Sulekha Select: The Indian Experience in a Connected World

by Smart Information Worldwide, Ashini J. Desai, Sulekha

Sulekha Select is the print debut of Sulekha.com, the biggest online community for Indians worldwide. Selected by the Sulekha community from nearly 1200 writings published on Sulekha since 1998, this... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0970815700
• ISBN13: 9780970815705
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Smart Information Worldwide
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Very unique

I've never read a book written by a community before. It makes for very interesting reading. Of course, some stories are better than others, but the overall experience is excellent.

An excellent collection

This book contains the work of people from the Indian Subcontinent originally published at the website. I was totally impressed by the diversity of topics, originality in writing and the variety of genres. There is poetry, humor, articles dealing with social issues and fiction. Most of the authors are not professional writers, but professionals in other fields with a passion for the written word. The book is refreshing to read and is a successful experiment in capturing the diversity of the Indian spirit. The book is also great as a gift for your Indian and Non-Indian friends.

The ideal way to learn about the Indian "experience"

What's great about "Sulekha Select" is that not a single one of the stories, essays, musings or poems in the collection actively tries to explain "the Indian experience" in its entirety. Rather, each selection is a peek into the life of a single person, living in some part of the world, from his or her individual perspective. The authors are from the widest range imaginable of Indian backgrounds, and they're not professional writers: all of them contributed their efforts to the Sulekha.com website purely out of a desire to connect with each other and with readers. Taken as a whole, these essays and stories offer an introduction to Indian life and culture more complete and accessible than a book on this subject could ever hope to be, while at the same time leaving the clear impression that this collection is only just scratching the surface. That's the perfect way to approach learning about any community's "experience."

Absolutely delightful, world class production

I got it from a friend who purchased the book and read it completely in one night. I did the same. I never thought a book written by common non-writer folk could be so amazingly fun and moving to read. I think Sulekha Select is absolutely delightful, all pieces are authentic and unpretentious! I visit sulekha.com often and they did the right thing by pricing it sensibly and allowing a lot of people to buy and read. The mix of funny, touching, sad and philosophy pieces ( I don't think I have ever seen a book like this before ) was like a roller coaster. Sitting thousands of miles away from my home, I felt like I am back home with this book. I really liked the poems and the humorous pieces. The most touching was the heart-breakingly sad story of an Anglo-Indian girl; the most stunning was the story by Syed about the little boy. I hope to read more of this.

A magical window on the new India

This is marvellous book, compiled out of the contributions to the extremely popular Indian web-magazine called sulekha.com. It is funny, irreverential, insightful, and it has a spectrum of sure and new voices. You won't find a better window to the magic of the new connected India.