"Writers of South Asian descent have been garnering more and more success, acclaim, and attention. Story-Wallah gathers the finest South Asian voices in fiction for the first time in a single volume." "In this book, some of the world's best fiction writers hawk their wares from different parts of the South Asian diaspora - Sri Lanka, India, the United States, Great Britain, Guyana, Malaysia, Trinidad, Fiji - creating a virtual map of the world with their tales. These stories explore universal themes of identity, culture, and home, and Story-Wallah includes a rich array of experiences: a honeymoon in Sri Lanka, the trials of a Bangladeshi refugee in England, life on a sugar plantation in Trinidad, the attempts of an Indian family to arrange a marriage for their rebellious daughter."--Book jacket.

Recently, South Asian writers such as Salman Rushdie, Michael Ondaatje, Rohinton Mistry, Bharati Mukherjee, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Monica Ali have been dominating the world's literary scene, winning prestigious prizes, and appearing on numerous bestseller lists, and being hailed by critics and readers worldwide. Yet never before has their work appeared together in an anthology. Now, for the first time, the internationally heralded writer Shyam Selvadurai has collected the very best of South Asian short fiction in Story-Wallah!, a remarkable anthology showcasing 26 beautifully written stories whose memorable characters will remain with the reader long after they have closed the pages of this book. A "wallah" is a hawker or merchant. In Story-Wallah! some of the world's best fiction writers hawk their wares from different parts of the South Asian diaspora - Canada, the United States, Britain, Guyana, Trinidad, Malaysia, Tanzania, Fiji - creating a virtual map of the world with their tales. There is an eclectic quality to the way the stories jostle up against each other: life on a sugar plantation in Trinidad next to the story of a childhood in rural 1930's Australia. A Christmas in Fiji next to the attempts by an Indian family in South Africa to arrange a marriage for their rebellious daughter. A honeymoon in lush Sri Lanka next to the trials of a Bangladeshi refugee in England. The result is a marvelous cacophony, like early morning at a South Asian bazaar. Story-Wallah! is essential reading for anyone with an interest in South Asian writers and the dynamic, important tales they have to tell.

Humanly compelling, beautifully told ... brings to light a forgotten chapter of Indian history, one we need to remember in these troubled times' PRATAP BHANU MEHTA '[Joy Ma and Dilip D'Souza] have seamlessly woven together historical facts with personal stories about how the Chinese- Indians lost the country of their birth' YIN MARSH The untold account of the internment of 3,000 Chinese-Indians after the 1962 Sino-Indian War. Just after the Sino-Indian War of 1962, about 3,000 Chinese-Indians were sent to languish in a disused World War II POW camp in Deoli, Rajasthan, marking the beginning of a painful five-year-long internment without resolution. At a time of war with China, these ‘Chinese-looking’ people had fallen prey to government suspicion and paranoia which soon seeped into the public consciousness. This is a page of Indian history that comes wrapped in prejudice and fear, and is today largely forgotten. But over five decades on, survivors of the internment are finally starting to tell their stories. As several Indian communities are once again faced with discrimination, The Deoliwallahs records these untold stories through extensive interviews with seven survivors of the Deoli internment. Through these accounts, the book recovers a crucial chapter in our history, also documenting for the first time how the Chinese came to be in India, how they made this country their home and became a significant community, until the war of 1962 brought on a terrible incarceration, displacement and tragedy.

By 2018, India will be home to 3.58 lakh millionaires, doubling its tally from 1.5 lakh in 2013. In a country where risk is fast proving to be its own reward, a new cadre of wealth creators is building large fortunes at a breakneck pace. Not only do their successes mirror a bolder nation, they reflect new attitudes to generating, managing and leveraging wealth in a changing India. Gold biscuits, cash stuffed in mattresses and swathes of land are passé; aspirational India is no longer at the mercy of old conduits to more wealth. India is creating wealth differently and faster than any other economy in the world. This book chronicles the story of the country's new wealthy and the people helping them manage these riches. It also traces the journey of a young wealth management company that has in less than a decade become an industry frontrunner by building a business catering to the new wealthy. In a post-2008 world, the story of IIFL Wealth and its three founders is also a story of entrepreneurial dynamism in India. Much like the clients they service, these three are also riding a perfect storm of opportunity.

In this remarkable debut novel, a boy’s bittersweet passage to maturity and sexual awakening is set against escalating political tensions in Sri Lanka, during the seven years leading up to the 1983 riots. Arjie Chelvaratnam is a Tamil boy growing up in an extended family in Colombo. It is through his eyes that the story unfolds and we meet a delightful, sometimes eccentric cast of characters. Arjie’s journey from the luminous simplicity of childhood days into the more intricately shaded world of adults – with its secrets, its injustices, and its capacity for violence – is a memorable one, as time and time again the true longings of the human heart are held against the way things are.

In 2011, the screenwriter, lyricist and journalist Neelesh Misra started mentoring a handpicked group of writers called the Mandali. These were men and women of all ages, backgrounds and dispositions. The Mandali soon started writing radio stories in Hindi, for Misra's show Yaadon Ka Idiotbox-short, pithy, bittersweet narratives that immediately struck a chord with listeners across the country. Translated for the first time in English, this collection represents the Mandali at the height of its powers. These stories are blessed with a keen sense of place, attuned to the rhythms of both small-town India and rapidly expanding mega-cities like Delhi or Mumbai. Homesick yuppies reconnect with their hometowns, old lovers reconcile against all odds, and parents learn to get along with their grown-up children. A mother-in-law uses questionable tactics to bond with her distant daughter-in-law, a war widow learns to stand up to family, and a life-threatening mountain slope brings two strangers together. These are fresh, untamed voices aided and abetted by a master storyteller.

"At the onset of World War II, [Billy] Williams formed Elephant Company and was instrumental in defeating the Japanese in Burma and saving refugees, including on his own 'Hannibal Trek, ' [becoming] a media sensation during the war, telling reporters that the elephants did more for him than he was ever able to do for them"--