Author Gurmukh Singh is set to release his new book this month titled: California Dreams – India shining in the land of Hollywood:
Four British Army Sikh soldiers who landed in San Francisco April 5, 1899, were the forerunners of a massive wave of Indian migration to southern California – the region that is home to a staggering 200,000 of the over 1.5 million Indian Americans in the US.It is in southern California that people like Dilip Singh Saund began the Asian struggle for equal rights; it is there that Indian mystics and yogis like Paramhansa Yogananda and Jiddu Krishnamurthy started preaching the wisdom of the East; it is there that transcendental meditation and yogis gained global recognition.
“California Dreams – India shining in the land of Hollywood” (British Columbia Books) traces this magical journey as author Gurmukh Singh skilfully chronicles the contribution of 24 Indian Americans in propelling the Sunshine State to a major economic powerhouse within the US. [Link]
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p>One of the selling points of this book seems to be that it is filled with lots of pictures (some rare) which would make it a good coffee table book even after you’ve finished reading it.
“The inspiring life stories of these most remarkable Indian Americans are a testament to ever growing enterprise and ingenuity,” notes Stanley Wolpert, professor emeritus of South Asian history at UCLA, in his foreword to the 208-page, profusely illustrated book priced at $20 (Rs.999 in India). [Link]
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p>The book is filled with fun fact that you can use to impress an dinner parties. I know that I will be using the following two facts in a random conversation sometime soon:
The Pacific Palisades chapter of the Self-Realisation Fellowship founded by Paramhansa Yogananda is the only place in the world where Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes are still preserved. Not even in India are Gandhi’s ashes preserved.In the 1920s, Baroda’s Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad used to own land from Bel Air all the way to the Pacific Ocean. He defaulted on his taxes and the state reclaimed the land. Today a Baroda Drive in Bel Air is the only reminder of those heady days. [Link]
I will update this post with a link so that you can purchase this book when it comes out later this month.
So the Hollywood in the title’s a wee bit misleading then. It’s more Desis in Californ-I-A. I think we all know where that is without having to refer to it as ‘The Land of Hollywood’, no?
Anyway, sounds interesting.
I think they put in Hollywood because this is mostly about Indian Americans in Southern California. But yeah, the Hollywood reference may not be the best idea.
yeah, bongsie. what he said. 🙂 seriously, as someone who was born in southern and raised in northern from age 3 on (thanggod), i have NO issues with the headline. SoCal IS the land of hollywood…and smog…and ricockulous traffic and…
if it weren’t for our Abhi and this sweet child o’ mine, i’d find it utterly useless. 😉
This is really fascinating to me as a British-Indian. I might just buy this book.
But to people from outside America Holywood = California. I dont think we appreciate how big and varied a place it is. We just think you all hang out with Will Smith and J Lo and Snoop Dogg and stuff.
Its like when people from America talk about England they just use the word London as though London and England are the same thing.
+++++
Yank: I love your accent its so cute are you Irish?
Limey: No, I come from Manchester.
Yank: Is that, like, in London?
Limey: Fuck off
+++++
That kind of thing.
Dont ruin the illusion. California = Hollywood, OK?
No that’s cool – I don’t really know much about California, so if you say that SoCal’s the Land of Hollywood, I’ll believe you. It’s just initially I was thinking the book was about something else (nice Indian English there). I am a frustrated wannabe filmmaker (a dime a dozen these days) and I like reading about desis making in the Big League (i.e. Hollywood). Hence Naren Shankar has a shrine dedicated to him in my house – and I’m working on a Sunil Nayar one too. He’s still small fry. So I thought perhaps it’s a book about people like that.
But then I realised – that would be a PAMPHLET, not a coffee table tome.
Haha Pablo and me, two Brits, simultaneously post ‘we don’t know anything about Cali’. Ahh such erudite people.
BUT! I know a lot more about LA now courtesy a Ms. DesiDancer as she recommended Rize to me months ago – LaChapelle is very clear in his comparison of South Central LA to a developing country in stark contrast to his stomping ground of Hollywood, just a few miles away.
Don’t be hard on Americans though Pablo, Jade Goody (from BB) thought Cambridge was in London. Numpty.
I love Americans – they are fun. The ones I have met have been a little naive, but good fun. Always smiling and wide-eyed like teenagers.
Is this book self-published? I can’t find it on amazon and there’s no available ISBN number. A search at “British Columbia Books” didn’t turn up anything either… Hopefully it’ll be easier to find after it’s released.
It isn’t available yet. In the last line of the post I mention that I will update this post when it is released later this month. Stay tuned.
Saying ‘Hollywood’ makes it sound like its related to desis in the movie biz. I agree the title seems misleading (not on purpose, of course)
California is already out and available at major book stores in India.