Brahmins and Bungalows: Travels Through South Indian History

Kavita Watsa has been seeking new horizons ever since a mischievous great-uncle put her in a horse cart and took her to a Mysore arrack shop at an impressionable age. In this sparkling mosaic of South Indian travels, she treads roads ancient and modern, opens antique travelogues to see what others saw, and reminds us of the myriad peoples and forces that have shaped life south of the Vindhyas. With an almost Victorian sensibility for bends in the road and turns of phrase, Watsa presents a rich blend of landscapes and architecture–from monsoon-lashed Goa to a coast that inspired Tagore, from desolate Hampi to burgeoning Bangalore, from charming Pondicherry to sun-baked Tranquebar and beyond. Crowned by exquisitely rendered memories of the cool woods of Kodaikanal, Brahmins and Bungalows is a witty, elegant, loving portrait of a deeply cosmopolitan land.