Himalaya: Adventures, Meditations, Life
by - Ruskin Bond & Namita Gokhale
For some, the Himalaya is a frontier against which to test themselves. Others find refuge and tranquility in the mountains, a place where they can seek their selves, perhaps even God. And over millennia, the mountains have cradled civilization itself and nurtured teeming, irrepressible life. With over fifty essays, this comprehensive volume brings together a dazzling range of voices—among others, Fa-Hsien, Pundit Nain Singh, Heinrich Harrer, Fanny Parkes, Dharamvir Bharati, Arundhathi Subramaniam, Rahul Sankrityayan, Amitav Ghosh, Jawaharlal Nehru, Frank Smythe, Paul Brunton, Edmund Hillary, Mark Twain, Sarat Chandra Das, Dom Moraes, Manjushree Thapa—and the two editors themselves—in an unparalleled panorama. Here you will find stories of great ascents and descents; The madness of war on the ‘world’s highest battlefield’; Tales of exploratory derring-do in Tibet and elsewhere; A drunken jaunt in Kumaon and even the probable sighting of an 'Abominable Snowman in the Valley of Flowers'. A seeker has an intense spiritual experience on Mount Kailas, another among shamans on a mountaintop in Nepal and looking for the snow leopard in Ladakh, an author finds himself. A resident of a Sherpa village writes a heartfelt account of the aftermath of an avalanche which killed porters and climbers on Everest and residents of Langtang record an oral history of the earthquake which wiped out their village. A matriarch describes her life and family in Almora of a bygone time; A prisoner in Dehra Dun jail draws solace from visits by birds and small animals and the fragrance of lime makes a traveler's night in a remote Garhwal village memorable for all time. Edited by Ruskin Bond, India’s most-loved writer and acclaimed novelist Namita Gokhale, this anthology spans the entire range, from the foothills to the highest peaks and from its easternmost to its westernmost ends. Himalaya will keep you riveted.
About the Author :
Ruskin Bond is the author of numerous novellas, short-story collections and non-fiction books, many of them classics and several of them set in the villages and towns of the Himalayan region. Among his books are The Room on the Roof, A Flight of Pigeons, The Night Train at Deoli, Time Stops at Shamli, Rain in the Mountains, A Book of Simple Living and Friends in Wild Places. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1993, the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014. He lives in Landour, Mussoorie, with his extended family.
Namita Gokhale is the author of several bestselling works of fiction and non-fiction. Her books include Paro: Dreams of Passion, A Himalayan Love Story, The Book of Shadows, Shakuntala and The Book of Shiva. Namita is also co-director of the Jaipur Literary Festival and of Mountain Echoes, the Bhutan literary festival.
ISBN : 978-9385288920 Price : Rs. 799.00
Our mail order service ships books in India and Overseas
Email: sales@ebd.in, Phone: +91 135 2655192