Reviewed On Goodreads

The biographical work ‘Viriah’ tells the story of a young Kapu boy from Korlapadu in Krishna district who leaves home after a domestic quarrel and by a quirk of fate, takes a ship to Durban, imagining it to be the Promised Land. He joins thousands of others like him from India, who slogged endlessly on the sugarcane plantations of the fertile African soil in the harshest conditions.

In the course of narrating this rivetting story, he also brings out the pains and pleasures, the lows and the highs that the coolies pass through in an alien land, even as they outgrow their misery, find little pleasures of life and gradually settle down with a family.

The well-written book is worth a read for all those interested in the history of Telugu immigration, much before the US became the most sought after destination.

Ramesh Kandula

Wonderfully researched and presented. The story of an indentured labourer who was the great-grandfather of the author. Though he says he has fictionalised a few scenes, everything appears very real, a real account. It’s the result of painstakingly long research.

My heart goes out to poor Viriah who underwent a lifetime of suffering due to cruel circumstances

Surendranath

This noble book consisting india's ups and downs in british rulling era. it truly depicts the imaginery vertuations of past. The credibility of this book is in words worthy.

The huge investigation and research throughout developing this masterpiece consistently reflects through each and every page.

If you want to live your glorious history, then please go through this book.

Suman Panda

This is a remarkable book on two counts. First is the story of Viriah himself. And the second is the story of the author himself. The perseverance of patiently searching, what is literally a needle in a haystack, is amazing to me. Very easily written book. A fantastic first book by this young writer. I cannot imagine how he is going to top this.

Sachin Raje

Finished reading Viriah and absolutely loved it. This is the story of the author researching his great grandfather who had left India to go to South Africa as an indenture labor. It's a fact oriented fiction and in every page you can see how much research has gone into writing this book.

Indenture is something I had never heard of before I picked this book. Krishna's thorough research and careful narrative helped me understand what coolies 100 years ago went through and how harsh their lives were. His writing style and imagination has crafted an interesting story. It's realistic yet engrossing.

Aparna Jain