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BOOK
SUMMARY |
'I
used to be human once. So I'm told. I don't remember it
myself, but people who knew me when I was small say I walked
on two feet just like a human being...'
Ever since he can remember, Animal has gone on all fours,
the catastrophic result of what happened on That Night when,
thanks to an American chemical company, the Apocalypse visited
his slum.
Now not quite twenty, he leads a hand-to-mouth existence
with his dog Jara and a crazy old nun called Ma Franci,
and spends his nights fantasising about Nisha, the daughter
of a local musician, and wondering what it must be like
to get laid. More... |
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REVIEWS
IN BRIEF |
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From
the arresting opening line of Indra Sinha's vivid second
novel ("I used to be human once"), the voice of
Animal, the narrator, leaps out to grab you by the throat.
Bawdy, irreverent and smart… Animal's People - part
coming-of-age Bildungsroman, part vicious critique of corporate
terrorism - is a bold and punchy tale.
New Statesman
Every now and then you come across a novel so honest that
it leaves you gasping for breath - like a blow to the solar
plexus. The emotion is raw, the story honest and the language
simply that of the people. You know that once you start
reading it will break your heart and yet you keep turning
the pages because the story has to be told. Indian
Express
Many of you have read Indra's pieces on bhopal.net, the
777 newsletters and scores of campaign material he has produced
in the last fourteen years. imagine all of that anger, sadness,
laughter, bawdiness, absurdity and flights of power defying
imagination in one book - thats Animal's People. It is an
intimately gripping story told by 'Animal' a young survivor
of the 'apokalis' [apocalypse] in the city of Khaufpur.
Everybody calls him Animal because he lopes on his feet
and hands due to his bent spine - damage caused by the gases
of the apokalis. He lies, cheats, peeps at bathing women,
thinks unprintable thoughts, dreams wet dreams, verges on
betraying the cause for justice but throughout remains starkly
real and immensely lovable. The people around Animal are
fellow survivors, activists, American do gooders, musicians,
government officials, lumpens and lust objects. Together
it is the story of the have-nothings fighting the have-alls
and winning. Khaufpur is as close or far from Bhopal as
you want it to be but I am sure you will enjoy the retelling
of the many campaigns that all of you have been part of
and recognise the intricacies of wickedness and resistance
in a gassed city. For sure it has the power to make a whole
new set of people curious and potentially sympathetic to
the ongoing struggle of Bhopal. The book is published in
England and available on Amazon UK . Please forward this
and encourage friends to buy this brilliant book.
Sathyu Sarangi, International Campaign for Justice
in Bhopal |
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"Bhalu, call
this story fiction if you want, but you must tell it because
it is true, and its heart is that murder of forty years
ago which people in India still remember..."
The reverberations from
the notorious Nanavati society murder in 1950s Bombay –
the fatal consequences of an affair between an Indian playboy
and his married English lover – were so great they
reached the offices of Prime Minister Nehru and irrevocably
changed the face of the Indian justice system.
In modern-day London, Bhalu
unexpectedly meets Phoebe, forty years after their idyllic
childhood in India, and just as Bhalu is beginning to explore
a mystery left him by his dying mother. More...
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REVIEWS
IN BRIEF |
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Best
ever evocation of Bombay and Ghats
Reviewer: Fred Gomes from New York City, USA
As someone who grew up in Bombay I have to say that this
is the only novel I have ever read that brings back to me
the city that I knew, its sounds, smells and above all,
the feel of being there. From bus rides on the 132, smells
of Sassoon Dock, reminders of the great days of Hindi movies
(Guru Dutt, Johnny Walker) to parts of the city like Dongri
which are never written about elsewhere because only a person
who knows can write: this plus a great story and characters
and what must be the definitive description of the western
ghats through the eyes of a small child make this a novel
that haunts one long after one has finished the last page
and regretfully put it down.
Indiaclub.com
I
thoroughly enjoyed this first novel by Sinha and hope that
there is more to follow. It made me both laugh and cry and
so absorbed me that I even got up at dawn one morning to
watch the sun rise over Whitby Bay and finish the book!
Just what you need to while away the hours on a hot beach
in North Yorkshire!
Londonlibraries.org
One
death, long ago, stains the innocence of the present with
the pus of ancient corruption. It is a search for truth,
rather than revenge, that drives the story, but it proves
to be a truth that brings no release. India is evoked with
astonishing richness and depth, while remaing a backdrop
for the characters, who are vivid and rounded, but always
with more to reveal as the dream draws them on. I read this
book some months ago, but it haunts me still.
Andy, Melbourne
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| Cybergypsies
are the pioneers who opened up cyberspace. The author describes
the curious and often bizarre people he met over fifteen years
of roaming the pre-web net: virus writers, hackers, sex-peddlars,
conmen... He nearly lost everything through his obsession,
but also discovered how the net can be used for campaigns
for human rights and justice. More... |
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| REVIEWS
IN BRIEF |
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| Experience
is equally "real," whether online or in the flesh.
While the blurring of reality and illusion is not a new
theme, Sinha's rich narrative and thoughtful observations
propel this engaging memoir.
Time Magazine |
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| Narrated
with wit and moments of literary flair in the nonlinear
style of the internet itself, this book amounts to a sort
of architectural dig, excavating bits of data and random-access
memories from "that peculiar world of ours which has
all but vanished"
Publishers Weekly |
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The
world that envelopes Bear seems borrowed from the pages of
Tolkien's The Hobbit; other times it's as if the author has
unlocked a door in Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. Bear's fantastical
band of pranksters includes a hacker in Oklahoma named Geno
Paris (his real name); a femme fatale called Calypso who robs
men of their money, and even leads one to suicide; and Luna,
a disembodied woman whose real identity is never known, but
who enchants Bear because she has completely given herself
over to the online life.
Industry Standard |
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A
strangely fascinating exploration of the dark side of cyberspace,
where virus writers, porno peddlers, and fantasy game fanatics
have created an anarchic subculture that blurs reality and
imagination... Part Dante, part Bill Gates, part Jack Kerouac
however you categorize this bizarre book, it's worthy of attention.
Kirkus Reviews |
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The
Cybergypsies is a page-turner that left me exhilerated, sated
and wiser. Balu, you are indeed a love god. Bomshanka.
Amazon.com reader |
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"The best single source of information connecting tantra
with gnosticism I have have ever seen and the best
single collection of Indian erotica I have ever seen."
Reader on Amazon
The
book publishes a number of important, never-before-seen
tantric paintings from a private collection.
The
text, written over six weeks in 1992, in the pre-Google
era, was the product of two decades of reading of original
texts, but no "hands on" experience. |
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SAMPLE
SPREADS |
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Click
to enlarge |
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REVIEWS
IN BRIEF |
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| "The
best single source of information connecting tantra with gnosticism
I have have ever seen and the best single collection
of indian erotica I have ever seen." Amazon reader
review |
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"Tantrism
prescribes a systematic violation of all that the culture
within which it is embedded holds most dear: a destruction
or suspension of values in an affirmation of desire and
the body. The Guhyasama Tantra provides one of the most
extreme examples, simply by inverting or negating the strictest
tenets of Buddhism: "Kill all living beings, let your
words be lies, take what is not given, and enjoy the ladies."
After quoting that passage, Indra Sinha goes on to summarize
the passages that follow: The text "suggests that the
sadhaka should take a radiantly lovely sixteen- year old
girl, scent her with perfumes and deck her with ornaments,
and then have intercourse with her, worshipping her [as
an embodiment of shakti] with, and offering to the gods,
the four essences of his body: excrement, urine, semen,
and blood: if he does this, he will become the equal of
a buddha." With absolute systematicity, then, Tantrism
becomes a celebration of the obscene and despised, and what
is above all obscene and despised is whatever reminds us
of the body."
Tantrické
praktiky v hinduistické tradici pokládají
sexuální energii za cestu k dosazšení
duchovní moudrosti. Po dobu více nezš dvou
tisíc let vznikalo v Indii velké mnozšství
erotické literatury. Na základeš mnoha tešchto
dešl sestavil autor tuto knihu, kterou doprovází
jedinecšná sbírka obrazuž. Blurb for the Czech
edition. I have no idea what it means |
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The
first new English translation of the Kama
Sutra to be published in the west for nearly
100 years - it was preceded only by the 1888 translation
of Burton and Arbuthnot.
This translation was published in 1980 and is the famous
version whose chapter on lovemaking positions was pirated
in the early 1990s and has now spread right across the internet.
It has been in print continuously for almost thirty years
and has been re-translated into languages as obscure as
Brazilian Portuguese and Finnish. More...
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COVER
IMAGES |
| All
cover images
of my books on this website are licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
License. Basically this means that if unaltered they may
be used freely for any non-commercial purpose. |
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