William Dalrymple returns to the travel book genre with this heart rending compilation. The book explores not the organised/ mass religion movements in India but very personal, intimate and extreme accounts of spiritual journey of nine diverse people who have dedicated their lives to the 'Sacred'.

All these pursuing vocations, callings and quests which even in highly religious India, are at the fringes of the society and perhaps, increasingly under threat of extinction.

We meet a Jai... (show more)

William Dalrymple returns to the travel book genre with this heart rending compilation. The book explores not the organised/ mass religion movements in India but very personal, intimate and extreme accounts of spiritual journey of nine diverse people who have dedicated their lives to the 'Sacred'.

All these pursuing vocations, callings and quests which even in highly religious India, are at the fringes of the society and perhaps, increasingly under threat of extinction.

We meet a Jain nun who follows a most ascetic lifestyle of cleaning with a peacock fan the path on which she walks so she does not by mistake tread on any living thing; a 23rd generation Chola tradition broze idol maker who worries that his son will pursue computer sciences instead; a devdasi who has not forgiven her parents for dedicating her to the Goddess (pushing her into prostitution) but who nevertheless made her 2 daughters devdasis; Theyyam dalit dancers of Kerala who dance all night for 3 months and become God incarnates even respected by Brahamins; Oral traditional,nomadic Rajasthani singers who sing epic of Pabuji which takes 7 nights to complete; a Sufi malang continuing the tradition of a faith which is a strange mix of islam and hindu devotional religious school and under threat from Wahabbi non tolerant form of islam; a Buddhist monk who had to pick up arms against the Chinese; a soft spoken, mystic Tantric in Bengal who lives in cremation grounds and a blind Baul who sings melancholic and enigmatic devotional songs.

An exploration of Indian mystic and religious experiences by a foreign writer always has a potential to come across as 'starry eyed' / fascinated in mock admiration or condescending or openly critical as a rationalist would. Dalrymple manages to avoid all these by presenting most of the storylines in first person as narrated by the protagonists and by writing in a non judgemental and empathic style. He and us as readers may not understand or approve the peculiar faith of these Nine Lives but he makes sure that we appreciate and respect them, in spite of they not being 'mainstream' and 'rational'.

A must read for all who want to understand the religious fringe traditions of India by this master of travel writing. (show less)

Depicting something as dauntingly named as 'Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) in cartoon format is not an easy task but this book manages to do justice to the NLP theory through pithy, bullet point form of narration supported by great cartoon.
NLP theory tenets/concepts of interpersonal communication and self awareness - accessing cues (visual, auditory, kinesthetic), building rapport, anchoring, swishing (changing visual imagery to change behaviour/ mood), reframing, unconscious communica... (show more)

Depicting something as dauntingly named as 'Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) in cartoon format is not an easy task but this book manages to do justice to the NLP theory through pithy, bullet point form of narration supported by great cartoon.
NLP theory tenets/concepts of interpersonal communication and self awareness - accessing cues (visual, auditory, kinesthetic), building rapport, anchoring, swishing (changing visual imagery to change behaviour/ mood), reframing, unconscious communication, stereotyping etc. - are all simply explained. A recommended read for those who don't want to get into detailed technicalities of this emerging NLP field.
For a lay person or a practitioner (as we all are - involved in interpersonal situatons) an interesting, easy read and with a few take-aways. (show less)