Bela Banerjee

Over Cups Of Tea Bela Banerjee

Lily and Nur have been lifelong friends for more than 60 years. Lily of Indian Rajput lineage and Nur, short for Nora, her British friend. This epistolary novel, set in 1985 between Calcutta and Kanya Kumari, expresses all the happy reminiscences of that life, but also the shadows cast by dark events that take them through the murder of their friend, the close of the British Raj and the turmoil and suffering that evolves into a bloodbath both physically and metaphorically that never quite leaves them and which must be dealt with as they plan a bittersweet reunion in Calcutta to remember deceased loved ones in an old cemetery and a visit to honor the victims of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of Amritsar of 1919 that shook both of them when they were both 19 of that year. These are the themes that run through their letters as well as the dream reunion where they will once again get to celebrate the memory of their now deceased husbands, both Knights of the British Empire. Dare they reveal their true feelings about Mahatma Gandhi? A bonus section includes an interactive guide to the hit PBS Series Indian Summers created by the authors for their readers.