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POSTED: 09 MAY 2011 Casting a Western eye on India's women India is being transformed by globalisation on every front, or so we’re told. But have the lives of modern Indian women changed too? Has the pace of economic transformation been matched in society, or does the sub-continent still remain a restrictive place for the ‘modern woman’? When journalist Miranda Kennedy arrives in New Delhi, she discovers that renting an apartment as a single woman is next to impossible and finds herself cheerfully labelled as ‘the unmarried feringhee (foreigner) with the cats’. And so begins her struggle to find a place for herself in the New India, a country racing headlong into a future no one seems to be able to keep up with, least of all the extraordinary women who become her friends and unofficial guides. Through the lives of six Indian women — Miranda’s friends and employees and colleagues, spanning age, caste, religion and income group — Searching For Women Who Drink Whisky paints an intimate portrait of the New India, penetrating the facade of the world’s largest democracy. In her effort to understand the hopes and dreams that motivate her new friends, Kennedy peels back India’s globalised image as a land of call centres and fast-food chains and finds an ancient place where, in many ways, women’s lives have scarcely changed for centuries. Incisive, witty and written with a keen eye for the lush vibrancy of the country that Kennedy comes to love, this book is both a remarkable memoir and a cultural revelation. Miranda Kennedy was based in New Delhi for five years, reporting on South Asia for Marketplace Radio and National Public Radio programs. She covered some of the biggest stories in the region, including Afghanistan’s first elections in a quarter century and the aftermath of the Asian tsunami. Kennedy is now an editor at National Public Radio in Washington. *Based on media release issued by Harper Collins. |
PUBLISHING DETAILS Searching for Women Who Drink Whisky: Life and Love in India, by Miranda Kennedy | 352pp paperback $35 | Published May 2011 by Harper Collins. |
