5 comments about A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush.

1. Newby and his traveling companion are the sort who would have been described as "mad, you know" by their peers. The book is an engrossing description of their efforts and failures, trekking in Afghanistan. They reach base camp via Europe in a station wagon. They have made no effort to do physical conditioning and their preparation consisted of a few hurried days in Wales. Newby is a skilled observer, incisively documenting places, people, and experiences. It's amazing they survived as well as they did. It's also an interesting chronicle of how trekking used to be--the bulky, uncomfortable equipment, and the lack of anything resembling technology. The book ends somewhat abruptly, but well.
   
   As for issues brought up by other readers: British English is not that difficult to pick-up and this is not going to appeal to the crowd that never gets beyond the supermarket tabloids. Newby lacks some of Rory Stewart's background reading, but thankfully, he is a much more reflective, self-deprecating soul than the whiny, entitled Mr. Stewart. Comparing Newby to Bill Bryson is like comparing Noel Coward with Benny Hill. Newby's humor is wry, understated and often ironic, while Bryson is more like the writer of a second or third tier sitcom---a master of the obvious, with lines you can see coming a mile away. Newby is adventurous in a different way from Theroux and tends to take himself less seriously. Although the book is less of a quest than Matthiessen's journey, it is likely to appeal to fans of "The Snow Leopard". Evelyn Waugh (who wrote the foreward) is obviously a snob, but the book has less in the way of race and class prejudice than one might expect from it era.



2. A "short walk" is at once accurate and understated. Accurate because the walk is short, less than a month. Understated because its walkers confront extreme challenges and setbacks at every turn, ranging from hostile citizens and difficult weather to physical maladies that would drive the less intrepid of us to the nearest hospital.



3. Unlike other critics, I had a hard time dealing with Newby's commitment to sticking to the facts and his telling the story free of any detours into what it meant to him or what he had learned about himself or his countrymen along the way. Perhaps an appreciation for his style comes after one has read enough travel books that he/she sees the kind of wistfulness for which I had hoped as useless, cliched BS. But, being a relative novice to the genre, I lacked that kind of cynicism and, consequently, did not enjoy the book as much as I had hoped to.
   
   Also, my lack of familiarity with central Asian geography and history hendered my enjoyment of the book. Newby usually relies on an assumed foreknowledge of the reader, so he doesn't spend much time explaining things. This made it hard for me as I oftentimes had to go back a few pages to figure out where he was or what particular tribe with which he was currently encountering.
   
   Furthermore, I personally have a hard time with large, Moslem names, so it was very hard to remember who all of the locals were, what their jobs were, what their personalities were like, and how they had already interacted with Newby. This may have been more due to my laziness than Newby's writing, though, so it's hard to fault him on that front.
   
   I was somewhat disappointed with this book; however, I can see why many people enjoy it and why it has garnered critical acclaim. For seasoned travel book readers or those with a high familiarity with central Asia (especially around the Pakistani-Afghan border), though, I think this book would be right up your alley.



4. "A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush" by Eric Newby (1958) is a minor classic among travel books that was, recently for me, a true pleasure to read. It's new info, insightful, light but not shallow, humorous, yet apropos to current events. Its preface by one of my favorite 'snobs' (Evelyn Waugh) was enough recommendation for me. An amateur British mountain climber with his sidekick in the wild mountains of North-east Afghanistan. Very subtle, very English. Eric Newby died in 2006. I'm happy he was a writer.



5. I got this book on the recommendation from the book Afghanistan: A Companion and Guide, which described it as "among the best travel books ever written". Having read the book, I would have to agree.
   
   This book could be a humor book almost as much as a travel book. Newby's style of writing is, at times, felt like watching a Monty Python sketch in its dry British humor and the unexpected places that one constantly found it coming up.
   
   Eric Newby starts the book as a man working in the fashion industry after World War II, who realizes that he's in the wrong job. He calls up a friend who worked for the foreign service in Afghanistan and asks him if he wants to go to Nuristan in northeast Afghanistan. He quits he jobs, does four days of mountain climbing in Great Britian, and heads off.
   
   I will not spoil the adventures he has just in getting there but will say that they are amazing, unexpected and fascinating. You really get the sense of a seat-of-your-pants road trip in the way that he almost blindly goes into what would be anyone's trip of a lifetime.
   
   His description of Afghanistan and its people who he meets and who guide him is wonderful and accurate to everything I have seen in this country myself. To anyone who likes travel books or simply wants to read a fascinating adventure, you need to read this book.

5 comments about Chasing the Monsoon: A Modern Pilgrimage Through India.

1. Loved it, loved it, loved it. One of my all-time faves.



2. Few books on India can easily hope to undertake and accomplish the monumental task of depicting this complex society. This book is no exception. By taking the lens of the monsoon -- and the beliefs and practices which surround it in India - this book has adopted a wonderful device to depict a wide swathe of this country. Entertaining and thoughtful, this is certainly one of the more informative travelogues on India.



3. The most improbable of all "journeys"..... to chase a monsoon through India. But how lyrical and memorable this trip is. This is a story not just of Frater, but of the people of India he comes in contact with during this voyage, and an explanation of how the monsoon affects each of them. This is one of the VERY few books I have ever read more than once. Another great read about a journey is South Wind by Norman Douglas.



4. In writing "Chasing the Monsoon: A Modern Pilgrimage through India" Alexander Frater weaves external observations his personal memories into a cohesive, entertaining account of his myriad experiences following the monsoon up and across the Indian subcontinent. Despite a plethora of details about the science and meteorology, accounts of his attempts to secure the blessings of a cumbersome Indian government's bureaucracy, his social interactions with people at all levels of Indian society, excruciating car trips, and recollections of his and his family's experiences living on islands in the Pacific, the book is neither dry nor dull.
   
   Mr. Prater braids these various story lines into a seamless retelling of his experiences. His attention to detail-whether describing a worn-out hotel, recounting an overheard conversation about the virtues of various types of mangoes, or capturing the sensual experience of being engulfed by the monsoon-is quite remarkable. Though the story is highly personal, Mr. Frater does not impose himself upon the reader in such a manner as to detract from his travelogue. I'm glad he fully documented his experience and further appreciate his tidy way of bringing matters full circle.



5. _Chasing the Monsoon_ by Alexander Frater was an enjoyable travel book, one that I read in just a few days. The author's intention, as one might guess from the title, was to follow the progress of the summer monsoon through India, beginning in the southernmost tip of the subcontinent, Cape Comorin, and following its progress up the west coast through Trivandrum, Calicut, Goa, and Bombay, then jetting over to Delhi, and then to experience the eastern arm of the monsoon (there are two arms, one in the east of India, one in the west) in Calcutta and in two places near Bangladesh, Shillong and Cherrapunji (there was a map illustrating his route).
   
   Frater began the book discussing his childhood in the New Hebrides, a group of islands in the South Pacific jointly administered at one time by both France and the United Kingdom, how growing up his missionary father helped instill in him a fascination for weather. His father had talked about one of the rainiest spots on Earth, Cherrapunji, India, which was known at the height of the monsoon season in July to get as much as 75 feet of rain, though more often in the 30 to 40 foot range, receiving as much as 40 inches in one day. Though Frater's father never visited Cherrapunji and lost interest in meteorology due to mounting family financial problems and the Second World War, Alexander himself never completely lost interest in the weather.
   
   After relating how he finally decided to follow the monsoon in the summer of 1987 and if possible visit Cherrapunji, he detailed his pilgrimage throughout India. Though Frater did discuss some of the science of the monsoon and in particular the history of its study (noting such famous researchers as H.F. Blandford, who beginning in 1875 became the first of a line of India-based climatologists who studied the monsoon and Sir John Eliot, his successor, often called the "father of monsoon studies"), the book is more a travel than a popular science book, detailing what Frater saw in India and in particular local reactions to the monsoon (or its unfortunate absence in drought-stricken parts of the country).
   
   Throughout most of India, the onset of the monsoon rains, the "burst," was eagerly anticipated, the arrival of life-giving rains and cooler weather celebrated for centuries in art, poetry, and song. Frater visited remarkable pavilions, palaces, gardens, and fountains where the very wealthy had in the past had sought to recreated the cooling rains of the monsoon during times of heat and aridity.
   
   Though many cities and regions have unofficial dates when the monsoon is supposed to begin - for instance around June 5 in Goa - the actual advance of the rains is unpredictable, subject to much discussion and even heated debate on the street, with many people hanging on every word of travelers to areas already experiencing monsoon rains, meteorologists, and even astrologers. I must say I was rather surprised that the monsoon traveled slowly enough through India that Frater for the most part was able to keep ahead of it, as while the first burst over Cape Comorin occurs generally around June 1, it is nearly July 1 before it reaches Delhi (if it reaches it at all; Frater chronicled how the monsoon rains had failed to arrive in recent years). Overall Frater did an excellent job of conveying the tense atmosphere of expectation among those waiting for the rains and the sense of relief and jubilation once they had arrived.
   
   When the rains did arrive there was often great rejoicing with almost unofficial holidays in many parts of the country. Even in businesses that did not close had workers from cashiers and waiters up to expensively dressed businessmen and women running outside to cavort in the rain. Adults and children played in the rains, planned parties celebrating it, and even not unlike Frater himself planned trips to see it (the author wrote of oil-rich wealthy Middle Easterners flying on their private jets to India to witness such vast amounts of rain for themselves).
   
   Additionally, people associated the monsoon with cures for a variety of ailments. The "monsoon cure," which could be anything from specific diets to being massaged in special oils to meditation with the onset of the rains, was big business, particularly in western India.
   
   So important were the rains in providing a relief from the heat, watering crops, filling wells, and regenerating lakes and rivers, that much like with the monsoon cures an entire industry existed to ensure the arrival of the rains, ranging from ceremonial well diving to crackpot inventors to cloud-seeding with aircraft to singing ancient songs called ragas, composed especially to bring on the monsoonal rains.
   
   Not everyone welcomed the monsoon. Frater detailed the great difficulties of officials in Calcutta in handling the floods brought about by the monsoon, and hinted at but didn't go into detail about the massive floods in Bangladesh the rains often brought. Fishermen and sailors often couldn't work in the high seas, cyclones, and driving rain during the height of the monsoon and pilots often had great difficulty flying in monsoon weather. Back when India was a British possession some Englishmen became depressed, alcoholic, or even committed suicide due to the rains.
   
   A portion of the book detailed Frater's attempts to get permission from Delhi to visit Cherrapunji, as it was located in a region subject to anti-immigrant riots and fighting (something he might have gone a little bit more into). As foreign travel and even travel by Indians themselves to that area was tightly controlled, Frater had to navigate the intricate, complex, positively Byzantine corridors of Indian bureaucracy. This theme seems to be a common element of Indian travel writing, a topic addressed also in _An Area of Darkness_ by V.S. Naipaul and _The Search for the Pink-headed Duck_ by Rory Nugent.
   
   Though I would have liked a bit more science and maybe some photos, overall I enjoyed the book.

3 comments about Banaras.

1. This book takes one on a breathtaking Odyssey through the sacred landscape of the world's oldest and most sacred city: Lord Siva's eternal abode. Eck's approach is sensitive and captivating, her scholarship is impressive, and the result of her labour has been a preciously insightful and informative book. Anyone seeking God owes it to himself to learn about the Holy City of Kashi, where death is transformed into divine liberation, and reading this book is an excellent way to get started. As both a Saiva and a scholar, I highly recommend it!



2. Diane Eck has written the most readable and spiritual book on the city where Hindus make pilgrimage to bathe in the Ganges and to take their last breath in this lifetime. The book includes good maps of the bathing ghats and detailed information of this ancient city of temples devoted to Shiva and other Gods and Goddesses. I have been to Banaras and walked those crooked streets and Eck's book places me right back in that sacred place.



3. I first visited The City of Light in the fall of '89. When I returned for six month stays in both 1999 and 2006 I had Diana Eck's book with me; it made a rich experience even richer. As Eck writes, Kashi is not of this world, and her book - now well-dogearred - made my explorations more focused and deeply understood.

No comments about India (Rough Guide 25s).

1 comments about Northeast India: Tread Your Own Path (Footprint - Travel Guides).

1. Northeast India is a diverse, colorful, intriguing and extensive locale, and "Footprint: Northeast India" covers everything you'd want to know about the location. From the highest mountains of the Himalayan mountains, to the sights and indigenous peoples, to the birthplace of Buddhism and the world's most expensive tea. "Footprint: Northeast India" is a superbly organized, comprehensive, and thoroughly 'user friendly' 350-page travel guide packed from cover to cover with full color photos and great information, making it very highly recommended for all who have an interest in the region and needs a place on every personal and community library travel guide reference shelf.

1 comments about Strange Big Moon: The Japan and India Journals, 1960-1964.

1. This book reminds me of Sei Shonagon, but the cast of characters is often well-known Beat writers. Kyger was married to Beat saint Gary Snyder at the time, but she is iconoclastic in regards to presenting him here. The arc of the book is their love story -- beginning with a shy and rather impressed Kyger and ending with a rather loud and irreverent Kyger. Early on she worships Snyder, but then he knocks her down and splits her head open on a wood table when she refuses to do the dishes. He is surly throughout the book, and given to bad moods, and kicks her at least twice.

   Kyger gets it all down.

   Beat saint Allen Ginsberg grabs his food at the communal dining hour and shoves his face full without waiting for others to be served. Orlovsky is shoving drugs in his face every moment that he can.

   This is a funny book that knocks out stereotypes left and right. In one or two sentences she undoes the career of Paul Blackburn, for instance. And all the while she is musing on the possibility of a female literature, and what it might consist of -- something for which she had no clear legacy in American but the Japanese writers of the Heian period such as Sei Shonagon appear to have given her the inspiration needed.

   This is a very good book for those who are tired of the Beats self-sanctification, and want a bit of humorous and unsparing insight into their world.

2 comments about Indian Journals.

1. This collection of diary entries, pieces of poems, personal reflections, and other notations written by Allen Ginsberg (poet + prophet) reveals a lot not only about Ginsberg, but about India itself. The conditions on the streets of Calcutta, Bombay, and other Indian cities are presented in stark clarity; many of the images he invokes are startling (like the burning ghats, or burial mounds), and sometimes even disturbing, but they are always described in a way that is at once personal and human. Ginsberg frequently writes about different Hindu gods and goddesses, reflecting his deep interest in and knowledge of Indian culture. There are a series of photographs that compliment the written words very well; as opposed to the original printing of this book, there are several new photographs included. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Allen Ginsberg, the Beats, Poetry, India, or the human spirit and it's compassionate nature....



2. Beautiful and paranoiac in the same time this epic journey of Allen Ginsberg w/ Peter Orlowsky in India shows written bits as diary writing, journals, magnificent poems along the way with wonderful photographs inserted. This books is a collage of ideas, sentiments, emotions captured by Allen's ink along his trip throught Calcutta, beautiful instants, praise for the police state, words that fall on the text, announced with a cold voice. This book begin as a diary and classic Allen Ginsberg poems comes at some moments, lenghty experimental poetry classic from the Beat instant. A really nice book with nice paper and typographs.

1 comments about National Geographic Traveler: India 2nd Edition (National Geographic Traveler).

1. I bought this guide thinking I was going to get an accurate view of India -more anthropology, art history, etc, than other guides in the market that cater to the non adventure types, given the author's knowledge of Indian Art and frequent travels to the subcontinent. However, the guide turned out to be kind of disappointing and although nice pictures, very hollow. It offers a rather oversimplified view on various topics ranging from women's role in society and textiles, for example, while lacking information on everyday etiquette. It doesn't offer information or approx admission charges for museums and sites (would have been useful to know that foreigners are charged more than residents and that guide books are not allowed in the Taj Mahal). The distribution of the text boxes in the guide is also a bit disturbing, I would have preferred to have all these information condensed at the beginning of the guide instead of randomly dispersed in the regional sections.
   I don't know exactly when was her last travel to India, but she misses to mention a lot of interesting spots for shopping, sightseeing and partying.

4 comments about In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods.

1. This book outlines Galen Rowell's attempt on K-2. Rarely does a book bring together pictures, text and feeling as this one does. Along with Pete Boardman's Shining Mountain, I rate this among the best mountaineering books out there. This one is destined to become a cult classic



2. The laundry in this expedition gets aired in this book. This seems to be the book that the movie K2 was based on. A lot of the characters and events are similar. Rowell gives a lot of historical background from other expeditions to K2. Rowell writes this novel from his perspective, but he also uses the diaries from the other expedition members to tell the story. He also gives the perspective from the porters point of view, however, it seems like he is mostly guessing what the porters feel and think and I've never like that from a ethnographic point of view. Considering the trouble the expedition had, it's a wonder that any of them wanted to return. Some of the best photographs of the region are shown. Galen is great photographer.



3. Most mountaineering books chronicle successful ascents. Rowell offers an even more fascinating study in the failure of an expedition plagued by titan egos: famous mountaineers proving themselves no gods. The photography is... breathtaking!



4. I thoroughly enjoyed this account of the 1975 American K2 Expedition. The wonderful photos and the well-written text were some of the best I've encountered in mountaineering literature.

   I liked how Galen Rowell interspersed his account of the expedition with earlier accounts of K2 attempts, some successful and some not. They gave an interesting insight into the history of this tough mountain and the people who have climbed it. The journal excerpts from various 1975 team members were insightful and intriguing. I am now going to start on "The Last Step" by Rick Ridgeway, about the 1978 American K2 expedition. Apparently, this team wasn't without their problems either.

   I found it ironic, that after all the team discussion about the possibly negative implications of having a woman (Dianne Roberts) on the team, especially the wife of the leader, that she really figured very little in the disputes and quarrels. It was also ironic that there was still a lot of dissention and miscommunication amongst the team members on the actual expedition, even after the team expelled Alex Bertulis from the original team, due to lack of confidence in his ability to be a team player.

   Read it, you won't be disappointed. I gave it a four because I found the first couple of chapters hard to get into. But once the '75 team is formed, it picks up quickly and then is quite hard to put down.

   Unfortunately, Galen Rowell, the author of this book and a well-known photographer, recently was killed in a plane crash near his home in California with his wife.

2 comments about India Sublime: Princely Palace Hotels of Rajasthan.

1. I was very eager to purchase this book as I am heading to Rajasthan next year for a holiday. The book features 21 palaces/forts that have been converted into hotels. It is produced in the coffee table genre - but it's not that inspiring, appearing a bit old-fashioned. I think there are 5 main problems. First, ... the complete absence of any map showing the location of the various hotels in Rajasthan. Second, most of the hotels are rather obvious choices ... names one will come across simply by browsing big glossy tourist brochures. There are not many surprises / discoveries. Third, the photographs are usually just of the main structure and/or public spaces, providing little information about accommodation (if that is what one is seeking to know). This is important because some of the converted palaces have absolutely charming public spaces, but unfortunately provide dingy accommodation. The photographs themselves are not particularly inspiring . Fourth, the authors' decision to include a brand new Oberoi Hotel in Udaipur - a building constructed in 2002 that has no princely origins whatsoever ... is highly questionable, and, I think, ultimately regrettable. Fifth, the book itself smells very very badly from the production inks ... making it almost off-putting to turn the pages. I tried leaving it on the balcony to breathe a bit for many hours - but it still smells. It is printed in China - but one would think that it is possible for the publishers, Rizzoli, to control such factors. Overall, I am not upset I have bought the book - it's mildly useful - but I don't find it inspiring or exciting ... which is surprising given the content.



2. This well produced book contains many important palaces that have recently been converted to luxury hotels. Naturally, the original architecture, decor, and mood of the traditional buildings have suffered the renovations and the hyper cleanliness demanded by today's luxury seeking tourist. Nevertheless, many of the buildings are so spectacular that, in spite of conversion, much of their original brilliance remains. Many palaces are in distant reaches of Rajasthan and not on the usual tourist circuit. In general, these are the most exceptional. The book is nearly worth having merely to see the fantastic high ceilinged, completely tiled rooms of the Raj Niwas in Dholpur, or the magnificent complexly mirrored room at Kuchaman Fort in Kuchaman; both of these sites are amazing. Most of the hotels in this book retain their major architectural elements and are often newly decorated, but in a style that aptly suggests earlier periods. These are wonderful to see. A few palaces have been too up-dated and feel somewhat false and dead, and one hotel (Udaivilas in Udaipur) was built in 2002 in a bastardized traditional style and should not have been included in this book. In one instance, a large interior room of a palace has been transformed into a room for an indoor swimming pool. Nothing wrong with that for the tourist trade; but, the spirit of the original enclosure is entirely lost. In general, the hotels have been too manicured,too meticulously repainted according to contemporary taste, and decorated with standard hotel amenities reminiscent of Martha Stewart. In these instances, the feeling is that of the standard international luxury hotel, rather than sensitively refreshed examples of the great Indian palace styles of former times.