100 Books Like Travels on my Elephant

A unique book. Read this and you'll find yourself in a disappearing world. Northern Romania eschewed the modern conveniences and less delicate touches of capitalism for most of the twentieth century. Blacker shares a life wholly dictated by the rhythms of nature. This is a world where the locals recognise someone visiting from another village at a distance, not by their face or their clothes, but by the horse they are riding.

Newby’s adventure classic tells the story of two unassuming friends who decide to go mountaineering in one of the world’s most remote and forbidding regions.

This book helped show me that anything is possible; all you need is the positivity of spirit and focus of drive to take on seemingly overwhelming physical and mental challenges.

His self-deprecating humour and ability to communicate and share the grandeur and beauty of Afghanistan is a must read for anyone who would rather make up their own mind about an oft maligned and feared region of the world.

Recently divorced and looking for meaning in middle age, this endearing traveller retraces the journey he made as a wide-eyed 19-year-old that saw him drive a car from California into the heart of Mexico in the hope of making a quick buck. The naivety and optimism of adolescence, beautifully juxtaposed against the reality of age, this is a poignant tale of lost youth and unfulfilled dreams that ultimately leads the author to a peaceful conclusion.

I know that I have really loved a book when years later I can still remember not just its plot, but exactly where I was when I read it. I have fond memories of reading Zeppa’s book in my guesthouse in Kathmandu in Nepal after pouncing on a secondhand copy. It felt like meeting a new friend. 

Zeppa swaps her dull existence for a two-year teaching post in a Himalayan village. She has fascinating experiences and falls in love with a Bhutanese man. Some of the detail about Bhutan is darker than I expected.

I’ve wanted to go to Bhutan ever since. I came close to getting there was when I lived in Bangladesh, but ultimately, I never did manage it. It’s one of those places that have gotten away from me, but I hope to get there one day.

Ranjit Lal’s writing is always quirky, fun-loving but contains a touch of mystery. In That Summer in Kalagarh, all these qualities are visible. 

The main character is always teased as ‘elephant’ by her cousins. Ironically, on a holiday in the jungles of Uttarakhand in north India they encounter many real and not so real elephants! 

What is the legend of the dead elephant, also called Gitanjali? Why does Gitanjali hear sounds nobody else can, deep inside the jungle?

A spine-tingling adventure, laced with dollops of keen observations and descriptions. 

Although I contributed to this volume, I am recommending it not because of that but because it has a couple of excellent chapters on Gandhi. Best known is Shahid Amin’s, "Gandhi as Mahatma: Gorakhpur District, Eastern UP, 1921-2". In this, he examines Gandhi’s fleeting visit in February 1921 to Gorakhpur District, a largely rural area close to the border with Nepal – showing how this visit was understood by the local peasantry. Many tales circulated, many of which involved the idea that Gandhi had the power of rewarding those who accepted his message and punishing those who did not in supernatural ways. The chapter provides a superb analysis of the ways in which his message was filtered and changed in ways that Gandhi himself not only had no part in, but which he – when brought to his notice – repudiated. The chapter by Partha Chatterjee, "Gandhi and the Critique… show more.

At first glance, it seems like a rather unexciting book, to be honest. But it is enough to look at the table of contents to see that the author argues that one of the basic and oldest manuals of Indian architecture had borrowed whole sections from the best manual we have on Roman (that is, Greco-Roman) architecture: the book of Vitruvius.

I was shocked the first time I read it. This is another of the great enigmas of the subject: how is it that this text is hidden and the consequences of such massive borrowing are not brought out?

It takes a lot from a lot of different stakeholders for a democracy to thrive. It requires unbiased institutions that ensure a level playing field for all political parties and candidates, and one of the primary institutions that keep democracy alive is the media. A vote is only an informed decision when voters have accurate information to base their decision on. The responsibility of making this information accessible rests with a nation’s media. For this reason, it is also one of the first institutions that is targeted by any politician wanting to consolidate power. This book, written by one of India’s leading journalists details how media institutions can be transformed from sources of accurate information to drivers of fear, and how that damages democracy. 

I’m a sucker for all things Royal! Give me a prince and/or princess looking for love in today’s world, and I’m sold. This one has a princess and a prince!

Imagine you’re a princess bidden to enter a marriage of convenience with a neighbouring land’s prince. Then, on your wedding day, you get into an accident, your new husband dies, and when you wake from a coma, you find you’ve now been legally married off to the new Crown Prince, aka your late husband’s younger brother. And he’s hot as sin itself!

This one is more on the steamy side, but don’t let it deter you. Amidst all the heat is a treasure trove of feels and warring emotions and a seismic journey of falling for the "wrong" person who now happens to be exactly the right one!