Tag: travel

The Italian Connection – books written by Italians or about Italy

The Italian Connection – books written by Italians or about Italy 

A visit to the Sistine chapel, the roof of which was painted by Michelangelo in the 16th century — took me back to books either written by Italians or set in Italy. 

Italy is the stuff of literature and romance, of intrigue and murders. So here is a round-up of all the books I’ve read that have an Italian connection. 

  1. The Agony and the Ecstasy (1960) by Irving Stone. This author was all the rage when I was growing up, and his novel about Michelangelo started off my love affair with Italy.
  2. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. (1980)This book too is about church intrigue and has got a lot of flak for being pretentious and pseudo. But I remember being hooked by it. 
  3. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. (2012) – a novel about female friendship and part of the Neapolitan series. Excellent. 
  4. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. (2003) Now, I may be trolled by some for putting this author with some of the greats above. He’s been criticized for his clunky prose and historical inaccuracies . But his book’s become a massive worldwide bestseller, and makes me ponder whether readers are really concerned about the ‘writerly qualities’ of a novel. 
  5. Jhumpa Lahiri-  ‘Whereabouts’ (2018) This author moved to Italy in 2012 and began writing in Italian. ‘Whereabouts’, originally written in Italian, is her first self-translated work. I loved it for its spare yet poetic style and  how it goes deep into the unnamed narrator’s thinking process. Btw, Lahiri happens to be one of my fave writers.

As you can see, Italy is the stuff of romance and intrigue. One of the characters in my recently published middle grade novel, Zara and the Bumbling Genie, has one Italian name. Can you tell me who it is? https://shorturl.at/9VgHF

What are some of the Italian authors you’ve read? I’d love to know in your comments. 

Hampton Court Palace – the India Connection

I’m in London, with it’s crazy weather of sunshine and rain and cold and heat all in one day. Right now, it’s raining ( not drizzling) and I’m enjoying the pitter-patter on the window sill.

But the day before it was warm and sunny— in fact, almost hot, and that’s when we made a trip to Hampton Court Palace, which was one of the palaces of the colourful king, Henry V111 and his six wives. Despite having two little ones with us, we managed to do the grounds and some parts of the palace. (Below is a view of the palace. Truly awesome!)

You’d never expect something so English, a Tudor palace, to have anything to do with India. But I was surprised to learn that a contingent of Indian troops actually camped on these palace grounds way back in 1919. They’d travelled all the way from Mumbai to take part in the Peace Celebrations post the First World War. The exhibition about them with photographs, videos, and their oral histories presented by their descendants was truly the highlight of this visit. (Below is a aphotograph taken from the site http://www.hrp.org.uk that shows the Indian troops who had arrived for the occasion)

Lest we forget- about 500,000 Indian soldiers fought this war alongside the British. King George the Vth had this to say:

I HEARTILY THANK ALL MY INDIAN SOLDIERS FOR THEIR LOYAL DEVOTION TO ME AND TO MY EMPIRE, AND FOR THEIR SUFFERINGS CHEERFULLY BORNE IN THE VARIOUS CAMPAIGNS IN WHICH THEY HAVE SERVED IN LANDS AND CLIMATES SO VERY DIFFERENT FROM THEIR OWN.

From King George V’s speech on August 2nd 1919

The part played by  Indian soldiers in this war does not have a happy ending. The promise of freedom or at least some amount of self rule was never kept. It would take many more years of protests and violence and yet another war to ultimately win this freedom. 

On a lighter note, I met some Tudor ladies and had a nice conversation with them. You can see them in the picture below. And the grandkids ended the day with a trip to the Magic Garden, which has all things to delight a child.