UTTAM

How did a young woman born in Shelby, North Carolina meet and marry a young man born in Rawalpindi, India? The story begins with the author's Indian grandfather in British Colonial times and spans the years between 1920 and 1948. Uttam assumes responsibilities as head of the family at age 19, and builds an empire that includes lumber yards, orchards, cashmere wool, construction, and mines. With his beloved wife, Balwant by his side, he negotiates treachery by his uncles, outbreaks of deadly diseases, religious tensions and survives a cyclone at sea. Befriended by a member of the British Peerage, Uttam hunts tigers, wild buffaloes, and elephants with his mentor. When the forced Partition of India and Pakistan takes place in 1947 he relocates his family to the capital city of New Delhi and joins a new breed of Indian entrepreneurs that builds bridges, airports, hotels, iconic buildings, and schools. Book II will take the story to America in the early 1920s and trace the author's paternal grandfather's journey from North Carolina through WWII to his posting in India with the US Foreign Service. The author has relied on anecdotal history relayed by his grandmother, aunts, and uncles to create this work of historical fiction.