Book Launch: Srinath Perur's 'If It's Monday It Must Be Madurai: A Conducted Tour of India'

in association with 

invites you to the Bangalore launch of Srinath Perur's

If It's Monday It Must Be Madurai: A Conducted Tour of India

Srinath will be in conversation with Zac O'Yeah

Friday, 31 January 2014, 6.30 pm (Tea at 6 pm)

Sapna Book House

 No. 32, ACR Towers, Residency Road

SRINATH PERUR writes about travel, science and books. Some of the things he has written about include the genetic origin of Indians, a month spent in a gated community, an unravelling expedition to the geographical centre of India, understanding the fuss about Chetan Bhagat, the geography of the Ramayana, Sachin Tendulkar's last Test as a mirror of our wider world, and a dog that bit only foreigners (not excluding Nepalis). His writing can be found online here. If It's Monday It Must Be Madurai, published by Penguin India, is his first book.

ZAC O'YEAH is the author of Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan (2010) and Mr. Majestic! (2012), both published by Hachette India. He worked in the theatre and music business in Sweden until he retired at twenty-five to come to India as a travel writer. He has written for several travel magazines, including Outlook Traveller and National Geographic Traveller. His twelve published books range from bestselling detective fiction to history and travelogue, and include two travel guidebooks (India and the USA). He has also translated Indian literature into Swedish – such as Pankaj Mishra's An End to Suffering, about travels in search of the Buddha and Buddhism. More information at www.zacoyeah.com.

ABOUT THE BOOK

What is it like to travel with others for adventure, lust, and god? This delightful travelogue around ten conducted tours is full of rich experiences: hanging on to a camel in the Thar, rediscovering music on the trail of Kabir, joining thousands on an ancient pilgrimage in Maharashtra, crossing living root bridges near Cherrapunji, and more.

As much about people as places, the book is also a reflection on the nature of popular travel today marked by the packaging of experiences, the formation of tourist economies and compulsive picture-taking. How this influences tourists comes through vividly: in their creating a 'mini-India' in a bus, while racing through treasured sights in Europe; in their perfunctory devotion while hopping from temple to temple in Tamil Nadu; in their 'enjoying' with sex workers far away from home.

Deeply felt, ironic, and often comic, the book entertains and enlightens, and becomes an idiosyncratic portrait of India and her people.

A persistently enjoyable and true book. It will make you smile, laugh and occasionally grimace in recognition. — Rahul Bhattacharya (author of Pundits from Pakistan and The Sly Company of People who Care)

. . . a book that turns the idea of travel writing on its head . . .  — The Hindu

Group travel, but what groups! They range from Indian sex tourists in Uzbekistan, a yatra through villages of Madhya Pradesh looking for rustic geniuses, a pilgrimage to Pandharpur and a travelling festival of Kabir singers. The pious, the profane and everything in between. — The Indian Express