Sahni's book looks at Europeans venerating the Black Virgin; the Buddha depicted as a Christian Saint; and how St Anne of Goa, the Virgin Mary's mother, is regarded as a reincarnation of the local mother goddess, Santeri, worshipped by Indians of all faiths who proffer cucumber offerings in return for being blessed with a child. There are accounts of African emperors and Popes in Europe and African rulers in India; the Georgian Epic with Indian and Arab heroes and the Armenian diaspora in India.
Apart from addressing issues on patents and the internet outreach, the book also follows the multiple journeys of peoples, words, concepts, food and dress across regions. Multi-stories will provide new insights to readers with a curiosity for the ignored histories, the uniqueness of each culture and the inter-cultural links that explain the hidden spots.
It questions preconceived notions about tangible and intangible aspects of cultures and ingeniously un-peels the covers off governments and organizations intent on 'policing' culture and white-washing inconvenient historical truths. This book will appeal to scholars of Cultural Studies, History, Sociology, South Asian Studies, as well as to the general reader.
A well-known academic, Kalpana Sahni is a scholar of remarkable diversity. Her extensive writings on Russian literature and culture as well as her Central Asian fieldwork in the old mohallas of Samarkand, Bokhara, Turkestan and Dushanbe have given her a unique sensibility about interconnected cultures.
Contents:
1. The Black Virgin 2. Travelling Buddha 3. Coffee 4. Cultural Baggage 5. Words' Worth 6. Batata Aloo 7. Halo! Halo! 8. Tuneful Maladies 9. Candy'd Talk 10. Tongue Untied 11. The Kashmiri Magician 12. Encounters 13. Head to Toe 14 Home and Away 15 Wear with All 16. I Am Bandit 17. Badghizi 18. Blackouts 19. Oh Bokhara! 20. Fiddler on the Loose 21. The Game of the Name 22. The Tulips 23. Chewing Rice for Others 24. Repetersburg 25. Jokes Apart 26. Juvenile Delinquents 27. Earthquacks? 28. Crosswords 29. Food Traffic 30. Once Upon a Time 31. A Tribute .... 32. Teri Mary Maa 33. Size Matters 34. 'Georgia on My Mind' 35. The 'Civil' Servant 36. Devotion 37. Authentiques 38. To The Holy Pope 39. Linguistic Creativity 40. Paper Trails 41. You're in Safe Hands 42. How to Steal a Billion 43. Bollywood 44. Emptiness 45.TwoSides of a Coin 46. Rosy Prospects 47. We Owe the Armenians 48. A Wondrous World Wide Web 49. Winter Sonata 50. Linguistricks 51. Maali Blues 52. Stutter Nonsense 53. This Order, That Order 54. Telling Time 55. 'Red Roses in the Snow' 56. Rung Interpretation 57. African Indians 58. From Havana to Kabul with Love 59. Phantom Foes 60. Wagah Woes!