- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Osiris Press Limited (1 Dec 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1905315058
- ISBN-13: 978-1905315055
- Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,157,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Synopsis
In June 1991 Robert Turner arrived at the ruined South Indian city of Vijayanagar, which lies in a bend of the Pampa river known as Kishkindha, the mythical Kingdom of the Monkeys and Bears from the epic love story of the Ramayana. His visa had expired, he had very little money and good reason not to return to the UK. He ended up staying for four years. Robert has superbly documented the landscape, history, myths and people he encountered there, from the local Raja and a mad sadhu to a vengeful hunchback and a capable country harlot. Interspersed with the tales of Kishkindha is the astonishing story of how Bob came to be in India in the first place after a colonial childhood that lead to a youth detention centre; a three-year sentence in a Lebanese jail; and many other adventures besides, across Britain, Pakistan and China among others. Intriguing, compelling and surprising - you will not read another travel biography like it. In Robert's own words, "To err is human - and to get away with it is fun."
From the Author
Once in a while a travel book appears that is refreshingly unique in its adventures, characters and backgrounds. This had been my intention from the start. When I determined to make the transition from being a letter writer to completing a book of adventures abroad I discovered that the place in South India where I found myself settling down for the task was widely recognised as Kishkindha, the mythical Kingdom of the Monkeys and Bears, from the ancient love epic of the Ramayana. Surely, I thought, a journal penned at ground level here will prove itself to be lively. While in the quieter hours there were the past escapades from a dozen years on the road to fill in. As an Indophile who has read hundreds of colonial memoirs and travelogues I felt I knew the subjects to avoid and those that would be of more unusual interest. Most importantly, I intended to produce a ‘belting good read’ with excitement and surprises picking up all the way through to the end. !
The finished book will hold most charm for those already with a love or interest in India, but also one third of the chapters are set in colonial Malaya, prison in Lebanon, on the run from the high-rise doss houses of Hong Kong across China to the Karakoram mountains of Pakistan, with occasional return visits to the misty English countryside. So it was that my travel biography came to be written; and so it is now that if I give any of the adventures away here, I shall be spoiling the plot for those who may like to read the whole story. All I will add is that there is a good deal of law-breaking in it – but not much wrong-doing.
The finished book will hold most charm for those already with a love or interest in India, but also one third of the chapters are set in colonial Malaya, prison in Lebanon, on the run from the high-rise doss houses of Hong Kong across China to the Karakoram mountains of Pakistan, with occasional return visits to the misty English countryside. So it was that my travel biography came to be written; and so it is now that if I give any of the adventures away here, I shall be spoiling the plot for those who may like to read the whole story. All I will add is that there is a good deal of law-breaking in it – but not much wrong-doing.
To read the first chapter visit Reverb the publisher’s site readreverb.com and click on the head of a monkey.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kishkindha,
By Alan Wright "Alan" (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Kishkindha (Paperback)
This is the story of Bob's Turner's travels around mainly India but also Hong Kong, Pakistan and the Middle East. It is a compelling read and and rattles along more like an adventure story then a travel guide. What makes the book so readable is that he has a cracking good story to tell. I am not one for travel guide type writing ... useful if you are planning to visit the place but otherwise they don't hold my interest. This is far removed from a standard travel book. It tells of a series of narrow scapes, adventures and misadventures and the (usually disreputable) characters that are met along the way. As a bonus you can also learn something of India and its traditions.
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