While Malgoonda is a satirical take on Malgudi, Mangalore may be the last Roman Catholic colony on earth, and in this book of essays, fiction, and biography, even a premier socialite proudly proclaims that her confessor is none other than the Rector of the local Jesuit College. A more rebellious and plain-speaking Dennis Britto accuses the Portuguese of importing syphilis along with Catholicism, and explains that the power of the priests derived from their ability to ban a rebellious Catholic from being buried in the cemetery: an unthinkable fate. Inspired at first by a long essay by widely published author Richard Crasta, who knew Louella Lobo Prabhu for over thirty years and met her a few days before her death, this multi-faceted book depicts, at various lengths, such personalities as Dennis Britto, Malcolm Noronha, Father Claude, an unnamed and spirited Bunt woman, Reuben Nazareth, and others. It also discusses subjects such as "ethnic shame," religious and cultural colonialism, the Christians of Mangalore, the fate of Konkani (a language spoken by three million), and personal and drug-induced slavery. Recalling one of his many meetings with Louella, the author writes, "A bit cocky, I tell her she ought to stop writing plays on Catholic themes, convert herself to Buddhism, invite 1,000 proletarians to celebrate her conversion, and on that occasion, donate one apartment to a poor family." Dennis Britto: "Naturally, all the big important] families wanted their sons to be priests, and so many good families have died out because all their sons either went mad or became priests. So Heaven is full, but Mangalore is empty. Tell me, the Canon Law, does it have balls? And the Pope's gun-does it have bullets?" Whereas Malcolm Noronha says: "Now, anybody with money is a Brahmin." The author concludes: "Louella's passing away was like the passing away of an age of innocence, simplicity, one in which individuals and their uniqueness mattered, and money was not everything. She was flamboyant, one-of-a-kind, larger than life--a "Western Madam in Hindu India," as a poet friend of mine described her. She was the Audrey Hepburn of Mangalore, married, like Audrey's character Eliza Doolittle, to a much older Professor Higgins."

When John Baptist Crasta, a small-town Indian soldier employed in the Imperial British Army, was posted to Singapore, he was overjoyed. Little did he know that he would soon begin a three-and-a-half year journey through hell as a Prisoner of War of the Japanese Army. Along with thousands of other Indians also captured at Singapore, he was shipped to a labor camp in Rabaul, New Guinea, and is possibly the only one among them whose story of captivity lives in the form of a book. John Baptist Crasta's memoir, in almost biblically simple and direct language, tells the story of his miraculous survival. Whereas his son Richard Crasta's essays speak of how he discovered the memoir and published it, fifty-one years later, to his 87-year-old father, less than two years before the latter's death. Thanks to a few passionate readers, this book has become part of the historical record. The book also contains Richard's biographical and personal essays about his father; it mentions that the book was published by him, among other reasons, partly as a tiny act of redemption. "A classic in military history, telling the story of men trapped in a world of torture, starvation, and death."-Roger Mansell, Tameme Magazine "A book about kindness, solidarity, and collective survival . . . it is truly a testimony to truth." -Barry Fruchter, PhD This is the EXPANDED DECEMBER 2013 EDITION of the paperback, with larger, easier-to-read type; it also includes a previously unpublished essay, "The Defence Minister and the Politically Incorrect Prisoner."

"Eaten by the Japanese" is the inspiring World War II memoir of an Indian soldier in the British Indian Army. A prisoner of the Japanese in Singapore and New Britain (Papua New Guinea), he miraculously survives 3 1/2 years of inhuman treatment by his Japanese captors and bombardment by Allied planes. Rescued by Australians, he returns home to India and writes this memoir in 1946. He then waits another 51 years before his memoir, written in pencil, is read and published by his son, Richard Crasta, who by then is an author living in the United States. In the process of reading this book, the once-estranged son rediscovers his father, adding his own Notes and three essays to the book, which he publishes and presents it to his 87-year-old father on the latter's 50th wedding anniversary. To begin with one of the rave reviews: "More than any book in recent memory, Eaten by the Japanese drives home the lasting effects of enforced captivity - not only on the bodies but also on the minds of the prisoners . . . it is a book about kindness, solidarity, and collective survival, about the bonds that matter: those between one single human being and another. What emerges in Crasta's survivor's tale is not a mere story of self but an epic of collective agony. "--Professor Barry Fruchter. "A classic in military history, telling the story of men trapped in a world of torture, starvation, and death"-Roger Mansell, War historian, in Tameme Magazine "You see the horror of war, without a trace of artifice, through the eyes of one who was there, the writing a simple act of catharsis. A war memoir that ranks with the best."-Professor Mark Ledbetter, Nisei University "Striking and raw, an antidote to myth. Something to be treasured. This is the kind of record that this generation is losing fast, and we need to hold on to this. It made me think of what had happened to my own father's memoirs, which were lost."--Professor Barry Fruchter.

By a widely published author and the father of 3 children and one kicking and screaming Inner Child that refuses to go to sleep or to grow up, this humor collection imagines: --What if a child, asked to go the f**k to sleep by its father, could respond in adult language? --A band of 5,000 yogis flown in from India specifically to balance India's budget deficit by spilling hot coffee on their laps at 5,000 McDonald's restaurants. --A Nuclear Weapons fire sale to overcome America's budget deficit. --The outsourcing of the Great American Novel to India, where literary sweatshop workers churn out such masterpieces as "The Great Goatsby" and "As I Lay Meditating." This 30,000-word collection of humorous essays and of political, social, and intercultural satire is the author's ninth book. Writing about the author's first novel, "The Revised Kama Sutra," Kurt Vonnegut described it as "very funny." Among other things, "I Will Not Go the F**k to Sleep" pokes fun at familiar stereotypes about Indians and Americans, besides providing a revised, post-p.c. Genesis. As one magazine's review of "The Revised Kama Sutra" said, "No sacred cows whatsoever." You probably should not read it to your children under 15. However, don't be surprised if they decide to read it to you. The e-book edition (under the pseudonym Benny Profane) was No. 2 on Amazon's Political Humor bestseller list for nearly 5 weeks. "Hysterical and informative. For the rebel in you. Great style and humor"--Linda J. Lundy, Amazon 5-star review "Inspired silliness, Pythonesque goofiness, political bite."--Laurie Boris, Author of "The Joke's on Me."