THE SARI SHOP WIDOW Delightful through and through book by Shobhan Bantwal
5:28 PM Posted by ukmad
THE SARI SHOP WIDOW is the third book written by Shobhan Bantwal who hails from Belgaum, which will be released on September 1, 2009 by Kensington Publishing Corporation. [She was showcased as the 1st star of Belgaum on this site.]
Shobhan Bantwal was born on July 2 and raised at BELGAUM along with her four sisters. She resided in Camp area and she did her schooling from St. Josephs Convent Camp (LKG to SSLC) and then went to Lingraj College followed by Karnatak University in Dharwar for a master’s degree in sociology. She got a second master’s degree in Public Administration in the U.S. she rarely visits India, so her visits to Belgaum are very few and far between. She came to the United States in an arranged marriage in the mid 1970’s.
Kensington Publishing, an American publisher, released her first fiction book, THE DOWRY BRIDE, in September 2007 and her second book, THE FORBIDDEN DAUGHTER, was released last week, September 2008. Both novels are based in India and deal with contemporary social issues that have created a great deal of interest amongst American and Canadian readers who are fascinated with the subjects of dowry and gender-selective abortions.
THE SARI SHOP WIDOW offers a rare and insightful glimpse into the vibrant world of Indian-American fashions and immigrant culture. A young businesswoman rediscovers the magic of love, family, and tradition as she fights to save her failing sari boutique in New Jersey…
"Dazzles you with a taste of Desi culture in America" – NYT bestselling author Caridad Pineiro
To offer you a glimpse into the Indian-American immigrant experience, I have set this story in New Jersey instead of India, but I have preserved my ethnic Indian cultural elements to bring you a distinctive story of an Indian woman born and raised in the U.S. I sincerely hope you enjoy this third book as much as you did my first two.
Pungent curry, sweet fried onions, fragrant incense, lush silk saris, and rare jewelry are the backdrop for this story. Set on the streets of Edison, New Jersey's Little India, a young businesswoman rediscovers the magic of love, family, and heritage as she fights a valiant battle to save her failing sari boutique and tries to make a life-altering decision.
THE SARI SHOP WIDOW will be available at bookstores in the U.S. and Canada and all online booksellers. Orders can be placed at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, independent bookstores' websites, and for readers in India on flipCart.com website.
Advance praise for THE SARI SHOP WIDOW:
What Reviewers are saying about "THE SARI SHOP WIDOW"
"Delightful through and through! THE SARI SHOP WIDOW is a wonderful, wonderful work of fiction that will add a new perspective and inner joy to a reader's heart."
~~~~ Book Illuminations
"I found it to be extremely fascinating . . . Shobhan Bantwal's writing style is smoother than Chai tea and her story is just as refreshing!"
~~~~ Huntress Reviews
"This is a super ethnic family drama from an author who consistently provides readers with great profound novels . . . Shobhan Bantwal's enjoyable novels are incredibly entertaining but also enlightening as the reader sips masala chai."
~~~~ Harriet Klausner
"THE SARI SHOP WIDOW is a highly entertaining and informative novel . . . You are even sorry that it ends.
~~~~ Book Pleasure
An Excerpt
THE SARI SHOP WIDOW by Shobhan Bantwal
Chapter 1
For the second time in ten years her life was beginning to come apart. Anjali Kapadia stood still for a minute, trying to absorb the news. Could it possibly be a mistake? But it wasn’t; she’d heard it clearly. Despite her best efforts to curb it, the initial shock wave refused to ebb. The seemingly harmless bit of information was all it had taken to shatter the image of a satisfying lifestyle and career.
Her mind in overdrive, she started to pace the length of the tasteful and elegant boutique. Her boutique—her baby—her artistic and inventive skills put to optimum use in creating a fairytale store worthy of movie stars, models, and beauty queens.
Technically the business belonged to her and her parents as equal partners, but it was Anjali’s creativity and vision that had turned it into a classy and successful enterprise—at least until recently. It stood apart like a maharani, a queen amongst the ordinary, plain-vanilla sari and clothing shops of New Jersey’s “Little India.”
Yearning for “Old Belgaum”: By Shobhan Bantwal
10:35 AM Posted by ukmad
By Shobhan Bantwal
The author was showcased as Stars of Belgaum earlier on this blog.
As an ex-Belgaum resident, it is both heartening and heartrending to see how my hometown has changed from a sleepy, rural town to a teeming city over the past three decades. When I pay those rare visits from my United States home to Belgaum, I no longer recognize the old Ramdev Galli, Khade Bazar, Tilakwadi, and Bogarves neighborhoods. I do not see some of the beloved old landmarks that were an integral part of my childhood of the 1950s and 60s. Even the old homestead, where I grew up in the Cantonment area, looks rather decrepit. But my deceased parents’ souls still seem to linger there.
The ever-growing businesses and multiplicity of educational institutions and healthcare facilities are no doubt assets to the local economy and the shift towards globalization. Apparently businesses in every sector are booming, providing a healthy income for many. There are posh, eye-popping mansions lining the suburbs that were non-existent back then. All this glory to a former Belgaumite is indeed uplifting. Needless to say I want my hometown to prosper and flourish.
However, the special flavor that was Belgaum seems to be lost forever in the economic and political shuffle. The town used to be an unexpectedly quaint mix of pleasant weather, bucolic vistas, cultural pursuits like music, dance and drama, upscale social venues like Belgaum Club, the golf course, the military party circuits, and unparalleled varieties of dew-fresh produce. Today it looks like any other medium-sized metropolis filled with innumerable commercial ventures, smoke-belching automobiles, schools and colleges, hotels and restaurants, and movie theaters. Even the citizens appear more aloof.
When I was a schoolgirl at St. Josephs School, there was a small circulating library called Oliver’s Library, which lent out books for a monthly membership fee. It disappeared a long time ago. Outside the Military Mahadev Temple, the dhoti-clad man who sold Arlipaakh, a spicy and crunchy combination of churmure, shev, and a secret-recipe lump of spices, was an institution by himself. Is someone carrying on that tradition today? I sincerely hope so.
One of the special delights from my childhood was visiting the neighboring sugarcane farms to drink fresh sugarcane juice and buy a fresh mound of gool – incredibly sweet and bursting with flavor when used in cooking and laddus. I am not sure if that particular simple pleasure is available to Belgaumites anymore.
While I yearn for the pastoral Belgaum of my girlhood, I applaud the Belgaum it has become today. My heart swells with pride when I observe how far it has come and made a place for itself on India’s map. I eagerly envision my next visit to Belgaum and sampling some new pleasures it has to offer even as I reminisce about the old times with my family. No matter what, Belgaum is still my home.
As another New Year approaches, I hope and pray that 2009 will be an even richer and more productive year for all my fellow Belgaumites, both previous and the present. I send them all cyber-blessings and good wishes from my humble home in New Jersey. Long Live Belgaum!
Bio: Shobhan Bantwal was born and raised in Belgaum -- a pukka Belgaumite. Marriage in 1973 to a man who lived in the United States took her to New Jersey, where she continues to reside with her family. Shobhan is a published novelist with two novels to date, THE DOWRY BRIDE and THE FORBIDDEN DAUGHTER. Two more novels are slated for publication in 2009. Her primary job is working for the New Jersey State government.
Website: http://www.shobhanbantwal.com/
Shobhan Bantwal: Stars of Belgaum
10:12 AM Posted by ukmad
Author of The Forbidden Daughter & THE DOWRY BRIDE, Shobhan Bantwal was born and brought up in Belgaum until she married and settled in USA.
She was born on July 2 and raised at BELGAUM along with her four sisters. Her father was a doctor and her mother worked as his office manager. She r
esided in Camp area and she did her schooling from St. Josephs Convent Camp( LKG to SSLC) and then went to Lingraj College followed by Karnatak University in Dharwar for a master's degree in sociology. She got a second master's degree in Public Administration in the U.S. she rarely visits India, so her visits to Belgaumare very few and far between.She came to the United States in an arranged marriage in the mid 1970's. Her husband had been working and living in the U.S. for three years before they met. They have been happily married for 34 years and almost all those years they have been living in New Jersey. They have one married daughter and she has girl.
She now works for a government agency in the U.S. She took up freelance journalism and fiction writing as a hobby only a few years ago.
Kensington Publishing, an American publisher, released her first fiction book, THE DOWRY BRIDE, in September 2007 and her second book, THE FORBIDDEN DAUGHTER, was released last week, September 2008. Both novels are based in India and deal with contemporary social issues that have created a great deal of interest amongst American and Canadian readers who are fascinated with the subjects of dowry and gender-selective abortions.Although her books are not published in India, they are available throughAmazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, Flipkart.com, and a number of other on-linebooksellers and larger bookstores in Mumbai, Delhi, and most major cities.
She created a fictitious setting in her novels: a small town in southwestern India called Palgaum. She believed it would make an interesting and exotic backdrop for her book. However, it is loosely based on the town she grew up in. Whenever she was writing about the streets and the scenery, she had an image of her own town of Belgaum, except for the river. She felt a picturesque river scene would give the story more texture and romance, so she threw in a river, which my town doesn’t have.
She writes articles and short stories for a number of Indian-American and Indian publications including India Abroad, India Currents, Sulekha.com, DesiJournal.com, Little India, Kanara Saraswat, and New Woman India and Leaves magazines.
Some Praises for her book:
THE DOWRY BRIDE is "Remarkable...imaginative, packed with detail. Adroitly depicting passion, brutality, cultures in conflict. This novel is as engrossing as it is unusual." says Dorothy Garlock, Bestselling author
Bantwal takes a brave look at an old topic and delivers a piece of work that may just make an impact. Wonderful, Vivid, and Worth Reading!
---- BookIdeas
Links to her books
Source: An Email interview with her
Amazon.com
http://www.theromancereader.com/nf-bantwal.html
http://www.shobhanbantwal.com/
