India Today – August 13, 2018

and newspaper accounts,

Zubrzycki describes how the

first Indian performers such

as Ramo Samee were received

in the West.

The craze for ‘Indian jug-

glers’ created a new breed of

magicians, who performed

stolen tricks under faux-Indi-

an names such as Kar-Mi and

Khia Khan Kruse; there was

also the German Kala Nag,

who happened to be Hitler’s

favourite magician.

Indians, too, played

this game of exoticisation:

the highly popular ‘Hindoo

Sorcerer’ Linga Singh was a

former curry cook and bomb-

making revolutionary named

Amar Nath Dutt. Meanwhile,

across the oceans, native

performers were beginning

to appear in top hats and

evening dress under Western

names: one wax-moustached

gent was billed as Professor

Alvaro, Psd. M.M.C.; M.I.S.A.

PS. (London & Nancy). It is

in these fascinating stories of

cultural appropriation that

Zubrzycki’s book comes into

its own. n

—Rajesh Devraj

STORYTELLERS

The Town That Laughed

by Manu Bhattathiri

Aleph Book Comany

262 pages; ` 599

Following his well-regarded

collection of short stories,

author Manu

Bhattathiri returns

to small-town

Kerala in his first

novel, which cen-

tres around a

retired, tyrannical

police inspector’s

efforts to reform

the town drunk.

Storywallah

by Neelesh Misra

Penguin

(^272) pages; 250 The stories of the Mandali—a group of authors mentored by screenwriter- journalist Neelesh Misra that origi- nally appeared on his Yaadon Ka Idiotbox radio show—are trans- lated into English for the first time in this intriguing collection. The Other by Paro Anand Speaking Tiger 176 pages; 299
The much-feted-but-con-
troversial children’s book
author touches
on gender iden-
tity, body image
and other com-
plex issues in
this collection
of short stories
for and about
teenagers.
STORYTELLERS
The Town That Laughed
by Manu Bhattathiri
Aleph Book Comany
262 pages; 599599 Following his well-regarded collection of short stories, author Manu Bhattathiri returns to small-town Kerala in his first novel, which cen- tres around a retired, tyrannical police inspector’s efforts to reform the town drunk. Storywallah by Neelesh Misra Penguin (^272) pages; 250250
The stories of the Mandali—a
group of authors mentored by
screenwriter-
journalist Neelesh
Misra that origi-
nally appeared
on his Yaadon
Ka IdiotboxKa IdiotboxKa Idiotbox radio radio
show—are trans-
lated into English
for the first time
in this intriguing
collection.
The Other
by Paro Anand
Speaking Tiger
176 pages; ``` 299299
The much-feted-but-con-
troversial children’s book
author touches
on gender iden-
tity, body image
and other com-
plex issues in
this collection
of short stories
for and about
teenagers.
HARRY PRICE COLLECTION, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
PRIVATE COLLECTION
WELLCOME LIBRARY
PRIYA PAUL COLLECTION