If you want to see the elusive tiger, Ranthambore National Park and Tiger Reserve is a good place to look. Deer are the primary source of food for tigers, and at Ranthambore there are plenty of deer to choose from. The spotted Axis deer are called cheetah in Hindi because
Last week I shared the places associated with Two Coins: A Biographical Novel. This week I’m introducing some of the people who grace its pages. With one exception, my selection is limited to characters with a visual record. Two Coins focuses on the libel case Mary Pigot filed against The
Good historical fiction takes the reader into an authentic world where the story is presented against the backdrop of actual customs and material culture, for example, food as it is eaten and prepared or family customs such as purdah, the seclusion of women within the household. When there’s also a
At the beginning of this month, Punxsutawney Phil (America’s official groundhog) assigned us six more weeks of winter. This is approximately the time between Groundhog Day on February 2 and the Spring Equinox on March 20. If you think that’s too long to wait for Spring, you might want to
Durga Puja, the annual festival in honor of Goddess Durga, begins tomorrow, September 26 and continues until Saturday, September 30. It’s a moveable festival with dates coinciding with the sixth through tenth day of the bright lunar fortnight in the Hindu month of Ashvin. For five days revelers in
Wednesday, April 5th is Pandita Mary Ramabai’s saint’s day in the Church of England and Episcopal Church. In commemoration and as a special thank you, the Kindle edition of Rama’s Labyrinth is available at no charge until Thursday, April 6. WHO WAS MARY RAMA? Mary is Rama’s baptismal name. When
There’s one more destination I want to tell you about from my recent trip to Kolkata. Pareswanath Temple is a jewel of serenity. My guide Anup Saha suggested we visit the temple and I’m so glad he did. As we walked up Badridas Temple Street in northeast Kolkata, I had
The name Himalayas brings up many images. Of course Mount Everest comes immediately to mind. But there’s more to this range of mountains that stretches from Pakistan in the west across India, Bhutan and Nepal before ending in China. Tibetan Buddhism also has an association with the region, although China
As you may recall from a previous blog about Kolkata, I went to that historic city in search of clues about Mary Pigot, the protagonist in my current project. Calcutta was the capital of the British Raj until December 1911 when British administrators removed to New Delhi, and buildings
My recent visit to Kolkata, like my visit to Edinburgh early last summer, is directly related to my current research project. This book is about Mary Pigot and the lawsuit she filed in 1883 against a prominent male missionary. Mary charged William Hastie with malicious libel. We would call his
One of the great things about the way I write historical fiction is the necessity of research travel. My current project took me first to London and Edinburgh to investigate written records [See blogs from July]. But a visit to the site of events in the story took me
Diwali is a Hindu festival occurring between mid-October and mid-November. This year the celebration takes place from October 29 until November 1. Although there are variations in how the festival is celebrated, its purpose commemorates the victory of good over evil and light over darkness. It’s a time of
This past week has been exceptionally exciting. Rama’s Labyrinth, the book I’ve been working on for over five years, is now available on Amazon.com (some readers will find it on Amazon.co.uk). The ebook is US$2.99 and the softcover print volume is US$19.99. Rama’s Labyrinth is a biographical historical novel. We
This is a story about gardens at the Taj Mahal, and the man who made them uniquely British. This photograph taken in 1874 shows something you don’t see in contemporary pictures. Very tall trees. The Taj Mahal wasn’t just a mausoleum for Mumtaz Mahal. It was a Mausoleum and Gardens,
(Quotation by B. K. S. Iyengar, 2002) Approximately 20.4 million Americans, 8.7 percent of the adult population, practice yoga. I’m one of them. Without the work of B. K. S. Iyengar, it’s unlikely most practitioners would even know yoga exists, let alone be able to do the poses. He
Are you old enough to remember foreign language laboratories where students strained to hear a question in, for example, German, and answer it correctly in the microphone, all the while desperately hoping the instructor wasn’t listening to you? Yeah, me too. When I was fourteen, my mother decided I would
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