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A review by maitrey_d
A Strange Kind of Paradise: India Through Foreign Eyes by Sam Miller
4.0
The book is part history, part travelogue and part memoir. Oh, and also a love letter to India.
The author, Sam Miller was the BBC regional South Asia head, and this is his second book. His first was a similarly written book on the city of Delhi.
A Strange Kind of Paradise is a rambling account of what foreigners (although who these people are in context to India is not very clear in the first place) thought right from Greek visitors to the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims and Arab visitors to the most recent influx of Westerners from Brits, to Germans to Americans.
Miller interweaves history with his travels across usual suspects like Mumbai and Delhi to the off-beat places such as in Central India where a certain Heliodorus the Bactrian Greek set up a victory pillar to Vishnu. Also, there are regular intermissions where Miller discusses his personal life where he married a Parsi woman from Mumbai and his subsequent move to India from Britain.
Overall, Paradise was very light reading and was downright funny on many occasions. Miller takes great pleasure in finding connections between places, events and characters spread across something like 3 millennia of Indian history. His footnotes were easily the most interesting bits to read about.
If you aren't into esoteric connections though, this book is not something that I'd recommend to people to actually learn anything about Indian history or culture.
The author, Sam Miller was the BBC regional South Asia head, and this is his second book. His first was a similarly written book on the city of Delhi.
A Strange Kind of Paradise is a rambling account of what foreigners (although who these people are in context to India is not very clear in the first place) thought right from Greek visitors to the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims and Arab visitors to the most recent influx of Westerners from Brits, to Germans to Americans.
Miller interweaves history with his travels across usual suspects like Mumbai and Delhi to the off-beat places such as in Central India where a certain Heliodorus the Bactrian Greek set up a victory pillar to Vishnu. Also, there are regular intermissions where Miller discusses his personal life where he married a Parsi woman from Mumbai and his subsequent move to India from Britain.
Overall, Paradise was very light reading and was downright funny on many occasions. Miller takes great pleasure in finding connections between places, events and characters spread across something like 3 millennia of Indian history. His footnotes were easily the most interesting bits to read about.
If you aren't into esoteric connections though, this book is not something that I'd recommend to people to actually learn anything about Indian history or culture.