India - Travel, Popular Culture - Asia, India - Travel Essays & Descriptions, Indian History - Republic of India (1947-Present)

Planes, Trains, and Auto-Rickshaws: A Journey through Modern India

Name: Planes, Trains, and Auto-Rickshaws: A Journey through Modern India
Author: Laura Pedersen
ISBN: 9781555916183

by Laura Pedersen

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Overview

"It is Pedersen's gift to be able to draw the reader into her world." —Front Street Reviews

"[Pedersen's] wicked, sarcastic, dry, self-deprecating sense of humor won me over and I absolutely loved it start to finish."—Printed Page, of Buffalo Gal

India today is a nation caught between the rich heritage of its past and the great economic potential of its future. In this witty and insightful book, journalist and author Laura Pedersen reveals the tensions and contradictions facing the emerging world power. In particular, Pedersen explores the roles of women and children in India today, providing insight into this important and often neglected issue. Part travelogue, part history, and part cultural reflection, Planes, Trains, and Auto-Rickshaws provides an intimate glimpse of a nation at its turning point. It is a must-read for those who want to understand India beyond the headlines.

Laura Pedersen has written for The New York Times and is the author of several books including Play Money, Going Away Party, Beginner's Luck (chosen as a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection), Buffalo Gal, and Buffalo Unbound. In 1994 President Clinton honored her as one of Ten Outstanding Young Americans. She has appeared on Oprah, Good Morning America, Primetime Live, and The Late Show with David Letterman, and she writes for several well-known comedians. Pedersen lives in New York City.

About the Author, Laura Pedersen

Laura Pedersen has written for The New York Times and is the author of Play Money, Going Away Party, Beginner's Luck (chosen as a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection), Buffalo Gal, and Buffalo Unbound. In 1994, President Clinton honored her as one of Ten Outstanding Young Americans. She has appeared on Oprah, Good Morning America, Primetime Live, and The Late Show with David Letterman, and she writes for several well-known comedians. Pedersen lives in New York City.

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Editorials

Kirkus Reviews

A fun and quirky but sometimes chaotic travelogue that reveals the many conflicts and contradictions underlying life in modern India. Journalist and humorist Pedersen (Buffalo Gal, 2008, etc.) wanted to travel to India for many years but was afraid of what she would find there. In 2010, she finally did, "[throwing] caution to the wind the way one does when climbing aboard Coney Island's rackety Cyclone roller coaster." As she made her way from New Delhi in the north to Goa in the south, what she discovered fascinated her as much as it often proved frustrating to comprehend. The world's largest "democrazy" was a place where people always seemed to be celebrating some festival or another and where "bribes, kickbacks, reams of red tape, and [bureaucratic] incompetence on a massive scale are part of daily life." It was also a place of bewildering contrasts. Sadhus, longhaired holy men who wandered festivals covered in body paint and little else, carried cell phones. In the major cities, Hindu temples and architectural remnants of the British raj flanked ultra-modern skyscrapers. Bollywood, the multibillion-dollar Indian moviemaking industry, made and exported films that scrupulously avoided "tonsil hockey kissing, nudity or heavy drug use" but that had no difficulty depicting rape scenes and bloody violence. Pedersen follows the well-worn trope of the Western traveler trying to make sense of a profoundly complex and alien culture, and she includes sections that describe major cultural elements and figures. Her main achievement is her avoidance of the clichés that come from this approach; she infuses idiosyncratic observations with mostly genuine insight. Meandering entertainment.