When I read the Read-India-Thon post by Shanaya Tales, I was immediately charmed by the whole notion and signed up. Basically this reading marathon is scheduled around 15th August 2019 which is our Independence day. There are three challenges set out as reading prompts and one can choose to do all or read one book covering all three. Each prompt revolves around the idea that the book is based on India or written by an Indian author. One special prompt (which is my favorite) is that the cover will have all three colors from the Indian flag

Intrigued? Pin it for later!

Since I have been on a no-book-buying pact this year too, I set out to raid out my bookshelves to make my selection. I was lucky enough to find at least six books that could fit the prompts. I have selected four books and will probably read three but will definitely push to finish the 4th too.

Read-India-Thon Prompt #1

Read A Book on or about India or by an Indian Author – I have selected this gorgeous hardbound book that I had picked up in Kashmir a while back from Gulshan Stores; Folk-Tales of Kashmir by J.Hinton Knowles. I have been meaning to read this one since ages but somehow never got around to it. What made me buy the book is that I have never heard or come across Folk-Tales from this region of India. The author who has compiled these stories also mentions this fact in the blurb.

Read-India-Thon Prompt #2

Read An Indian Book Under 24 Hours – For this one I have selected The Tiger Ladies by Sudha Koula which I had borrowed from my hostess buddy on my last trip to the valley. Again a book I have been meaning to read but never gotten around to it. I am quoting from the Goodreads website:

A richly detailed story of a girl”s passage into maturity, marriage, and motherhood in the midst of an exquisite and fragile world that will never be entirely the same. For those who only associate Kashmir with the violence that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, Koul”s lovely, elegiac memoir The Tiger Ladies shows that the isolated vale in the Himalayas was a heaven before it became a hell.

{Its no co-incidence that 2/3 books are based around Kashmir. The recent situation is troubling and there is a lot on my mind over it.}

Read-India-Thon Prompt #3

Read A Book With the Indian Tri-Color on the Cover – For this one I had to really look hard at all the covers and initially was going to submit the previous book. I loved the idea of having all the three colors of the Indian flag on a cover as a prompt. Its very unique and is my favorite one. Then I remembered that one of my twitter friends had gifted me this book – Crowfall by Shantala Gokhale which I have attempted to read twice.

Crowfall unobtrusively follows an eventful year in the lives of a group of friends—a journalist, a teacher, a musician and three painters—in Mumbai. Like the cycle of seasons, love and violence and heartbreak and joy pursue each other. And it is friendship that provides uncompromising solace amidst the ravening pressures of life today in the big city. – Goodreads

Bonus Read

I fell in instant admiration of Amitav Ghosh’s writing when I read The Sea Of Poppies – first in the Ibis trilogy.By chance a friend gifted me her copy of the second book. So The River of Smoke is the one that I will attempt to complete in this Read-India-Thon.

So there you have it folks!!! Wish me luck now for seeing the length of these books, I have a feeling I have bitten more than I can chew 😉

Do let me know if you are taking part in this Read-India-Thon so that I can keep an eye out for your posts for it.