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Book Review - Butter Chicken In Ludhiana
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Book Details Title: Butter Chicken In Ludhiana Author: Pankaj Mishra Publisher: Penguin India (Paperback) Year of Publication: 1995 Number of pages: 276 BOOK REVIEW Hailed as India's travel writing sensation, Pankaj Mishra's much-acclaimed book, Butter Chicken in Ludhiana is an unusual travelogue detailing his travels in urban India, covering diverse towns from Muzzafarnagar to Kottayam to Murshidabad. The book vividly brings to life 19 small towns of India, describing them not in exotic or quaint terms, but rather in the frightening new context of modernisation and globalisation. Written for the general reader, the book far outreached its target by being appreciated not just by the readers but also by critics. With a book contract in his pocket and notebook always in hand, Mishra buses to various spots with no pre-planned itinerary, seeking insight into the huge land that is India. He is not out to see the sights as much as to observe the transformation of society under the myriad new influences affecting the country. There is much about the effect of television, and a fine description of the unease with which fast-food restaurants have been imported in Butter Chicken in Ludhiana. Mishra is particularly interested in the people he encounters. He has a great deal of contact with the locals, though almost always as a mere passerby. Describing the people and his interaction with them in detail, Mishra offers an interesting cross-section of Indian society. From the Sharma family that sees him as prospective son-in-law to students working towards, taking and failing the Civil Service exam to passing encounters with Western tourists, Butter Chicken in Ludhiana covers a lot of ground. Mishra uses simple, descriptive and enchanting phrase and form - whether it is a description of Tiruppur, the centre of India's hosiery business, or a look at sexual harassment of white women tourists in Benares, or berating hotels that take no Indians in Kovalam, or recounting a joke told by Haryanvi businessmen in Malda - Mishra doesn't fail to keep you enthralled. A subtle sense of humour and a whiff of wit thrown into a well woven travelogue with a fresh new look into modern India, make Butter Chicken in Ludhiana a satisfying read. Writing in the first person narrative, Mishra often sounds like a nostalgic old man recalling the good old days comparing them to the fast transforming modern society. However, his perspective and his experiences make Butter Chicken in Ludhiana an interesting India-book. Hailing from Allahabad, Pankaj Mishra first came to notice in Indian literary circles in the early nineties for his book reviews in The Pioneer, primarily of Indian fiction in English or western fiction relating to India. The reviews stood out, both for their language and the quality of their insights. It came as a surprise to many that Mishra was still in his early twenties and a student at the School of Languages at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. After a Bachelors' in English literature from Allahabad University and an MPhil from Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, Mishra joined Harper Collins as chief editor and was the one who saw the brilliance in Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things. His book done, he retreated from the big city and now lives in a village, 14 km north of
Simla.
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