The Jadu House - Travels in Anglo-India. Laura Roychowdhury (Black Swan, £7.99)

The term 'outcast' is one that still relates to India today. More than a hint of discrimination here. The Anglo-Indian and Eurasian communities are beset by discrimination, a relic of the British Raj.

Part travelogue and part historical fact, Laura Roychowdury has penned an interesting and compulsive read.

Funded by grants Laura is in India doing research into the Anglo-Indians who ran the railways and offices during the time of the British Raj.

Inter-marriage was the norm in those earlier times, and the half-caste children of these liaisons found it very hard to live in the strict social strata that personifies India even todat. Caste is still everything, and to be unacceptable by reason of caste still makes for misery today.

Determined to be as Anglo-Indian as she can Laura leaves her husband in Michigan and adopts Indian clothing and moves into an Indian house while persuing her research. Renting a room from Mrs Gupta, she embroils herself in everything Indian.

The scenes of life in India are enlightening and colourful and bring a different view of the sub-continent.

Well worth a read.

Mrs Gupta teaches her Bengali, cooks exotic foods and explains their provenance. She teaches Laura the manners and niceties of Indian life, and she keeps a watchful eye, so that she can tell Laura when she is behaving 'badly' and so that she doesn't bring her and her household into disrepute.

Subhrasheel, her guide and interpretor is also a great influence on her. He desperately wants to improve his lot; to move away from the strict Hindu way of life that he lives.

The travels and adventures that Laura and Subhrasheel encounter, and their subsequent love affair are the themes of this interesting and yet personal book.