Audiobook7 hours
The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love
Written by Per J Andersson
Narrated by Maanuv Thiara
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
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About this audiobook
WINNER OF THE MARCO POLO OUTSTANDING GENERAL TRAVEL THEMED BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE 2018 EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL WRITING AWARDS
The story begins in a public square in New Delhi. On a cold December evening a young European woman of noble descent appears before an Indian street artist known locally as PK and asks him to paint her portrait – it is an encounter that will change their lives irrevocably.
PK was not born in the city. He grew up in a small remote village on the edge of the jungle in East India, and his childhood as an untouchable was one of crushing hardship. He was forced to sit outside the classroom during school, would watch classmates wash themselves if they came into contact with him, and had stones thrown at him when he approached the village temple. According to the priests, PK dirtied everything that was pure and holy. But had PK not been an untouchable, his life would have turned out very differently.
This is the remarkable true story of how love and courage led PK to overcome extreme poverty, caste prejudice and adversity – as well as a 7,000-mile, adventure-filled journey across continents and cultures – to be with the woman he loved.
Translation copyright © Anna Holmwood, 2017
The story begins in a public square in New Delhi. On a cold December evening a young European woman of noble descent appears before an Indian street artist known locally as PK and asks him to paint her portrait – it is an encounter that will change their lives irrevocably.
PK was not born in the city. He grew up in a small remote village on the edge of the jungle in East India, and his childhood as an untouchable was one of crushing hardship. He was forced to sit outside the classroom during school, would watch classmates wash themselves if they came into contact with him, and had stones thrown at him when he approached the village temple. According to the priests, PK dirtied everything that was pure and holy. But had PK not been an untouchable, his life would have turned out very differently.
This is the remarkable true story of how love and courage led PK to overcome extreme poverty, caste prejudice and adversity – as well as a 7,000-mile, adventure-filled journey across continents and cultures – to be with the woman he loved.
Translation copyright © Anna Holmwood, 2017
Author
Per J Andersson
Per J Andersson is a writer and journalist. He is the co-founder of Sweden’s most well-known traveller’s magazine Vagabond, and has been visiting India for the last 30 years. He lives in Stockholm.
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Reviews for The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love
Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars
5/5
8 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An absolute feel good book! I am half jealous and half excited and happy for him. Just awesome.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This remarkable true story - written in the “eye of God” style - transports the reader ‘s mind into the world of a boy growing up in a poor village in the jungle area of the state of Orissa on the east side of the Indian continent . He was blessed by the enduring love of his mother, but cursed by the Indian cast system. It could be said that the theme of the book deals with the tug of war between destiny on the one hand, and free will on the other. This is perhaps the universal human condition that affects us all to a lesser degree. The story tugs at one’s heartstrings as we learn of the cruelty of the Hindu cast system. The boy was borne into the untouchable class, and this story only exists because the boys suicide attempts to end pain and hunger were not successful. The world of English literature is vast and this reader is by no means qualified to judge. Yet, if I woke up one morning to read in the newspaper that the writer of this book, Swedish author Per J Andersson- had won the Nobel Prize for Literature, I would not be surprised.