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The Heat and Dust Project: The Broke Couple's Guide to Bharat
Living in a sunny barsati in south Delhi, Saurav Jha and Devapriya Roy are your average DINK couple, about to acquire a few EMIs and come of age in the modern consumerist world. Only, they don't. They junk the swivel chairs, gain a couple of backpacks and set out on a transformational journey across India. On a very, very tight budget: five hundred rupees a day for bed and board. And the Heat and Dust project begins.
Joining the ranks of firang gap-year kids and Israelis fresh out of compulsory army service, they travel across a land in which five thousand years of Indian history seem to jostle side by side. It is, by turns, holy and hectic, thuggish and comic, amoral and endearing. In buses that hurtle through the darkness of the night and the heat of the day, across thousands of miles, in ever new places, the richness of this crowded palette spills over into their lives. From rooms by the hour to strange dinner invitations, from spectacular forts to raging tantrums, this is a youthful account of wanderlust and whimsy, of eccentric choices that unfold into the journey of a lifetime ... and a supreme test of marriage.
Joining the ranks of firang gap-year kids and Israelis fresh out of compulsory army service, they travel across a land in which five thousand years of Indian history seem to jostle side by side. It is, by turns, holy and hectic, thuggish and comic, amoral and endearing. In buses that hurtle through the darkness of the night and the heat of the day, across thousands of miles, in ever new places, the richness of this crowded palette spills over into their lives. From rooms by the hour to strange dinner invitations, from spectacular forts to raging tantrums, this is a youthful account of wanderlust and whimsy, of eccentric choices that unfold into the journey of a lifetime ... and a supreme test of marriage.
346 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 28, 2015
24 people are currently reading
340 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
February 23, 2016
This is the worst read by far in a very long time. Now why?
1) You feel cheated
a) This is not a travelogue - it's a commercial enterprise. Fill pages with INANITIES and a bit of history to fulfill a book writing contract. How imaginative!
b) This is apparently just part 1 - would you mind putting this on the freaking front cover? I'm guessing they ran out of budget buying pastries from German Bakery.
c) How this couple is broke escapes me. The mini biography of the wife does not suggest she sacrificed any income for this; the husband is continuing with his blogger/analyst work as before. And guess what - they have an advance from the company for this very book!
d) if I wanted to read about marital or mid life criaes, I'd pick something else. Why the hell is the reader being tricked in to reading about mothers, grandmothers, uncles, cousins, etc., when all the reader ever wants is to hear about the travels.
2) Language and writing style
a) I like travelogues since the language exudes the joy of being on the move, of discovery, of surprises around the corner, of optimism... All this is completely lacking. The husband is mostly fact-based, monotone, while the wife is at times mopey, whiney and pseudo intellectual. It's jarring to switch between the two.
Alright - it's out of my system now... I'm breathing normally again. I don't share my reviews on FB, Twitter, etc., but this one's going right out there in the wide wide world.
1) You feel cheated
a) This is not a travelogue - it's a commercial enterprise. Fill pages with INANITIES and a bit of history to fulfill a book writing contract. How imaginative!
b) This is apparently just part 1 - would you mind putting this on the freaking front cover? I'm guessing they ran out of budget buying pastries from German Bakery.
c) How this couple is broke escapes me. The mini biography of the wife does not suggest she sacrificed any income for this; the husband is continuing with his blogger/analyst work as before. And guess what - they have an advance from the company for this very book!
d) if I wanted to read about marital or mid life criaes, I'd pick something else. Why the hell is the reader being tricked in to reading about mothers, grandmothers, uncles, cousins, etc., when all the reader ever wants is to hear about the travels.
2) Language and writing style
a) I like travelogues since the language exudes the joy of being on the move, of discovery, of surprises around the corner, of optimism... All this is completely lacking. The husband is mostly fact-based, monotone, while the wife is at times mopey, whiney and pseudo intellectual. It's jarring to switch between the two.
Alright - it's out of my system now... I'm breathing normally again. I don't share my reviews on FB, Twitter, etc., but this one's going right out there in the wide wide world.
July 27, 2015
A slow but a delightfully complex read.
It's not easy/light reading (somehow I expected it to be). It tugs at your heart so many times, Makes you pause and think about life, India, relationships and marriage.
The book is traveling writing and a lot more on top of that, its a personal memoir too. Chronicles of their marriage and how it evolved, reminded me a lot of my early days of marriage.
I also loved how a little indian history and culture is incorporated in it. I also really liked the alternative narrative. It makes you understand how men and women observe things so differently, the constant guessing game of who is writing :)
A book I strongly recommend
It's not easy/light reading (somehow I expected it to be). It tugs at your heart so many times, Makes you pause and think about life, India, relationships and marriage.
The book is traveling writing and a lot more on top of that, its a personal memoir too. Chronicles of their marriage and how it evolved, reminded me a lot of my early days of marriage.
I also loved how a little indian history and culture is incorporated in it. I also really liked the alternative narrative. It makes you understand how men and women observe things so differently, the constant guessing game of who is writing :)
A book I strongly recommend
November 10, 2015
its not like any other travelogue. I can say 5 percent of book is travelogue, and rest is eavesdropping of the author , gossips, her past and inane details.
without even visiting five states in india , they have the audacity to make " a broke couple guide bharat " the tag line.
Husband and wife roaming around with 500 budget per day. Dont expect to learn how they managed it, the budget topic is discussed only when the wife gets an emotional fit for water bottle or for a cake from german bakery.
The book consists of Husband and wife versions. A person with travel bug can skip blackened pages by wife. Husband version is little informative.
without even visiting five states in india , they have the audacity to make " a broke couple guide bharat " the tag line.
Husband and wife roaming around with 500 budget per day. Dont expect to learn how they managed it, the budget topic is discussed only when the wife gets an emotional fit for water bottle or for a cake from german bakery.
The book consists of Husband and wife versions. A person with travel bug can skip blackened pages by wife. Husband version is little informative.
September 11, 2015
We've read travelogues. We've read travelogues about India. We've even read travelogues written by budget travellers. But the Heat and Dust Project, by Saurav Jha and Devapriya Roy, is like no travelogue we've ever seen.
Meet eternal student of geo-politics Saurav and his writer-wife Devapriya, co-authors of the Heat and Dust Project -The Broke Couple's Guide to Bharat. They have travelled across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to churn out this part-travelogue, part-tribute to love.
Oh, and their budget is Rs 500 a day.
Rs 500 a day for travel, room and sustenance for two. That means rickety local buses, seedy hotel managers and resisting every impulsive urge to eat cake. That means every bottle of packaged water is a considerable dent on the daily budget. And a gift to one's spouse is limited to a naughty keychain from Khajuraho or a mat that costs Rs 25.
The 25-rupee gift - which, prodding reveals, was actually closer to Rs 150, a rare flouting of their agreed budget - is the kind of frugality that could spell doom for the healthiest of relationships.
Yet, Saurav and Devapriya have emerged from it with only love, rich stories and - as Devapriya never fails to remind Saurav - photographs of him sleeping with his mouth open.
Living out of a backpack is the ultimate indulgence
Saurav and Devapriya have been married eight years. But in many ways, it is this project - to travel and write a travelogue on a borderline-debilitating budget - that made their marriage come into its own.
They were writers before they set off on this adventure. They met at Presidency College and carried their relationship into their years at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Soon enough, they found themselves writing books part-time. Saurav wrote The Upside Down Book of Nuclear Power, and Devapriya, The Vague Woman's Handbook and Weight Loss Club - The Curious Experiments of Nancy Housing Cooperative.
They settled into nine-to-five jobs, Saurav working as an energy analyst, and Devapriya, as a book editor. But even with the comfort of a regular paycheck and the sunshine in their barsati in Vasant Vihar, something was amiss.
And then in 2010, after months of mulling over a life that didn't quite seem their own, the Heat and Dust Project was conceived. It was originally titled Two Honeymooners and a Criggly Map of India.
And so it was that, much to the dismay of their family and the enthusiasm of their publishers, the duo packed their belongings, bought themselves sturdy backpacks, and with only a meagre allowance from said publishers set off into the Rajasthan sunset.
They hadn't imagined the full extent of it. How the project would irreversibly change their lives. How it would force them to confront and then conquer the fear of not being the writers they thought themselves to be. How it would make marriage easier, but living together in urban domesticity much, much harder.
The road increasingly well-travelled
The Heat And Dust Project was initially conceived as a single book.
Eventually the duo realised they couldn't possibly squeeze their travels across a country this vast into a single paperback. So they broke it into three installments.
The Heat and Dust Project covers Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. The second, Man. Woman. Road., due to be released in 2016, documents their travels of Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. The third will see them cover Eastern India.
The book - or the first, which is what we've read - makes for warm, spirited reading. It is an honest book. In language both easy to read and candid, the couple take you through their arbitrary encounters with people, whether at restaurants or on sand dunes.
They talk about wandering into the homestay of a generous family in Pushkar in the middle of the festival of Teej. And of the political debates they overhear on the buses trundling through the northern hinterland.
And they won't stop there either. They'll take you into the candid moments in their own relationship. The one night Devapriya was upset by Saurav's apathy towards taking notes. ("He thinks he remembers everything", she grumbles.)
They speak of bus rides with impassioned longing, as if for a home they lost in a fire
Saurav pondering memories of his mother's death. Her exasperation at his relentless need to throw himself into defense websites. His exasperation at her relentless need to eat cake.
They'll let you in to their marriage as seamlessly as you'll let lessons from theirs into yours.
Home is a place on the highway
At some point during their journey, Saurav and Devapriya came to realise that their concept of home - a personal haven that provides emotional and physical comfort - had undergone a dramatic change.
Home, a space shared with ones we love, was no longer their South Delhi barsati, nor their South Calcutta house. Home now meant being aboard a bus. And fellow travellers, strangers with little in common but Bhajpa-Congress polity, had become family.
"Home is when the bus is just leaving the depot," Devapriya explains, quietly.
"No, for me it's when it's on the highway."
The wistfulness is palpable. They speak of this bus with impassioned longing, as if for a home they lost in a fire.
Never mind that grandmotherly keepers of stories are now owners of homestays. And that the safety nets they create for themselves in times of distress are woven with the kindness of strangers.
The unpunctual honking buses with lopsided seats that traverse the Indian hinterland, day after day, have now become home.
Meet eternal student of geo-politics Saurav and his writer-wife Devapriya, co-authors of the Heat and Dust Project -The Broke Couple's Guide to Bharat. They have travelled across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to churn out this part-travelogue, part-tribute to love.
Oh, and their budget is Rs 500 a day.
Rs 500 a day for travel, room and sustenance for two. That means rickety local buses, seedy hotel managers and resisting every impulsive urge to eat cake. That means every bottle of packaged water is a considerable dent on the daily budget. And a gift to one's spouse is limited to a naughty keychain from Khajuraho or a mat that costs Rs 25.
The 25-rupee gift - which, prodding reveals, was actually closer to Rs 150, a rare flouting of their agreed budget - is the kind of frugality that could spell doom for the healthiest of relationships.
Yet, Saurav and Devapriya have emerged from it with only love, rich stories and - as Devapriya never fails to remind Saurav - photographs of him sleeping with his mouth open.
Living out of a backpack is the ultimate indulgence
Saurav and Devapriya have been married eight years. But in many ways, it is this project - to travel and write a travelogue on a borderline-debilitating budget - that made their marriage come into its own.
They were writers before they set off on this adventure. They met at Presidency College and carried their relationship into their years at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Soon enough, they found themselves writing books part-time. Saurav wrote The Upside Down Book of Nuclear Power, and Devapriya, The Vague Woman's Handbook and Weight Loss Club - The Curious Experiments of Nancy Housing Cooperative.
They settled into nine-to-five jobs, Saurav working as an energy analyst, and Devapriya, as a book editor. But even with the comfort of a regular paycheck and the sunshine in their barsati in Vasant Vihar, something was amiss.
And then in 2010, after months of mulling over a life that didn't quite seem their own, the Heat and Dust Project was conceived. It was originally titled Two Honeymooners and a Criggly Map of India.
And so it was that, much to the dismay of their family and the enthusiasm of their publishers, the duo packed their belongings, bought themselves sturdy backpacks, and with only a meagre allowance from said publishers set off into the Rajasthan sunset.
They hadn't imagined the full extent of it. How the project would irreversibly change their lives. How it would force them to confront and then conquer the fear of not being the writers they thought themselves to be. How it would make marriage easier, but living together in urban domesticity much, much harder.
The road increasingly well-travelled
The Heat And Dust Project was initially conceived as a single book.
Eventually the duo realised they couldn't possibly squeeze their travels across a country this vast into a single paperback. So they broke it into three installments.
The Heat and Dust Project covers Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. The second, Man. Woman. Road., due to be released in 2016, documents their travels of Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. The third will see them cover Eastern India.
The book - or the first, which is what we've read - makes for warm, spirited reading. It is an honest book. In language both easy to read and candid, the couple take you through their arbitrary encounters with people, whether at restaurants or on sand dunes.
They talk about wandering into the homestay of a generous family in Pushkar in the middle of the festival of Teej. And of the political debates they overhear on the buses trundling through the northern hinterland.
And they won't stop there either. They'll take you into the candid moments in their own relationship. The one night Devapriya was upset by Saurav's apathy towards taking notes. ("He thinks he remembers everything", she grumbles.)
They speak of bus rides with impassioned longing, as if for a home they lost in a fire
Saurav pondering memories of his mother's death. Her exasperation at his relentless need to throw himself into defense websites. His exasperation at her relentless need to eat cake.
They'll let you in to their marriage as seamlessly as you'll let lessons from theirs into yours.
Home is a place on the highway
At some point during their journey, Saurav and Devapriya came to realise that their concept of home - a personal haven that provides emotional and physical comfort - had undergone a dramatic change.
Home, a space shared with ones we love, was no longer their South Delhi barsati, nor their South Calcutta house. Home now meant being aboard a bus. And fellow travellers, strangers with little in common but Bhajpa-Congress polity, had become family.
"Home is when the bus is just leaving the depot," Devapriya explains, quietly.
"No, for me it's when it's on the highway."
The wistfulness is palpable. They speak of this bus with impassioned longing, as if for a home they lost in a fire.
Never mind that grandmotherly keepers of stories are now owners of homestays. And that the safety nets they create for themselves in times of distress are woven with the kindness of strangers.
The unpunctual honking buses with lopsided seats that traverse the Indian hinterland, day after day, have now become home.
June 14, 2015
To decide on the explanatory subtitle of this book, the authors ran a contest on Facebook and the one I liked most was 'Bhadraloks go Backpacking'. This whole concept of two articulate, erudite, intelligent people going around India on a budget of Rs 500 per day comes across brilliantly in that one. The one finally chosen is nice too (though a tad boring).
There is nothing boring about the book, though. The couple charges down Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh in their quest (presumably) to find the true Bharat and bumps into khadoos hotel owners, Israeli backpackers*, casually sexist co-travellers, affluent auto-drivers, Lonely Planetists and what not. They manage to weave in a fair bit of social context, religious back stories and their own motivations without sacrificing the 'hurtling' pace.
The only complaint I have against the book is that it is too short but the good news is that a sequel is in the offing. This one is a great advertisement for that.
*Sequel idea: They are actually Mossad agents out to... oh damn, this is non-fiction.
There is nothing boring about the book, though. The couple charges down Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh in their quest (presumably) to find the true Bharat and bumps into khadoos hotel owners, Israeli backpackers*, casually sexist co-travellers, affluent auto-drivers, Lonely Planetists and what not. They manage to weave in a fair bit of social context, religious back stories and their own motivations without sacrificing the 'hurtling' pace.
The only complaint I have against the book is that it is too short but the good news is that a sequel is in the offing. This one is a great advertisement for that.
*Sequel idea: They are actually Mossad agents out to... oh damn, this is non-fiction.
September 6, 2015
Enjoyed reading this book and it's tempting me to do something like what they have done!
Note to the authors - Your next trip should be to the northeast India. It would be great to have you guys voice out the paradise unexplored.
Note to the authors - Your next trip should be to the northeast India. It would be great to have you guys voice out the paradise unexplored.
March 20, 2019
A young couple travel around Rajasthan, Gujarat and Delhi, with a side-trip to Dharamsala, on a budget of 500 rupees a day, in quest of 'Bharat' or the real India. Some quirky anecdotes, some whining and quarreling about the budget (justifiably), some broad-brush history lessons...and some sneering at unfulfilling corporate jobs. It's a fun, pacy read, that in many ways leaves you thankful for that corporate job - slumming it is great for a read, nothing more.
November 11, 2015
"চারিদিক অন্ধকারে ঢেকে যাচ্ছে..তালে কি মরু ঝড়
না আমার স্বপ্ন..
আমার না..কেল্লা দেখতে ইচ্ছে করে..মানুষ কে আরো জানতে ইচ্ছে করে..
আফসোস করে লাভ নেই..বেরিয়ে পরা যাক.."
একটা অদ্ভুত সফরে..যেখানে আছে আনেক কাঠিন্য..একে অপরকে বুঝে নেওয়ার অনেক টা সুযোগ..আর কেল্লা,মানুষ..ভুরিভোজ..আর আমার ভারত..
এরকমই কিছু স্বপ্ন কে মুঠো করে হয়ত বেরিয়ে পরেছিল D আর S..তাদের এই ভারত দর্শন V1.0
প্রতিদিন ৫০০ টাকার বাজেট,খুনসুটি,ভালবাসা আর প্রচুর নতুন মানসিকতার সম্মুখীন হওয়া..এক অদ্ভুত অভিজ্ঞতা'র সমুক্ষিন হলো এই কলকাতা তথা দিল্লির দম্পতি.রাজস্থান 'র মরুভূমি,ধুলোয় ভরা রাস্তা,বাসের ক্লান্ত যাত্রা,অবিরাম এক প্রদেশ থেকে অন্য প্রদেশে এগিয়ে চলা কোনো ভাবেই কিন্তু খান্ত করেনি এদের.মূলত রাজস্থান, গুজরাট,দিল্লির কিছু অংশ এবং স্বর্গের মতন সুন্দর ধর্মশালা'র বর্ণনা পাবে এই বিচিত্র বই'এ.কেন ভালোলাগবে বাঙালি এবং সারা ভারতের মানুষের..এতে আছে ওই তিন প্রদেশের খাবার দাওয়ার'র বিবরণ,আছে প্রচুর ভালো মানুষের সাথে আলাপ চারিতা,আছ��� উচু জাত নিচু জাতের কলহ -যা চোখে আঙ্গুল দিয়ে দেখিয়ে দেবে আমাদের সমাজের বর্তমান অবস্থা,আছে মরুভূমি,আছে পৃথিবীর অন্য প্রান্তের মানুষ যারা অতি সহজে নিজের জ্ঞান,বন্ধুত্ব নিয়ে এক হয়ে গেছিল লেখক লেখিকার সাথে ..আছে অনেক ভালবাসা যা চার দেওয়ালের যে অনেক বড়..যার ব্যপ্তি অনেকটা তুলে ধরেছে ভাষার মাধ্যমে..
বই টা অন্য travelogue থেকে আলাদা..ভালো লাগবে পড়ে ফেলুন..
পরের বই টার জন্য মুখিয়ে থাকলাম.."Man Woman Road"
না আমার স্বপ্ন..
আমার না..কেল্লা দেখতে ইচ্ছে করে..মানুষ কে আরো জানতে ইচ্ছে করে..
আফসোস করে লাভ নেই..বেরিয়ে পরা যাক.."
একটা অদ্ভুত সফরে..যেখানে আছে আনেক কাঠিন্য..একে অপরকে বুঝে নেওয়ার অনেক টা সুযোগ..আর কেল্লা,মানুষ..ভুরিভোজ..আর আমার ভারত..
এরকমই কিছু স্বপ্ন কে মুঠো করে হয়ত বেরিয়ে পরেছিল D আর S..তাদের এই ভারত দর্শন V1.0
প্রতিদিন ৫০০ টাকার বাজেট,খুনসুটি,ভালবাসা আর প্রচুর নতুন মানসিকতার সম্মুখীন হওয়া..এক অদ্ভুত অভিজ্ঞতা'র সমুক্ষিন হলো এই কলকাতা তথা দিল্লির দম্পতি.রাজস্থান 'র মরুভূমি,ধুলোয় ভরা রাস্তা,বাসের ক্লান্ত যাত্রা,অবিরাম এক প্রদেশ থেকে অন্য প্রদেশে এগিয়ে চলা কোনো ভাবেই কিন্তু খান্ত করেনি এদের.মূলত রাজস্থান, গুজরাট,দিল্লির কিছু অংশ এবং স্বর্গের মতন সুন্দর ধর্মশালা'র বর্ণনা পাবে এই বিচিত্র বই'এ.কেন ভালোলাগবে বাঙালি এবং সারা ভারতের মানুষের..এতে আছে ওই তিন প্রদেশের খাবার দাওয়ার'র বিবরণ,আছে প্রচুর ভালো মানুষের সাথে আলাপ চারিতা,আছ��� উচু জাত নিচু জাতের কলহ -যা চোখে আঙ্গুল দিয়ে দেখিয়ে দেবে আমাদের সমাজের বর্তমান অবস্থা,আছে মরুভূমি,আছে পৃথিবীর অন্য প্রান্তের মানুষ যারা অতি সহজে নিজের জ্ঞান,বন্ধুত্ব নিয়ে এক হয়ে গেছিল লেখক লেখিকার সাথে ..আছে অনেক ভালবাসা যা চার দেওয়ালের যে অনেক বড়..যার ব্যপ্তি অনেকটা তুলে ধরেছে ভাষার মাধ্যমে..
বই টা অন্য travelogue থেকে আলাদা..ভালো লাগবে পড়ে ফেলুন..
পরের বই টার জন্য মুখিয়ে থাকলাম.."Man Woman Road"
December 14, 2015
First off, the title is very misleading. The couple aren't 'broke' broke. They saved up a little, quit their jobs, and travelled on a daily budget. Second, they do not cover Bharat full monty. They hit up random places and random states without an itinerary and that's about it. Third, there aren't specific tenets to adhere to in travel writing, but there needs to be a travel narrative that flows and ebbs and swoons and retrospects and opines. Much as readers are keen to know about the traveller's encounters, they are equally looking forward to understanding what these encounters bring to the table. How is the place like? Where do these people come from? What is their culture? What are their challenges? There are bits and pieces of interesting information throughout the book that are majorly interspersed by homegrown arguments between the couple and necessary revelations like "I feel like eating apple pie right now".
Two stars because they travelled as a couple (there is a lot of romantic charm attached to that idea, innit?), and they managed to bring out a book off that.
I was waiting for this book to end.
Two stars because they travelled as a couple (there is a lot of romantic charm attached to that idea, innit?), and they managed to bring out a book off that.
I was waiting for this book to end.
March 16, 2016
This book was 80% Devapriya or D as she is called in the book and 20% Saurav or S. S is more into writing factual and historical details about the places that they visit, D is more involved in expressing her mood, people and the fights ( yes there are many). Knowing the authors on twitter, this was something expected. As far as travel is concerned, it is mainly limited to Northern India ( Rajasthan and Gujarat) which I am already quite familiar with and thus found not much new and large time spent (described) in Delhi as detour. The incident at the book launch party was quite telling about the mindset that still pervades luteyn elites.
I hope in the next two parts Southern and North Eastern India is covered in depth. I also hope Saurav is given more space and he speaks out his mind as well.
I hope in the next two parts Southern and North Eastern India is covered in depth. I also hope Saurav is given more space and he speaks out his mind as well.
June 21, 2015
I'm not a fan of non-fiction and after Devapriya's previous books, I was a tad disappointed to begin with but soon fell in love with the writing style. I really enjoyed the duo's easy going style. the narration is peppered with relationship dynamics between the two which makes it an interesting read.
This isn't just a narration of an adventure undertaken by the two but also an exciting step in writing. In the deluge of commercial fiction that's selling like hot cakes, it takes a lot of courage to write this book.
This isn't just a narration of an adventure undertaken by the two but also an exciting step in writing. In the deluge of commercial fiction that's selling like hot cakes, it takes a lot of courage to write this book.
December 12, 2015
Equal parts nostalgia and hope for what the future would bring, this broke couple has mastered the art of holding on to their purse strings while exploring a slice of the world together. Replete with historiographical facts, this book manages to strike a chord whenever it gives us a peep into the lives and quirks of the people with whom we share the phenomenon called India while giving us a manual on how to keep your relationship afloat in rather muddy waters. I can't wait for "man.woman.road"!!!
P.S. I loved Devapriya's sections more!
P.S. I loved Devapriya's sections more!
September 18, 2015
I really debated between a 3 and 4 star... I did really enjoy it and I totally love the way they write... I've read weight loss club and thought the metaphors and descriptions were totally brilliant. Could have enjoyed it even more had it had a little more humour or maybe crisper stories?
Though I have to say: my respect for the couple enhanced significantly when I read the boldness with which they wrote about the party with the publishers.
Though I have to say: my respect for the couple enhanced significantly when I read the boldness with which they wrote about the party with the publishers.
October 25, 2015
Among the best travel books I have ever read. A great concept, some great stories along the way, but what makes this special is how you take a generous peep into the writers' lives and their marriage. Looking forward to the sequel!
June 13, 2022
This book is FAR from perfect but I have to admit I really enjoyed reading it. Since this isn't just a note for myself but a public review to guide other readers, let me get some of the problems out of the way: #1 The title is wildly misleading.
- Most of the book happens during winter. There's a lot of dust, yes, but hardly any heat.
- D and S do not travel across Bharat. They travel through Rajasthan, Gujarat, a little bit of UP and a tinier bit of Himachal. And that's it. By then, they run out of money and have to go back to homebase to save up again.
- This is part 1 of a trilogy that was never completed. I don't know if D and S did travel again but the publishers wouldn't bite OR if they just gave up on the whole idea.
- D and S don't have ANY itinerary. They just hop on and off buses and the focus is on being on the move ("hurtling pace" as S puts it) rather than getting anywhere or seeing anything.
- There are impressions of places and people but it's all very whimsical. For example, there's a beautiful glimpse of drifting across the Yamuna on a dark night from a black ghat. There's also a vivid description of the fort-view terrace at the Cosy Guest House in Jodhpur. And a supremely clean, nameless Gujarat highway-side hotel where they eat fried rice. However, there's nothing that anyone can actually use to make their own itinerary or travel plans. This book is not a guide to anything. At all.
- Two Israeli boys that D and S befriend become a recurring feature in the book. No idea why because they are totally uninteresting (at least on the pages) although the couple seem enamoured of them.
In spite of all these shortcomings, the book was beautifully written.
In an interview for Scroll, Devapriya Roy mentions that she's afraid she has come across as a bit of a vague woman while Saurav is the idealistic, intellectual, budget-managing man in this book. They then agree that those versions of themselves sort of died once the travels were done and the book was written. I have to say she's right: D is a vague woman who writes dreamily and drifts from one thing to the next. And I did develop a bit of a crush on S, not just when he starts off on his pet topics of geopolitics and history but also from the tantalizing glimpse he gives into a dark childhood.
I wish D and S were blogging still, sharing bits and pieces of their thoughts and impressions of life. I want to know if they continued to travel. If they found jobs and financial stability. How their relationship evolved. I guess I'll never really know.
- Most of the book happens during winter. There's a lot of dust, yes, but hardly any heat.
- D and S do not travel across Bharat. They travel through Rajasthan, Gujarat, a little bit of UP and a tinier bit of Himachal. And that's it. By then, they run out of money and have to go back to homebase to save up again.
- This is part 1 of a trilogy that was never completed. I don't know if D and S did travel again but the publishers wouldn't bite OR if they just gave up on the whole idea.
- D and S don't have ANY itinerary. They just hop on and off buses and the focus is on being on the move ("hurtling pace" as S puts it) rather than getting anywhere or seeing anything.
- There are impressions of places and people but it's all very whimsical. For example, there's a beautiful glimpse of drifting across the Yamuna on a dark night from a black ghat. There's also a vivid description of the fort-view terrace at the Cosy Guest House in Jodhpur. And a supremely clean, nameless Gujarat highway-side hotel where they eat fried rice. However, there's nothing that anyone can actually use to make their own itinerary or travel plans. This book is not a guide to anything. At all.
- Two Israeli boys that D and S befriend become a recurring feature in the book. No idea why because they are totally uninteresting (at least on the pages) although the couple seem enamoured of them.
In spite of all these shortcomings, the book was beautifully written.
In an interview for Scroll, Devapriya Roy mentions that she's afraid she has come across as a bit of a vague woman while Saurav is the idealistic, intellectual, budget-managing man in this book. They then agree that those versions of themselves sort of died once the travels were done and the book was written. I have to say she's right: D is a vague woman who writes dreamily and drifts from one thing to the next. And I did develop a bit of a crush on S, not just when he starts off on his pet topics of geopolitics and history but also from the tantalizing glimpse he gives into a dark childhood.
I wish D and S were blogging still, sharing bits and pieces of their thoughts and impressions of life. I want to know if they continued to travel. If they found jobs and financial stability. How their relationship evolved. I guess I'll never really know.
February 5, 2018
I wanted to like this book, but I couldn't.
I found the sub-title completely click-baity, once I read the book and saw that the authors were busy getting meals at the Taj, cakes from the Taj, attending publishing parties and what-not, while STILL complaining about their lack of funds. Yes, they adhered to a budget as far as rooms, and meals went. But they had a lot of help cheating on it. And, I refuse to believe that two people with their background had zero savings (even if they did go through most of it as part of this trip).
I also found the switch between voices (D & S) annoying as it kept messing with the pace of the book. I typically like history, and it's a testament to the lack of pace and writing in those sections that I got bored through most of the historical context!
Pro: I liked D's sections - they were more memoir-like, and her style of writing was easy to read. But this alone, wasn't enough to get me to like this book.
Overall, I feel like the premise was strong, but I won't be reading the sequel!
I found the sub-title completely click-baity, once I read the book and saw that the authors were busy getting meals at the Taj, cakes from the Taj, attending publishing parties and what-not, while STILL complaining about their lack of funds. Yes, they adhered to a budget as far as rooms, and meals went. But they had a lot of help cheating on it. And, I refuse to believe that two people with their background had zero savings (even if they did go through most of it as part of this trip).
I also found the switch between voices (D & S) annoying as it kept messing with the pace of the book. I typically like history, and it's a testament to the lack of pace and writing in those sections that I got bored through most of the historical context!
Pro: I liked D's sections - they were more memoir-like, and her style of writing was easy to read. But this alone, wasn't enough to get me to like this book.
Overall, I feel like the premise was strong, but I won't be reading the sequel!
April 14, 2021
I had zero expectations from this book and it turned out to be a good thing. There isn't much about travel in the book but it does have heart. I liked reading about different people in different cities leading different lives. Some old stories were really very nice. I think the title was a bit misleading but overall the book was worth a read. Not a light book and didn't much like the extreme switch to the very few fact chapters by Saurav. Many things were left sort of incomplete. I would recommend the book for its genuine heart felt stories. Maybe approach the book like a book of short stories.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 5, 2022
If there was ever a labour of love, this book is that. The honesty and vulnerability of the authors stand out throughout the book - from their relationship to their hesitant and evolving world views, from their frequent self-doubts to their occasional sunny optimism! I think what they've done is brave and admirable, and the rigor (uff - the choice of quotes opening each chapter!) and writing both are up to the tough job of matching the bold journey itself.
TIP - don't breeze through it, savor it!
TIP - don't breeze through it, savor it!
May 5, 2025
The book is disappointing by the end of it. The book starts with a good naration of how they have planned to travel india, in buses, in low cost hotels, but from the very beginning.. it seems they want comfort with their travel, the cinnamon coffee and the German bakery.Sad. They just travel 6-8 cities in 20 days and thats all. Did not even cover 1/5 of india in travelling.Short Anecdotes are good but by the end of it .you are really hoping something more should have come out of it. .
January 24, 2016
‘The Heat and Dust Project’ is an amazing travelogue of a couple who set out to explore India on a shoestring budget and end up discovering so much more about themselves and their relationship as they journey across the length and breadth of our nation. Jaipur was the first port of call followed by Ajmer, Pushkar, Jodhpur, Merta, Jaisalmer, Palanpur, Ahmedabad, Junagarh, Mathura, Dharamshala among other places.
Witty at times, dramatic at other times, the racy and pacy narrative is infused and interspersed with a plethora of information about the places, historical personalities and people encountered besides reflections by each individually. Although they seem to be traveling at a hurtling pace, their descriptions are slow and languid enough for the reader to actually absorb the tempo and feel of each individual city and its people.
Notwithstanding this book also reflects very much the personal nature of the trip for the couple. We witness not only local and historical drama, but marital tiffs and skirmishes between the writers themselves, as well as their individual introspection into their own histories. It must have taken enormous courage for these two to honestly lay bare their own tragedies and romances for perusal by the readers. And this introspection does not seem out of place either, for when we travel, do we not also travel within ourselves?
In the second half of the book, real life creeps back into this fantasy of abandon. But the writers continue documenting their experiences even when they have to come back to Delhi and put up at a cheap hotel in Paharganj. I do feel that second half is a bit rushed as compared to the drawn-out journey through Rajasthan. Mathura and Dharamshala, in my opinion, could really have been fleshed out more.
Also somewhere to the end of the book it seems to completely lose the plot. An arbitrary book release that they attend, a sudden Dharamshala trip that launches into a conversation into the history of Tibet and the lengthy description of in-hotel activities in Paharganj becomes quite a drag. Somehow I expected a better ending for the book as it truly caught my imagination to start with.
Having said that, I did enjoy the book tremendously and I do look forward to ‘Book 2’ of The Heat and Dust Project which covers the travel from Sarai Kale Khan to Kanyakumari via Khajuraho, Kolhapur, Kozhikode and a hundred other places.
Witty at times, dramatic at other times, the racy and pacy narrative is infused and interspersed with a plethora of information about the places, historical personalities and people encountered besides reflections by each individually. Although they seem to be traveling at a hurtling pace, their descriptions are slow and languid enough for the reader to actually absorb the tempo and feel of each individual city and its people.
Notwithstanding this book also reflects very much the personal nature of the trip for the couple. We witness not only local and historical drama, but marital tiffs and skirmishes between the writers themselves, as well as their individual introspection into their own histories. It must have taken enormous courage for these two to honestly lay bare their own tragedies and romances for perusal by the readers. And this introspection does not seem out of place either, for when we travel, do we not also travel within ourselves?
In the second half of the book, real life creeps back into this fantasy of abandon. But the writers continue documenting their experiences even when they have to come back to Delhi and put up at a cheap hotel in Paharganj. I do feel that second half is a bit rushed as compared to the drawn-out journey through Rajasthan. Mathura and Dharamshala, in my opinion, could really have been fleshed out more.
Also somewhere to the end of the book it seems to completely lose the plot. An arbitrary book release that they attend, a sudden Dharamshala trip that launches into a conversation into the history of Tibet and the lengthy description of in-hotel activities in Paharganj becomes quite a drag. Somehow I expected a better ending for the book as it truly caught my imagination to start with.
Having said that, I did enjoy the book tremendously and I do look forward to ‘Book 2’ of The Heat and Dust Project which covers the travel from Sarai Kale Khan to Kanyakumari via Khajuraho, Kolhapur, Kozhikode and a hundred other places.
May 26, 2020
The authors claimed this book to be a travelogue, but it is not the one. I purchased this book to read a nice Indian travelogue. It's sub-title says it is a broke couple's guide to Bharat. But first of all, they travelled only through certain parts of India. And they didn't bother to mention that is it the first part of their travelogue or the book covering their whole journey. May be they were so broke that they couldn't go ahead Rajasthan. When I purchased the book, I liked the idea of travelling through India through public transport and on a very small budget(rs.500/- day includingstay and food). They did so to some extent or in their initial days of journey. But l could not get the idea that you are travelling on a very small budget and you eat at German Bakeries. Another thing that is bothering me is that how they were broke? Their were no financial issues as huge as to get frustrated and leave evrything behind. Their journey was sponsered in a sense. They were given the advance payment for the book they were supppsed to write about this journey. Another meaning for broke was their worsening marital relationship. They went on the trip to revive the spark through adventure. They wanted to get the feel of gap-year firang kids, by travelling throughout the country, lije junkies snd nomads. This was the idea that appealed to me to some extent. But all the time, the couple was trying to be close to foreigners, as it is a privilege to roam around with people who are not from your country. And to the other extreme, what I liked most is their having meals with the family of an 'autowallah' Ramaram in Barmer. The whole Barmer chapter was written beautifully. This book is not an easy read. It is a slow one. You have to stop at places because you want to. History of every place is described in too much detail. That's one of the reasons for me to having difficulty in finishing the book.
All I can say is the book is not very bad, but it doesn't serve what it claims. One time read will not be bad.
All I can say is the book is not very bad, but it doesn't serve what it claims. One time read will not be bad.
October 7, 2015
This is my 1st travel book (non-fictional) and it didn't stop me from reading any of such genre further. In fact I think I will read the sequels of this book too.
The first few pages made me realize that this is not a fast read. Yes, this is a slow read and it took me almost a month to finish it.
This book is a casual writing from a couple who left their regular job and started traveling, on a tight budget. I think this book will be more realistic to an Indian than a foreigner because the lifestyle and environment reflected in this book is desi and it takes some imagination for non-Indians to understand. But this will give a picture of how normal India is, to non-Indian readers.
New environments, people, little bit of their lives, etc etc make it good to read. Narration is done by both authors in turn. It's a new try and I feel it is kinda cool.
The only negative I feel about this book is there is not much other than traveling, locations, their history and people met in path. A little bit of sarcasm, fun and love here and there, but I think it would have better if they were a little more.
I know it's non-fiction and we can't expect it to be how we like, but I felt them missing and so they came up to me as negative.
The way they wrote this book made me think about such travel. Though I cannot take risky decisions like them (too many dependencies :/ ), travel/exploring might become part of my life because of the authors.
This book will be awesome for travelers and a good read for those who love reading. Only exception is, if you are core fiction/suspense fellow, then you might not like it much.
The first few pages made me realize that this is not a fast read. Yes, this is a slow read and it took me almost a month to finish it.
This book is a casual writing from a couple who left their regular job and started traveling, on a tight budget. I think this book will be more realistic to an Indian than a foreigner because the lifestyle and environment reflected in this book is desi and it takes some imagination for non-Indians to understand. But this will give a picture of how normal India is, to non-Indian readers.
New environments, people, little bit of their lives, etc etc make it good to read. Narration is done by both authors in turn. It's a new try and I feel it is kinda cool.
The only negative I feel about this book is there is not much other than traveling, locations, their history and people met in path. A little bit of sarcasm, fun and love here and there, but I think it would have better if they were a little more.
I know it's non-fiction and we can't expect it to be how we like, but I felt them missing and so they came up to me as negative.
The way they wrote this book made me think about such travel. Though I cannot take risky decisions like them (too many dependencies :/ ), travel/exploring might become part of my life because of the authors.
This book will be awesome for travelers and a good read for those who love reading. Only exception is, if you are core fiction/suspense fellow, then you might not like it much.
April 12, 2016
Maybe the rating should be 3.5 stars. My first impulse was to write a negative review for they covered very little of Bharat/India: some Rajasthan + Gujarat + fews days in Delhi and couple of days in Dharamsala - I especially liked the bits abt the issues concerning India, Tibet and China. The epilogue says a book-II is coming and I also thought if I say something is wrong , I should also be able to say what they could have done better for this is not a novel. I thought of 'Maximum city - Bombay lost and found' by Suketu Mehta as the kind of book that I like. But then that was an entire book dedicated to a single city . This is more like covering the not-so-well-known parts of India. And they travel on a budget - that does 2 things : one being it offers interesting insights bcoz they get to meet interesting people who otherwise they wouldn't care to meet or may not get to interact; -ve being the description of Hotel rooms + few other things kind of gets predictable. That said, I think the book was good. Not boring. But if you don't care for Hindu mythologies and all that stuff, you can give it a miss. Though it is co-authored by Saurav Jha and Debapriya Roy and it is actually Saurav who supplies the historical bits (which of course, nowadays you can get it straight from wikipedia ), I thought Debapriya kept the book interesting. But then I guess it was a conscious decision by the authors to keep it that way.
January 29, 2018
I had started the book with the expectation that it would either be a travelogue, focusing on the places visited, or a travel guide focusing on where to stay as a broke couple and what to do. It turned out to be neither. In fact, I'm not sure what it was intended to be.
Saurav's parts are majorly a juxtaposition of facts with no story tying them together. At one point, Devapriya mentions that when he's exhausted Saurav starts reciting facts. Well, I could see writing exhausted him thoroughly.
Devapriya's writing was better - it at least had some story, if incoherent at times. From her parts I learnt a lot about her education, family, philosophy, friends (and more than I wanted to know about her bladder capacity) - but precious little about their travel. Why they chose to go to certain places (like Barmer) remains a mystery. Overshadowed only by the mystery of what they experienced there (in spite of the excruciatingly detailed account of the invitation to a local's home)
Overall, this felt more like a 'Dear Diary' venture than a well thought out travelogue. I would have given 1-star, but I made it through the book and occasionally enjoyed it, so 2 it is.
Saurav's parts are majorly a juxtaposition of facts with no story tying them together. At one point, Devapriya mentions that when he's exhausted Saurav starts reciting facts. Well, I could see writing exhausted him thoroughly.
Devapriya's writing was better - it at least had some story, if incoherent at times. From her parts I learnt a lot about her education, family, philosophy, friends (and more than I wanted to know about her bladder capacity) - but precious little about their travel. Why they chose to go to certain places (like Barmer) remains a mystery. Overshadowed only by the mystery of what they experienced there (in spite of the excruciatingly detailed account of the invitation to a local's home)
Overall, this felt more like a 'Dear Diary' venture than a well thought out travelogue. I would have given 1-star, but I made it through the book and occasionally enjoyed it, so 2 it is.
July 30, 2016
Her writing is most of the book. And her writing has a lot of inanities ... too many for this book to be any sort of a travelogue. It was mostly just about her thoughts and feelings, not so much about the places and people. Not too many observations. What's a reader's interest in a travelogue if not for insightful observations?
His writing was ok in the sense we get to at least read some facts and historical details about places and their culture. He just didnt write much in this book.
Actually hard to think of this to be any sort of a passionate project. More a calculated, commercial project. But for wanting to put a book out, there doesnt seem to be any other motive.
His writing was ok in the sense we get to at least read some facts and historical details about places and their culture. He just didnt write much in this book.
Actually hard to think of this to be any sort of a passionate project. More a calculated, commercial project. But for wanting to put a book out, there doesnt seem to be any other motive.
July 13, 2015
This is a lovely book. Brings back memories; time when I was a 16 year old moving across small towns and villages on bus tops (yes, tops). The authors recount their experience of places I have never been too, and that is an added bonus. I can guess the kind of physical strain it must have taken to go around the country in the manner elucidated in the book. And to garner the energy to actually document the same in a lucid style.
December 19, 2016
The book goes along fine till it reaches the place where the couple park themselves at Paharganj, where it becomes more of The Broke Couple's Guide To Being Broke. The places covered are few, and there's something about the relationship that's not clear, overall. So neither is it a good travelogue, nor a heartwarming tale of a couple's journey (in many senses). It's a good listing of various hotel rooms, though.
August 17, 2015
Great Premise. An interesting read, albeit the pace is slow. Would have been much better if the editing would have been crisp. Also, what took over the authors to describe the each other by their first alphabet rather than by the names would be anybody's guess. This simply and surely took out a lot of pleasure out from reading.
November 9, 2015
A part-travelogue-part-diary, this book successfully attempts to add a new dimension to travel-based writing. But it does lose pace along the narration. For me the winner was the way the writers have concluded it, which is profound and leaves a sweet bitter desire to scale new paths with all the heat and dust.
July 14, 2021
To be honest I struggled to finish this book. I can't say I enjoyed it, it may have been the style but I felt it was too agenda-driven. Not my cup of tea at all. Possibly my expectations were too high after I had read some reviews of it when it was first released. I would like to rate it one and a half stars, just about "didn't like it".
Going to re-read it in 2021.
Going to re-read it in 2021.
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