A Favorite Holiday Dish from My Childhood: Pakoras

Thanks for sharing this. Yum! I may not get it together to make these pakoras but I enjoy reading your narrative and recipe (armchair cook). I enjoyed your last book very much. Thank you and congratulations. Looking forward to your next book.

Hi Chitra,

My friend and fellow book club member Jayshree recently wrote to you about the Palace of Illusions, which was our December selection and we were thrilled to hear back from you. I've posted up some points from our discussion at the url above. We had a really stimulating discussion about the book, and all of us loved the book. Thanks!

Hi!
I have only read one of your books, you used to live in California right?
Or do you still live there.
I think you know my aunt Hemla... so when I saw you book I got excited...
:)

Dear Chitra

I have read all of your books and I have been eagerly awaiting the next book "One Amazing Thing". The book seems to have been released but it is not yet available in India. Is It possible for you to tell me when will the book be released in the country.

Thanks

Hi Chitra,

By chance I picked your book " The palace of Illusions" and it impressed me a lot. I loved the way you have expressed it. Now I want to read all your works :). Thanks for such a lovely book.

Thank you for this lovely recipe. Pakoras are one of my favorite Indian snacks. :) I also would like to add I have recently discovered your books and I love your writing style mainly because each character seems so "real" By the end of each story, i feel I've known its characters for so long, as if they were friends of mine.

HI Chitra,

Just wanted to say that I am a big fan! I absolutely love your books and writing.

Please do let me know if you will ever be in the Bay Area again- for a book tour maybe?
Would love to get the chance to see you.

Hi Chitra

I've been reading your books since I migrated here and I love your poetry and short stories.

Thanks for posting the recipe.

To Chitra: Thank you for Rakestraw appearance! I had spoken to you in restaurant (and hope you didn't mind my questions and comments at bookstore). My friends, who had never before gone to such an event were charmed. They asked you to mark the book "To Bonnie and Esta" since we were to share it. I was already in their car when I realized I had not said goodbye. . . You are not only a fine writer but also a lovely person. My condolences on your mother's death and my best wishes for your future. Esta Wolfram

Dear Chitra,
sorry for bothering you on a silly matter...the fact is that I'd like to talk about you to my pupils (I'm an Italian teacher of English in a secondary school), but I'm not sure to pronounce your name correctly (I also searched the net and found a lot about you but nothing on this matter). Could you help me on that?
Thank you a lot and keep creating !
Fabiola

Hello!
I'm a freshman in university and my professor showed us your story "Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter" and I was immediately moved by it. It made me understand my grandmother in a new way. I borrowed a book of your short stories and consumed the whole thing in a day. I love reading and discovering your work is like finding a new place I never knew existed. I rarely read female writers, although I do love Sylvia Plath, reading some of your interviews about who inspired you leads me to many more amazing women writers. As an immigrant myself, your writing really changed how I viewed myself since I was a little bitter before. I just wanted to say thanks for being so strong and inspirational. I think you write beautifully!

P.S. My favorite male author of all time is Jack Kerouac and his book "On the Road" made me love reading. Have you read it?

A good book they say is as stimulating as a cup of black coffee, and just as hard to sleep there after. Over the past 6 months, my quest for this 'black cofee',Indian style, has led me to sample the fare of Adiga & Bhagat. While Adiga is good(though not my flavor), the less said about Bhagat, the better.So, when someone tossed me a copy of "Arranged Marriage" today, I tossed it right back. She sat me down and asked me to read the first story - Bats. "It takes just 10 minutes !" she implored. I obliged.

It has been 30 minutes since, and thanks to google, I'm commenting here.Thank you, I loved the first story I read and it has not happened in a while now. I'll be sure to let you know if the other stories make me feel otherwise :-) .

I'm sure you are flooded with praise and this may not mean much. But for a short story parched soul, this was a welcome refuge and meant a lot..

Regards,
Madhu

I love your books, especially loved the Palace of Illusions.

I know you must get this a lot but I have a poignant theme of childhood sweethearts meeting after a while, marrying and then growing increasingly bored of each other, owtwordly perfect and happy, but each one dying inside a little at a time.

Would love to see a book on these lines...

Radhika

I just read Arranged Marriage for my Seminar class and I absolutely loved it. I cannot get enough of your writing! I can't wait to read your other novels. It's absolutely beautiful and honest, and as I write a paper about Arranged Marriage I keep finding symbolism and embedded metaphors that I didn't see at first. Absolutely brilliant! I'm inspired by you.

Hi Chitra,
I have just finished The Palace of Illusions that I picked up at a bookshop in India recently. I am not indian and neither belong to american culture. I am spanish. I visit India often for no special deep reason. It is just that the country atracs me greatly and I deeply enjoy my visits.
I have sat down to email you stright away after finishing the book because the impresion has been very strong and I don't want it to fade before I pour it down on to you.
In fact the book is superbly writen, but you, an axperienced writer, don't need my criticism.I only wanted to write to you to thank you for what you have transmited me through your book.First come the lives of all those people as it happens in the Mahabharata.Then the interior wars and contradictions that run paralel to the Great Battle, inward and outward stories. And finally Panchaali's last minutes that run for a lot of the last pages,and digs deep and deep into oneself.As I navigated deeper into her fortitude and weakness,her fraility and strength I felt more and more identified. I am in my third stage of life, so I can look back as she does and I was touched and surprised that someone younger like
I think you are, could read in my heart so well.
I also like the way you treat Krishna.Yes, he is divine as Panchaali is, as we all are. and we all need a Krishna by our side to remind us.
I have to thanyou with all my heart for this book that has made me think,has given me joy at finding in its words what I wish I could have said so beautifully and wisely, has made me cry, and has made me think that someone, in this small world that we live in ( thanks to internet ) has known some of my feelings.
Thanks again
All my love,
Sara

Thanks for the idea, Radhika.I'll keep it in mind. Tolstoy has a great novella on a similar theme, titled Family Happiness.
Chitra