The Big Fat Indian Wedding' and other stories by Mysore Prabhakar is a heart-warming collection of stories and anecdotes covering everyday life in India. With a touch of Wodehousian humour, and a keen sense of observation and empathy, he explores the moments and memories that make up life in India where the individual, family and community come together to form a rich tapestry. The charms of 'Old Bengaluru' come alive in his easy, narrative style while recollections of his life in the military will keep you engrossed and well-entertained.

The Puyickal family, a reputed Mallu clan based in Mumbai, is going through a huge crisis. One of their younger scions, Neeraja wants to marry her Punjabi boyfriend. Her father wants to hear none of it. Her aunts would rather die than allow it. Her uncles don’t care a damn about it. And her poor cousin, idyllic existence is screwed by it… Arjun never wanted to have anything to do with his distant and more successful cousin; Neeraja. However, her decision to marry a non-Mallu, an unheard-of scandal in her family, changes his life forever. Forced to take part in the family ‘discussions’ by his mother, he tries to devise ways to get out of this mess, when he finds out Neeraja’s beau’s sister is his college crush. Desiring to win her back, he realizes it can only happen if Neeraja gets married to her boyfriend. With no option left, he forms an uneasy alliance with his hateful cousin, as they work in tandem to emotionally manipulate the elders into making this marriage happen…until one day, a dark secret gets revealed that threatens to unravel all their efforts…

Bollywood Weddings examines how middle to upper class second-generation Indian-American Hindus negotiate wedding rituals, including the dating and engagement processes. Many of these couples are (in Ramdya's neologism) 'occasional Hindus' who display their Hindu religious background only on important occasions such as the rite of passage that is marriage. These couples (and their extended families) negotiate two vastly different cultures and sets of values inside a community that has itself largely pre-determined how to mix American and Indian/Hindu elements into this ritual. As a rule, the first generation organizes the wedding, which is largely Hindu, and their children coordinate the American-style reception. Instead of choosing either India or America, or arriving at a compromise in between the two, this community takes a 'both/and' approach, embracing both cultures simultaneously. Ramdya's ethnographic fieldwork includes in-depth interviews of engaged couples, observation at their wedding ceremonies, wedding videography and photography, and material culture such as the clothing her participants wore on their wedding day. She explores pre-wedding day topics such as America's Indian-Hindu marriage market and bridal industry, then goes on to describe pre-wedding and wedding-day customs including the engagement party, kanyadan, and baraat. Bollywood, whose Indian origins grants it authenticity from the Hindu perspective and whose emphasis on romance accommodates American values, emerges as the key mediating third culture around which the community applies the both/and model to wedding rituals. The both/and model uncovered here reinforces the community's identity as ethnic and American even as it confirms that success in America need not be bought at the expense of one's religious background and cultural heritage.

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Following an experimental railway track at Chintadripet, in 1835, the battle for India's first railroad was fought bitterly between John Chapman's Great Indian Peninsular Railway and Rowland MacDonald Stephenson's East India Railway Company, which was merged with Dwarkanauth Tagore's Great Western of Bengal Railway. Even at the height of the Mutiny of 1857, Bahadur Shah Zafar promised Indian owned railway tracks for native merchants if Badshahi rule was restored in Delhi. From Jules Verne to Rudyard Kipling to Mark Twain to Rabindranath Tagore to Nirad C. Chaudhuri to R.K. Narayan and Ruskin Bond-the aura of Indian trains and railway stations have enchanted many writers and poets. With iconic cinematography from The Apu Trilogy, Aradhana, Sonar Kella, Sholay, Gandhi, Dil Se, Parineeta, Barfi, Gangs of Wasseypur, and numerous others, Indian cinema has paved the way for mythical railroads in the national psyche. The Great Indian Railways takes us on a historic adventure through many junctions of India's hidden railway legends, for the first time in a book replete with anecdotes from imperial politics, European and Indian accounts, the battlefronts of the Indian nationalist movement, Indian cinema, songs, advertisements, and much more, in an ever-expanding cultural biography of the Great Indian Railways. Dubbed as 'one of a kind' this awe-inspiring saga is 'compulsive reading.' 'In this fascinating cultural history, Arup K Chatterjee charts the extraordinary journey of the Indian Railways, from the laying of the very first sleeper to the first post-Independence bogey. It evokes our collective accumulation of those innumerable memories of platform chai and rail-gaadi stories, bringing alive through myriad voices and tales the biography of one of India's defining public institutions.' – Shashi Tharoor, Author, M.P., Lok Sabha 'The Great Indian Railways is a fascinating and well-researched cultural biography of the Indian Railways-those intricate arteries of the soul of India, as have been experienced, written, filmed, and dreamed. We cannot all travel by rail to know India, as Gandhiji did, but we can and should read this book!' – Tabish Khair, Author, Professor

Why are the Himalayas considered geologically alive? When did the First train huff and puff its way between two stations in India? What was Indias very own desi dino called? How did Indias currency come to be Named the rupee? Which Indian glacier is the highest battleground in The world? Who wrote the worlds first grammar book? If questions like these make you curious about incredible India, here is a bumper info-pedia packed with fascinating facts, terrific trivia and colourful Cartoons on just about everything in India, this book encourages interest in a wide range of subjects. Use it for homework help, for project ideas, to Boost your general knowledge or as a ready reference because this must have Book makes getting to know India as easy as ABC.

Explore&Nbsp;The Shobhaa De Minsite Here! &Lsquo;This Is A Story About India. My India. It Is A Very Personal Story. You See, I&Rsquo;M Exactly As Old As India Is.&Rsquo; It All Began When, Viewing The Breathless Preparations For Independent India&Rsquo;S 60Th Birthday Celebrations--And Poised Then On Her Own Sixth Decade&Mdash;Shobhaa DÉ Was Struck By The Thought: &Lsquo;Surely My Life Has Taken The Same Trajectory As The Country&Rsquo;S?&Rsquo; In An Intimate Confession To Her Readers, She Answers That Question, And Many More: Does India Really Deserve To Congratulate Itself? Has It Lived Up To The Early Promises It Made To Its People? Does The Author Believe In India Herself? Surveying The Many Images Of The Country, DÉ Points Out That For Every Truism About India The Opposite Is Also True: India As The Land Of The Meek; India As Inheritor Of The Earth; India Gherao-Ed By Distinctly Unfriendly Neighbours; Indians Fleeing To Jobs In The West And Then Racing Right Back To A Better Life; Indians Who Ape Their Erstwhile Colonizers And Yet Cling Irrationally To Tradition. In A Departure From Anything Else She Has Written, Shobhaa DÉ Lasers In On Indian People And Their Place In The Larger Human Society, Pointing Out Her Country&Rsquo;S Historical Failings And Equally Historical Glories. Admitting To Our Knee-Jerk Reactions To Much Of What Is Happening At Home And In The World, DÉ Reasons, Nevertheless, That The Nation Has Earned Superstar Status, And With Humorous Argumentativeness, She Convinces The Reader That India Is Not About To Lose Its Glow.