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Hello friends,

For those of you who know about India - it's a place of magical scenery with unique culture, customs and traditions. More importantly, the art of storytelling seems to have its roots in there. The Indian mythology and the great epics (Mahabharata and Ramayana) are masterpieces of storytelling. My grandmother would narrate bedtime stories from these epics, and I can say without hesitation that she is a great storyteller!

We've had great Indian writers who've won accolades - Rabindranath Tagore, R K Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand, and more recently Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy etc.

Please share your thoughts about India and its storytelling heritage, if you've experienced either.

HI V J.!

very interesting comments....I''ve learned about your country from the following novels:

a passage to India.................E.M. Forster
the jungle book..............Rudyard Kipling.......
siddhartha............Herman Hesse...

plus Indian Cookbooks, i'm very enamored of your cuisine....

My favorite book is written by an Indian author: 'A Fine Balance' by Rohinton Mistry. It's beautifully written, and the author's gift for description made me feel I was right there in the heart of India, alongside his characters.

Thanks for your reply, Suzy. Yes Indian cuisine is mouth-watering with lots of spices added to every dish!

The Jungle Book is such a fascinating read that even today it's exciting to read Rudyard Kipling's book.

Thanks Carrie. Yes Rohinton Mistry's books are written with so much conviction - you feel like you are part of the story. But if you want to get a true taste of India, you need to read about south India in RK Narayan's novels. RKN is the king of simple prose - his words float like a lily pad in a cool pond.

vinayj11 wrote:But if you want to get a true taste of India, you need to read about south India in RK Narayan's novels. RKN is the king of simple prose - his words float like a lily pad in a cool pond.

Thanks for the recommendation!

thanks V.J. and carrie!

i've just added your recommendations to my BTR list...

Hi, great recommendation vinay. It's great to see you all on online book club forum.