Why a Booktrail?
1987: Chasing the monsoon is a unique account of one man’s experience of a devastating but equally fascinating natural phenomenon. What an amazing thing to witness!
Chasing the Monsoon
What you need to know before your trail
On 20th May the Indian summer monsoon begins its journey across India. One wind comes from the west and one from the East. They converge in the middle around 10th July, a date that can be calculated within seven or eight days.
Chasing the monsoon is an exact science and Alexander Frater follows it, records it and experiences this amazing phenomenon.
What happens then after the storms? A sense of relief for sure but a feeling which often gives way to scandal, promiscuity and a sense of freedom.
Frater really is passionate about his subject and it shows. He has captured the spirit of India on the page. A lot of adventure in one book.
Travel Guide
The Monsoon
India and the strange phenomenon of the monsoon in India – the effects that it brings and the insights of the people who live through them.
Frater is a man on a mission – following the monsoon from Kerala up to Cherrapunji in Assam, is a remarkable feat and he takes us by the hand like a very passionate tour guide and not only shows you but allows you to see and experience what he sees. Despite this being a serious mission, he chats and jokes along the way and takes you on one heck of a journey.
The monsoon is not only shown and written about as a weather phenomenon however – in Bombay we see a little girl ecstatic about seeing the pouring rain and being stuck in it. The relief of this cool rain and the excited shrieks of a young child who can’t believe her luck is rather like a child in the west seeing snow for the first time. How children see the monsoon!
As Frater continues to look at how the monsoon affect the land and the people of India and countries beyond.
The Food and Drink
The trail Frater takes us on introduces a lot more than snippets and facts about monsoon however. Naturally land here produces fruit and food that have to been tasted to be believed. in one coffee shop for example –
“In the coffee shop a waitress said, ‘Of course I will bring beer if you insist, but I think you should try the mangoes.’ She looked like a beauty queen and her expression was earnest and quizzical.
‘I actually wanted a drink,’ I said.
‘We put them in blender and you half-sip, half-eat with a spoon.’
I ordered the mangoes.”
Where Next?
