Ganja Mahua Chronicles

‘Transports the reader to another time and age and space’—john Berger I wrap your name in mine I’m mixing weed with wine I'm the dot, you’re the line I'm the name, you’re the sign this book is an exceptional document. It charts the journeys of Venkat, an artist from a remote ‘tribal’ village in the patangarh area of Madhya Pradesh to the art worlds of Bhopal, Delhi and to foreign lands in the footsteps of his uncle, the legendary Jangarh Singh Shyam who died under mysterious circumstances in Japan. It is a story of survival, both physical and artistic, in the underbelly of cities and in the bylanes of the art market. Written as an autobiography in a wonderfully devised jugalbandi between the artist and his soulmate, Anand, in a dual voice, it charts an unexplored textual territory of narration. The delightful illustrations combine diverse linguistic modes. They approximate the factual and magical passages of the journeys to sparkle with an unusual incandescence.—Gulammohammed Sheikh.