Gita Mehta

A collection of interwoven stories, written in the traditional form of Indian storytelling, explores the savagery of human love and the illuminates the paradoxes of India. Reprint. 30,000 first printing. Tour.

A River Sutra

Raised to be silent and submissive, Princess Jaya Singh begins to feel restricted by the conventions of her culture and embarks on a struggle for independence, a quest that coincides with that of India

A Novel

Beginning in the late '60s, hundreds of thousands of Westerners descended upon India, disciples of a cultural revolution that proclaimed that the magic and mystery missing from their lives was to be found in the East. An Indian writer who has also lived in England and the United States, Gita Mehta was ideally placed to observe the spectacle of European and American "pilgrims" interacting with their hosts. When she finally recorded her razor sharp observations in Karma Cola, the book became an instant classic for describing, in merciless detail, what happens when the traditions of an ancient and longlived society are turned into commodities and sold to those who don't understand them. In the dazzling prose that has become her trademark, Mehta skewers the entire Spectrum of seekers: The Beatles, homeless students, Hollywood rich kids in detox, British guilt-trippers, and more. In doing so, she also reveals the devastating byproducts that the Westerners brought to the villages of rural lndia -- high anxiety and drug addiction among them. Brilliantly irreverent, Karma Cola displays Gita Mehta's gift for weaving old and new, common and bizarre, history and current events into a seamless and colorful narrative that is at once witty, shocking, and poignant.

Marketing the Mystic East

Karma Cola

Born a princess of the Royal Household of Balmer, Jaya Singh is torn between the traditions of her upbringing and the ideals of the Mahatma, as India draws inexorably towards the bloody struggle for independence from the British Raj. To fulfil her role as the guardian of the people, Jaya must first win her own freedom - then lead her kingdom through treacherous changes of history to the moment when palace and country will triumph over destiny. Grounded in details of ancient royal tradition and Hindu ritual, Jaya's story counterpoints a vanished way of life against the complex political realities involved in the passing of the Raj and the birth of the modern nations of India and Pakistan.

Commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of India's independence with a modern portrait of the nation that celebrates its folklore, history, culture, politics, ancient traditions, and contemporary concerns

Gita Mehta

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