Dear Krishna,
I read ”VIRIAH” in one sitting as I could not put it down. It was truly captivating.
It is a really magnificent book and I was especially moved by your determination to recover the history of your ancestors, and you portray your struggles in this regard very movingly.
We need more such works that give historical dignity to previously marginal subjects.
Well done!
Goolam Vahed
Associate Professor, Dept of History
University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Dear Krishna,
I read your book. I was so moved to tears in so many places and found the details of your search so extraordinary.
I have worked at the Pmburg archives so can imagine you being there on Christmas Eve past closing time. What luck.
I know of so many south Africans searching for their relatives in India and their villages and yours is an unusual tale of a Hyderabadi American looking for roots in South Africa..
Best wishes and congrats again.
Uma
'Viriah is a wonderful work of imaginative reconstruction in which micro historical details illuminate the macro historical patterns of indentured human journeys across the oceans in moving, unsentimental ways. Highly recommended.’
Brij V LAL
Emeritus Professor, The Australian National University
General Editor, 'Encyclopedia of the Indian Diaspora.'