All information sourced from publishers.
Wanderers, Adventurers, Missionaries: Early Americans in India, Anuradha Kumar
In 1833, Frederic Tudor, an American businessman, made history when he shipped 180 pounds of ice harvested from Walden Pond in Boston to Calcutta – this luxury item being much in demand amongst the elites of British India. Tudor was deservedly christened the “Ice King” and soon built a flourishing trade, exporting American ice to India.
Others were drawn to the country by less materialistic goals. Like the “medical missionaries” who were deeply concerned with the “women’s condition” in India. Ida Scudder’s efforts in the 1900s resulted in the setting up of the Christian Medical College in Vellore, which continues to save lives till this day; in 1873, “Doctor Miss Sahiba” Clara Swain set up the first hospital for women and children in Asia, in Bareilly, on land donated by the Nawab of Rampur.
There were also those who came to stay. 22-year-old Samuel Evans Stokes came to Kotgarh in the Himalayan foothills in 1904, embraced Hinduism and became Satyanand Stokes. He revolutionised apple cultivation in the area, now in Himachal Pradesh, by introducing the “Red Delicious” apples of Missouri; today, his descendants still live and work in the region. Likewise, the Alter family. Martha and David Emmet Alter arrived in Mussoorie in 1917, to spend the summer studying at the Landour Language School; in 1941, Emmet became principal of Woodstock School, just around the hillside. Twenty-five years later, his son Robert occupied the same position. Robert’s son Stephen continues to live in Mussoorie, pursuing a successful writing career; his cousin Tom Alter was a much-loved actor in Indian films until he passed away in 2017.
These are just some of the “first Americans in India” who came here, beginning in the 1700s, with different motives and dreams – as adventurers, traders, reformers, writers and artists. All of them, without exception, were fascinated, astonished, moved and, in the end, profoundly changed by their “Indian experience”.
My Truth: Autobiography of Narmadashankar Dave, translated from the Gujarati by Abhijit Kothari
Originally titled Mari Hakikat, this is the autobiography of one of the foremost figures in Gujarati literature: Narmadashankar Dave (1833–1886), popularly known as Narmad. The book is a fascinating assemblage of different forms of writing – diary, reflection, poetry – that document the early period of Narmad’s life. It is an example of a new awakening and new genres that enabled the self to be expressed within the framework of traditional thought.
The Undying Light: A Personal History of Independent India, Gopalkrishna Gandhi
This is a memoir and history of India after Independence by one of India’s most distinguished public intellectuals. It begins with his memories, at the age of three, of the assassination of his paternal grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi. From this poignant opening note, the book expands into numerous encounters with personalities both Indian and foreign, “eminent” as well as little known, and original insights into key events and turning points of modern Indian history, many of which he was an eyewitness to as secretary to presidents R Venkataraman and KR Narayanan, and as governor of West Bengal and Bihar.
The Hyderabadis: From 1947 to the Present Day, Daneesh Majid
From the annexation of the princely state of Hyderabad in September 1948 to the formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956 and the eventual creation of Telangana in 2014 – these broad brushstrokes of Hyderabad's history are well-documented. What has long been missing, however, is the perspective of the people, the different communities who lived through these upheavals – the communal violence of Independence and Partition, the push for a linguistic re-imagination of the state and its bifurcation, the long-drawn-out struggle for statehood – and those who were forced to adapt to a rapidly changing India.
Drawing from generational interviews, oral histories, literature in Urdu and English and his own personal experiences, Majid drafts a modern history of Hyderabad.
Farewell Karachi: A Partition Memoir, Bhawana Somaaya
Farewell Karachi is the story of a family planting its roots anew in a country at the cusp of a violent Partition. Spanning over a hundred years and five generations, the narrative draws on an intimate portrait of a large family that grew up under the unspoken spectre of Partition. This is the saga of a displaced Gujarati family from Karachi that moved to Kutch and subsequently to erstwhile Bombay in India to rebuild a life for themselves.
The book also seeks to make sense of and heal from the foundational wound of two South Asian infant nation-states, exploring how that wound shaped the imminent futures of the peoples partitioned along the Radcliffe Line. In here are dreams, some shattered, some salvaged; in here are customs, heartbreaks and carefully preserved recipes.
All Our Loves: Journeys with Polyamory in India, Arundhati Ghosh
All Our Loves: Journeys with Polyamory in India is a book on polyamory – the practice of being in love with or without sexual intimacies with more than one person simultaneously, with the consent of all – in India. For anyone who has ever dreamed of love, sex, and companionship beyond the limits of traditional monogamy, this guide navigates the infinite possibilities that open relationships can offer.
As a practising polyamorist, Arundhati Ghosh dispels myths and throws light on the skills necessary to maintain a fulfilling and responsible polyamorous lifestyle – how to honour boundaries; how to resolve conflicts, and define relationships on their own terms; how to divide time among partners; how to foster honest intimacy; how to find community and navigate break-ups, jealousy, and living arrangements; how to practise safe sex, raise a family; and much, much more.
