Six offbeat travelogues that showcase India’s diversity

Around India in 80 Trains

Author: Monisha Rajesh

London-based journalist Monisha Rajesh chronicles her 40,000 km train journey across India in this book. She meets a diverse set of co-passengers on the luxurious Deccan Odyssey, the charming Darjeeling toy train, Lifeline Express, a hospital on wheels, the ‘Mumbai local’ and 76 other trains.

On a shoestring to Coorg

Author: Dervla Murphy

Along with her five-year-old daughter, Dervla sets out from Mumbai to travel down to the tip of the Indian subcontinent, Kanyakumari, and then turn inland to reach the hills of Coorg (Kodagu). The duo travels on a budget. They use buses and boats, stay in fishermen’s huts and cheap lodges, and mingle with locals.

Chasing the monsoon

Author: Alexander Frater

In this 273-pager, the author chases the monsoon from its onset in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala all the way to one of the wettest places on earth, Cherrapunji in Meghalaya. He crosses Kochi, Goa, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Shillong on this expedition. His
father, a weather science enthusiast who always wished to visit Cherrapunji, was the inspiration behind this book.

Following fish

Author: Samanth Subramanian

This travelogue tells the story of India through fishes, fishers, and fish-eaters. Samanth, a journalist, travels to coastal towns to uncover the role of the fish in shaping India’s culture and commerce. In nine essays, he covers the fish treatment for asthmatics in Hyderabad, the preparation of Hilsa fish curry in West Bengal, the art of building fishing boats in Gujarat, and more.

Maximum City

Author: Suketu Mehta

The author’s family left for New York when he was 14. The book is a record of Suketu’s experience of returning to Bombay (now Mumbai), where he grew up. He pens a portrait of Bombay through extensive interviews with businessmen, politicians, police
officers, gangsters, actors, sex workers, and bar dancers.

The city of djinns
Author: William Dalrymple

The book is a result of William’s year-long stay in the national capital. Being a historian, he unearths the city’s past, going back to the partition of India, the Mughal reign, and as far back as the times of the Pandavas. William takes the readers to the hidden pockets
of Delhi and tracks down descendants of royal courts and the British empire. 

All books available online