HarperCollins is proud to announce the publication of KASHMIR: Travels in Paradise on Earth by Romesh Bhattacharji

NEW DELHI, Jan. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- HarperCollins is proud to announce the publication of KASHMIR: Travels in Paradise on Earth by Romesh Bhattacharji, releasing on 5 February 2024.

Published by HarperCollins
Paperback | Non-Fiction | 280 pp | INR 599
Available wherever books are sold | Releasing on 5 February 2024

ABOUT THE BOOK

When we think of Kashmir today, we think of militancy and conflict, but it was once an unspoilt land, lush and beautiful—heaven on earth. Kashmir takes us back to this paradise, to a time when militancy had not yet struck and rendered most parts of it inaccessible.

Romesh Bhattacharji first began trekking in Kashmir in the 1960s—it was the start of a love affair that endured for decades. Having travelled to even the most remote parts of the region, where inner-line permits are now required, he gained a reputation for possessing encyclopaedic knowledge of the Himalaya. In this book, he describes, in meticulous detail and with the help of hand-drawn maps, the topography and geography of the region, and the charm of Kashmir's nooks and crannies, the splendour of its lakes and meadows, and the beauty of its valleys and peaks.

Eloquent and absorbing, Kashmir will put you under its spell and have you longing to set off on your own adventure through this breath-taking land.

Romesh Bhattacharji says, "Every fragment of Kashmir, be it in the Valley or in the mountains girdling it, is sublime and thrilling. Reaching an area is easy in today's Kashmir, but to choose a corner to visit and to plan how to get there requires maps — these are difficult to get. Kashmir describes the popular and remoter parts of the state, pinpointing them on rough maps, whose sole purpose is to give an idea of their location. In 1962, I started trekking in Kashmir. At that time, I had only books and articles by Englishmen to guide me. That is when I first had the idea to make maps of some of Kashmir's finer places. Sixty-two years later I have managed to write a book to accompany them."

Swati Chopra, Associate Publisher, HarperCollins says, "Kashmir: Travels in Paradise on Earth is a worthy addition not just to books on trekking and mountaineering, but to the extensive corpus of books on Kashmir as well. While issues related to politics and militancy have remained central to Kashmir's narrative, this book brings the spotlight to its natural beauty, its pristine mountains, and its unexplored valleys. For that alone, it deserves to be read, for it transports us to a time when Kashmir was a haven for those seeking peace and solitude, and one could spend days wandering its lush meadows and hiking through its dense forests and steep mountainsides."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Romesh Bhattacharji has been trekking in Kashmir since his years in Delhi's St Stephen's College in the 1960s. His last trek was in 2012, forty-eight years after the first one. He continued his trysts with this fabled but tormented land even after he became a bureaucrat. His last posting as Chief Commissioner Customs, Amritsar, included Kashmir in his beat.

Bhattacharji is well known as a high-altitude trekker who has discovered trekking routes for mountaineers, and is said to be a phenomenal, 'walking-talking encyclopaedia' on the Himalayas. He is also an avid photographer and has, over the decades, amassed a vast cache of photographs. He has previously authored books on Ladakh and India's Northeast.

ABOUT HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS INDIA

HarperCollins is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, having begun publishing in India in 1992. HarperCollins India publishes some of the finest writers from the Indian Subcontinent and around the world, publishing approximately 200 new books every year, with a print and digital catalogue of more than 2,000 titles across 10 imprints. Its authors have won almost every major literary award including the Man Booker Prize, JCB Prize, DSC Prize, New India Foundation Award, Atta Galatta Prize, Shakti Bhatt Prize, Gourmand Cookbook Award, Publishing Next Award, Tata Literature Live! Award, Gaja Capital Business Book Prize, BICW Award, Sushila Devi Award, Sahitya Akademi Award and Crossword Book Award. HarperCollins India also represents some of the finest publishers in the world including Harvard University Press, Gallup Press, Oneworld, Bonnier Zaffre, Usborne, Dover and Lonely Planet. HarperCollins India has won the Publisher of the Year Award four times at Tata Literature Live! in 2022, 2021, 2018 and 2016, and at Publishing Next in 2021 & 2015. HarperCollins India is a subsidiary of HarperCollins Publishers.

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