TY  - BOOK
AU  - Joshi,Ruchir
TI  - Great eastern hotel
SN  - 978-93-6569-565-6
U1  - 954.14709044 23
PY  - 2025///
CY  - New Delhi, Gurugram, Haryana
PB  - Fourth Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
KW  - History
KW  - Political commitment
KW  - Nationalism
KW  - Art
KW  - Second world war
KW  - August 1941
KW  - India
KW  - Calcutta
KW  - Kolkata
N1  - PROLO GUE -- ONE: Ocean of Peace -- TWO: Ascending and Descending -- THREE: Light Dancing -- FOUR: Shifting Islands -- FIVE: The Long Flag -- SIX: Convex and Concave -- SEVEN: Rice Blood -- EIGHT: Strange Fruit -- EPILOGUE -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
N2  - "THE WORLD IS AT WAR. And at the Great Eastern, Calcutta's most luxurious hotel, amidst the feasting, dancing and laughter, we witness the metropolis in the last moments before multiple disasters strike.
The story begins in August 1941, on the day Rabindranath Tagore dies. The city has come to a standstill as thousands of people line the streets to pay their respects. Among them are: Nirupama, a student of history and a volunteer with the Communist Party of India; Imogen, a young Englishwoman whose father is an official with the Raj; Kedar, the scion of a wealthy family, who dreams of painting like Cézanne; and Gopal, a young but experienced pickpocket, who finds himself promoted into a dark, dangerous world.
Their lives intertwine with those at the hotel: an American soldier who plays jazz at the nightclub; a genius French chef; an heiress fleeing from the nightmare in Europe; and a group of military officers running a secret intelligence operation. 
Singularly ambitious and attentive, Ruchir Joshi's Great Eastern Hotel maps this simmering pause at a crucial juncture in history, and offers new contexts to the upheavals of our present, raising vital questions about political commitment, nationalism, love and art."-- Book jacket
ER  -