and Justice on Fair-Trade Tea Plantations in India

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Darjeeling Distinction: Labor and Justice on Fair-Trade Tea Plantations in India (California Studies in Food and Culture Book 47)

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
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2026-01-22

“The Bangalore Detective Club” Harini Nagendra (2022) Review | Nice mystery for India lovers

★★★★☆ Set in 1920 Bangalore, a freshly married housewife goes around the city to solve mysteries. Nice locations and food – a nice little crime novel for India lovers.

🔽 log 🔽
The Bangalore Detective Club
Harini Nagendra, 2022
292 pages
Read in 2022.12


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Set in 1920 Bangalore, Kaveri only recently married to a doctor and was expecting a quiet life, instead she goes around the city to solve a murder. 
A bit of tension with British is always a good pinch of spice.
There are some treats, of famous locations in Bangalore and food - a nice little crime novel for anyone who's interested in India.

What's a bit unusual is that the author is an ecologist, so with her background like that I'm more looking forward to reading her other books.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The Bangalore Detectives Club (The Kaveri and Ramu Murder Mystery Series)

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Bangalore Detectives Club (The Bangalore Detectives Club Series)

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
The Bangalore Detectives Club (English)

2026-01-22

“The White Tiger” Aravind Adiga (2008) Review | Energy of young India

★★★★☆ Exciting as I expected. So raw, so angry, seem so nonchalant but has full of energy, just like today’s India and their youths. It’s so easy to dismiss India merely as a place to get enlightenment and exotic etc, but this is also the reality.

🔽 log 🔽
The White Tiger
Aravind Adiga, 2008
336 pages
Read in 2021.04


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Netflix was starting the film, so I had to get the book first.

This was as exciting as I expected. 
So raw, so angry, seem so nonchalant but has full of energy, just like today's India the world imagine.
It's so easy to dismiss India merely as a place to get enlightenment and exotic, but this is also the reality, it's where people live and try to go further than what their parents achieved, just like any other place in the world.

While it's raw and its people all tangled up, they know their places, like caste, it's in their skin.
It's similar to Japan in a sense that this is Asia, just that Japan doesn't have that big proportion of poor or extremely poor which makes this story more exciting and energetic.

As our protagonist predicts here, in his lifetime all white men die out and brown and yellow men rule the world - might not be that far from truth.

The Netflix film was also good, with Priyanka Chopra, as great as ever, of course it doesn't have the Bollywood dance or music but it has the energy, power and the different music to pump up the story.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The White Tiger: WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2008

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The White Tiger: WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2008

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
La tigre bianca (italiano)

2026-01-20

“Chokher Bali” Rabindranath Tagore, (1903) Review | Tragedy from India

★★★★☆ A beautiful widow. She cannot give up her pursuit for happiness. Chokher Bali, the sand in the eye, she disturbs everything she touches and disappears. A strong sense of un-happiness.

🔽 log 🔽
Chokher Bali
Rabindranath Tagore, 1903
298 pages
Read in 2022.03


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

My first Tagore.
This is actually popular that it's made into film and TV series in India.
The sentiment is close to what they have in Japan: husband-wife relation, mother-son, or even mother-in-law and wife, it's something many in Asia can easily understand, and cannot avoid.

Then comes the beautiful widow.
Despote "her place" as a widow, she cannot give up her pursuit for affection and happiness.
Chokher Bali, the sand in the eye, the annoying thing, she arrives and disturbs everything she touches.
And like an eyesore, before you know it it goes away and the life is back to normal, the witch is punished.

Her happiness was taken away because she's a widow, she brings bad things.
Could they ever blame her?
A strong sense of un-happiness.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Chokher Bali

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Chokher Bali

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Choker Bali (English)

2026-01-20

“(To India)” Tadanori Yokoo (1977) Review | India as fantasy

★★★★★ A spiritual journey to India by this psychedelic graphic designer, but it’s not merely a travel journal. It’s more a journey to India that he holds within himself, his fantasy. Very personal, very 70s.

🔽 log 🔽
(To India)
Tadanori Yokoo, 1977
Read in 2020.01

Not published in English

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

A spiritual journey to India by this psychedelic graphic designer, but it’s not really a travel journal.
It’s more a journey to India that he holds within himself, within his consciousness or subconsciousness, it’s his fantasy and not necessarily a real place, but this is what he saw and felt.

It’s about India that he fantasised and dreamt about, through the drug, hippies, America, 70s, The Beatles and eventually the death of Yukio Mishima, who committed a public suicide, days after he told the author he was ready for India, that became a final trigger.

In this second visit, he goes to Kashmir but mainly he talks about the universe and how he managed to be a part of it.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●
–

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
–

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
–

2026-01-18

“Gautama Buddha” Vishvapani Blomfield (2011) Review | Intro to Buddha’s own life

★★★★☆ A sober biography of the Buddha as a person. It follows from his birth to death, through history and myth of 2500 years ago. A perfect introduction, to understand why Buddhism started there and then in India.


🔽 log 🔽
Gautama Buddha
The Life and Teachings of The Awakened One
Vishvapani Blomfield, 2011
416 pages
Read in 2020.02

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

A sort of biography of the Buddha as a person, and is trying its best to stay sober.

It's 2500 years ago so it is difficult to give a chronological order but it follows from his birth to death, with very good description to the background that is the Indian society which itself is mythical.

A perfect introduction, to understand why Buddhism started there in India. 
It was a long read and a difficult one to follow (so many long names!) but now that I finished I miss reading it.
He was a fascinating person and definitely philosophical one which is why Buddhism is still spreading even in the West and is being re-imported back in India.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of The Awakened One

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of The Awakened One

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
ーー

2026-01-18

“Deep River” Shusaku Endo (1996) Review | Embracing life and death >>
★★★★★ A group of strangers joins a tour to India, to Benares, a sacred place, a place of death. It asks the question, what is a religion, what is a life itself? They face Mother Ganga who embraces all deaths and lives, of all people. A masterpiece.

🔽 log 🔽
Deep River
Shusaku Endo, 1993
Read in 2020.02

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Endo Shusaku is now even more known for his more clearly religious book, Silence, since Scorsese directed the movie.

This is a story about a group of strangers who joined a same packaged tour to visit temples in India.
They all had regrets and disappointments in life, with fragile hope in their hearts, they head towards Ganges River.

Benares, Varanasi, is a sacred place, a place of death.
There they face their inner selves and the extreme poverty in a boy who trust absolute power of gods.
It asks the question, what is a religion, what is a death or a life itself?
There they face Mother Ganga who embraces all deaths and lives, of all people.

Endo, a Catholic, was 70 years old when it was written, it was a way for him to look back at his own life to once again ponder his eternal question “what does it mean to be a Japanese and a Christian”
A masterpiece.
```
🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Deep River

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Deep River: Shusaku Endo (Pushkin Press Classics) 

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
```
2026-01-16

“Sea of Poppies” Amitav Ghosh (2008) Review | Leading up to Opium War

★★★★★ In India, under British, Opium farming leading up to the Opium War. That’s already enough for me to like the book even without even opening it. Then, you meet some interesting strong characters. It’s gripping, a grand storytelling.

🔽 log 🔽
Sea of Poppies 
Amitav Ghosh, 2008
559 pages
Read in 2025.12

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

I'd heard of it for a while and finally, finally started and instantly it was obvious, this is one if those great books.

In India, under British, Opium farming leading up to the Opium War.
That's already enough for me to like the book even without even opening it. 

And immediately you meet some interesting strong characters.
Deeti who had a miserable married life, Paulette and Jodu and their unique friendship, a delicate Raja, Zachary who leads us into the mesmerising journeys.
They all meet on Ibis the slaving ship, all carrying their own destinies - it's as intense as it sounds.
Some of detailed descriptions of ship and sailing are hard for me to follow but that doesn't stop me from getting excited at every page.

It's a trilogy so there are 2 more books to go to give the full view on the story but so far, it's gripping, grand storytelling.
Need to read 2 and 3 soon.

🔽 Related pages 🔽
tag インド/India

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Sea of Poppies

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Sea of Poppies: Ibis Trilogy Book 1 Kindle Edition

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Sea of Poppies: Ibis Trilogy Book 1 (English)

2026-01-15