Blurb: "After having recurring dreams, a man considers retracing Lord Hanuman's epic journey from India to Sri Lanka. While rationality argues against the pursuit, the dream appeals to something deeper and he sets out with two friends on a 1200 kilometre trek across South India. The journey however, doesn't turn out to be quite what they expected. Along the way, through encounters with evil cans of pepper spray, wise men, pimps, hellhounds, and manic elephants, they are forced to confront their personal demons. At one of their lowest moments, plagued by doubt, they lose all hope. That's when they experience a sign, the first of many, which renews their spirits and helps them push forward. Monkeys, Motorcycles, and Misadventures, provides a candid account of the trio's incredible journey - their misgivings, sufferings, and triumphs, all in search of faith."
A fun-filled travelogue, written with disarming candor and with liberal doses of humor, is hard to come b in India. When everybody else is writing college romances and trying desperately to become the next Duroy Dutta, Harsha has done a fabulous job by writing about something more relatable than dudes in India's premier institutes trying to get laid and get a job.
The protagonist, a single, working male, undergoes upheavals, including the loss of a loved one, subsequent alcoholism and depression. So after he has what he considers a prophetic dream, he decides to set out on a pilgrimage of South India and Sri Lanka with his best buddies Sam and Sri. This is a real life humorous account of a journey the author himself undertook.
What follows is a hilarious account of faith regained and lost and regained again by the author and his friends. Their belief in God and Humanity is wavering and unpredictable, and their vacillations between theism and agnosticism are ridiculously funny.
Also laughter-inducing is the banter, the arguments and the lectures the three friends give each other, replete with liberal amounts of cuss words.
It is also as interesting, as the author describes staying in dirt, dingy hotel rooms with suspicious stains on the bed mattresses, following raids by the police. More than once, the author and his friends are mistaken for gay dudes having a threesome ( one of the major LOL moments).
But the real ROFL moments are when they are joined on their journey by animals. Goats, monkeys, mad elephants and mood mongrels, who guide, scare and pillage from the three friends.
Humor apart, this book also has a lot of info on what to do and what not do, what to watch out for and how to survive on a pilgrimage. Also, the author manages to narrate the mythical story behind ever temple and cave they visit.
Except for a few typos, the language is of high quality and the grammar is perfect.
Anyone who fancies journeying through South India and experiencing religion, faith, mythology and architecture should read this book. Anyone looking for a humor filled travelogue should also read this book.
You can buy a copy here: Monkeys, Motorcycles, and Misadventures
No comments:
Post a Comment