Odyssey Illustrated guide to
Hill Stations of India – Second Edition – Gillian Wright
US$21.95 GBP12.95
Note: The review has been written less in words and more in pictures intentionally so that the reader reads about the book more through the pictures compiled rather than words. Scientifically visuals are faster understood than words.
About the Author, Photographer, Editors: Written by Gillain Wright and photographs are by Sarah Lock. Editors are Madhumita Mohapatra and Sheela Jhaveri. Book is quite interestingly written with lot of superb photographs, illustrations and poetry suitably fitting at appropriate places.Gillian Wright did her first class degree in Indian Languages form London University and worked for more than a decade for BBC radio and TV in India. The book has been printed and bound in Hong Kong.
The book: Enjoy the pictures, taken from the book with POP technology. The poetry is excellent and equally good is the prose. Pictures are marvelous. Information is quite handful equally for Nature Lovers, Historians, Geography lovers, poetry lovers, tourist. For each of the Hills covered, its background, its history has been explained. Even each location covers the name of hotels with ample details like address, quality of service and contact numbers. At times she has offered the maps too. All hills road routes are also explained making reading more useful. It covers every place of India and each place has been researched thoroughly before writing this book. The writing is from the “heart” more than from “brain” and that could happen only because the writer is fond of “Nature” and very sincerely she has shared her love for Nature in this book.
Excerpts: Chamba – “The road to Chamba runs along the valley of the fast-flowing Ravi, at first high above and then beside River. The town, 53 kilometres (33 miles) from Dalhousie and connected by regular bus services, was the capital of the former rajas of Chamba…” … Background – “The kingdom of Chamba was ruled, without a break, by the same Rajput family from AD 550 to independence in 1947. The first ruler, Maru Varma, established his capital at Brahamputra, today’s Bharmour. Around AD 930, his descendent, Sahi Varma, moved the capital to Chamba…”
Visit all the hills of India, and get the knowledge of their history as a bonus.