Chai Chai: Travels In Places Where You Stop But Never Get Off

About the Book

A CULT CLASSIC, BISHWANATH GHOSH’S CHAI, CHAI IS BACK ON STANDS WITH AN ATTRACTIVE NEW COVER.

Some years ago, a book was published that would change the way one looks at travel forever. Bishwanath Ghosh had got down at Itarsi junction to grab a cup of chai while travelling from Kanpur to Chennai. Sipping on the tea, as he heard the recorded voice announcing the arrivals and delays of the many trains that passed through the station, it struck him that while Itarsi junction connects the length and breadth of India on the rail map, almost nothing is known about Itarsi, the town. Thus began Ghosh’s quest to tell the story of all the towns behind some of the country’s biggest junctions: Itarsi, Mughal Sarai, Jhansi, Shoranur, Arakkonam and Jolarpettai-places that are always a stopover and never a destination; familiar and yet unknown.

Chai, Chai, a definitive work on small-town India, went on to become an instant success and continues to draw readers with its abundant wit and charm.

About the Author

Bishwanath Ghosh, born in Kanpur on 26 December 1970, is the author of the hugely popular Aimless in Banaras: Wanderings in India’s Holiest City. He’s also a Hindi poet, who has two well-received compilations-Jiyo Banaras and Tedhi-Medhi Lakeeren-to his credit. His other books include Tamarind City: Where Modern India Began; Longing, Belonging: An Outsider at Home in Calcutta and Gazing at Neighbours: Travels Along the Line that Partitioned India. He is an Associate Editor with The Hindu newspaper and lives in Calcutta.