RUFFLING THE PEACOCK’S FEATHERS

About the Book

Book description: In fifteen stories unified by a piquant sense of place and vivid dialogue,readers are immediately taken away from India´s teeming cities to a single mud-walled village, "Saratpur", and its rich panoply of memorable characters. The author introduces you to his Hindu and Muslim neighbors,their customs, family life, conflicts and their hopes for the future. These are timeless stories of family feuds, the force of the supernatural,marriage rituals, struggles of life in both drought and monsoon, the role of caste and the perils of revenge. Read along with us as we meet cooks, Indian civil servants, blacksmiths, lawyers, village sweepers, cycle-repairmen, camel drivers, local politicians and others whose lifestyles are seldom highlighted in much current literature about India. The first-person perspective I adopt offers frank intimacy and a freshness that comes from being a young American living for two years in a small village on the cusp of dramatic social and cultural change.

About the Author

David Day, professor emeritus of anthropology has taught and lived in Rochester, NY for almost 30 years. His dissertation interests focused on a caste of moneylenders in southern India. Day was attracted to anthropology as a result of work experience in Kenya and India. His two previous books, The Life and Death of A Family Farm: Archeology, History and Landscape Change and A Treasure Hard to Attain: Images of Archaeology in Popular Film. His essays have appeared in Sierra magazine, a scuba anthology and in Ms Magazine. He has a long history of contributing to the OpEd pages of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.