Pradyumna Kumar, known as PK, was born into a poor, untouchable family in a small village in eastern India. All his life he has kept a palm leaf bearing an astrologer s prophecy: You will marry a girl who is not from the village, not from the district, not even from our country; she will be musical, own a jungle and be born under the sign of the ox. But not until PK attends art school in New … Delhi do his stars begin to align. One evening, while drawing portraits in a park, he meets a young Swedish woman, Lotta von Schendin and this brief meeting will change the courses of their lives forever.
This is the remarkable true story of how a young Indian man armed with nothing more than a handful of paintbrushes and a secondhand Raleigh bicycle made his way across Asia and Europe in search of the woman he loves.
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This was a very informative and interesting read. I really enjoyed the story, which is a true one. It is about a young Indian boy Pradyumna Kumar, known as PK, who was born into a poor, untouchable family in a small village in eastern India. An astrologer’s prophecy stated that, he PK would marry a girl who is not from the village, not from the district, not even from our country; she will be musical, own a jungle and be born under the sign of the ox. He always had this information in the back of his mind.
PK grew up with a lot of prejudice surrounding him and his family because of their caste (untouchables, also called Dalit, who are a member of the lowest social class in India ) It was amazing to learn about all of the different caste systems and all of the sub divisions of them at well. PK, grew up with this prejudice and when young did not really understand why people treated him and his family the way they did. This did not stop PK from going forth in his life and making something of himself. He found he was good at art and wanted to study that rather than what his father would have chosen for him. He goes to a couple of different schools but eventually settles into an art school in New Delhi and here his life begins to turn around. When not in school, he draws peoples portrait in a local park, where he got quite a reputation and even did portraits for well known people. One day he met a Swedish woman named Lotta, who was traveling around India with some friends, and after spending time with her and remembering his prophecy, he knew she was the one he was to end up with. We don’t really get to connect with her or her story, like we do with PK, so for me I did not really feel that love, although I know it is there.
Lotta, ends up having to go back to Sweden and the two make plans to reunite, but PK not having the money to just fly to Sweden, decides that he must get there any way that he can, saving up money from his portraits and doing more of them en route, PK buys an old bicycle and decides to ride all of the way to Sweden to reunite with his love. He follows, (The hippie trail, which is the name given to the overland journey taken by members of the hippie subculture and others from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s between Europe and South Asia, mainly Pakistan, India and Nepal ) He had many hippy friends that he had met when he did his art in the park, and he knew this route would take him in the direction he needed.
His journey to be reunited with his love has many adventures and once there a life of learning how to adapt, and how to assimilate into a new culture.
This book was well written and was a great read, I would like to thank:
NetGalley and Oneworld Publications for an advanced reader copy .