The Girl with the Golden Parasol

"Just then, Rahul saw a spot of yellow far away. . . .The yellow glowed beautifully in the morning light. There was something different about this particular yellow. This one entered through his eyes, dissolved in his blood, and went straight to his heart." Uday Prakash's novel of contemporary India is a tender love story-university student Rahul is swept away by a "sweet fever" of love for Analji, the enchanting girl with the golden parasol. But Prakash's tale is set in a world where the 3,000-year-old Hindu caste system still holds sway and social realities doom the chances of a non-Brahmin boy who loves a Brahmin girl. The Girl with the Golden Parasolis the first English translation of Prakash's work to be published in the United States. His audacious novel captures the profound contradictions of India today, where the forces aligned against change outweigh even the power of love.

Uday Prakash is the author of poems, short stories, non-fiction, films, and documentaries. In 2010 he received the prestigious Sahitya Akademi literary award in India. He is professor-in-charge, Department of Mass Communication, Media, and Journalism, Indira Gandhi Tribal University, Amarkantak. He lives in Ghaziabad, India. Jason Grunebaum is a fiction writer and translator. He has been awarded an NEA Literature Fellowship and a PEN Translation Fund grant. He is senior lecturer in Hindi, University of Chicago.