Richard Crasta, Author

The Revised Kama Sutra: A Novel, published in 10 countries and 15 editions (the titles vary a little bit), and called "very funny" by Kurt Vonnegut, is my biggest and most complete novel so far. I am working on other books that I think could be as powerful, but need time, space, and a bit of monetary support to complete them. it is hard to really encapsulate a 125,000 word novel in a few words, but here is an arbitrary sampler for those who are new to it. REVIEWS: "Any book that can force me, against my will, to guffaw out loud while reading it in public places is to be treasured. "The Revised Kama Sutra" was as rife with inventive comic imagery as "A Confederacy of Dunces," as insightful and subtly searing as "Catcher in the Rye," and as sensuous as the Kama Sutra itself. Although I've never been to India, I felt I experienced the lively streets, people, colors, aromas, shapes and sounds of the cities mentioned in the ...

Partly from I Will Not Go the F to Sleep: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0053GBUYG Consider these two limericks: There was a young man of Calcutta Who had a terrible sttttt-tutter He is reported to have said Please pass me some bbbbbb-bread And also some bbbbbb-butter! There was a young man of Ghent Who had a penis so long it bent. It was so much trouble. That he kept it double. And instead of coming, he went. Almost no one these days will narrate these limericks in mixed company (and by mixed company, I don’t necessarily mean the two major sexes). Because both of these unfortunate young men are Persons with Disabilities—one has a speech impediment, and the second has a medical condition (Peyronies’ Disease? Acute Pathological Perverse Clintonitis?) that might result in—please pass the tissues—his not having babies or being able to lead a normal love life, the poor thing. He needs advanced and expensive plastic surger...

SJohn Baptist Crasta, 1910-1999, is the father of Richard Crasta, the author of eight books. He was born in Kinnigoli, and walked barefoot for 20 miles through tiger-infested jungles to join his high school in Mangalore. Miraculously escaping an earthquake at Quetta, he joined the British Indian Army, and was captured by the Japanese. His memoir of being a Prisoner-of-War of the Japanese during World War II was published by his son, who edited the book and added an introduction and three essays to it. The book was originally launched on December 27, 1997, and later in 1999 (second edition), is now published in a new edition on Smashwords and at Amazon.  At the time that it happened, John Baptist Crasta was the oldest Indian to have his first book published: he was 87 years old when it happened, and the manuscript had lain in his steel trunk for 51 years after he wrote it. And this is the short biographical introduction that appears in EATEN BY THE JAPANESE: THE MEMOI...

A large number of Indians who fought in World War II, and behaved with dignity and rectitude, have been forgotten by their fellowmen, and the Japanese who imprisoned them. The story is told through the memoir of one man:   Zoom Zoom   Share your own customer images EATEN BY THE JAPANESE: The Memoir of an Unknown Indian Prisoner of War [Kindle Edition] John Baptist Crasta (Author), Richard Crasta (Editor, Introduction) "A war memoir that ranks with the best" and a heartwarming father-son story, "Eaten by the Japanese" is an ideal gift for Father's Day, indeed a basic human story for any occasion. The story begins in Singapore, and then quickly progresses to a Japanese invasion, surrender, the Torture Ship, the Indian National Army, survival, cannibalism, rescue . . . this shocking and poignant World War II and its forgotten Indian Prisoners of War has never been told before, and ...

AUTHOR'S DISCLAIMER (applies more or less to all of Richard Crasta's books): Any resemblance to real persons or books living or murdered is purely coincidental. Void where fatwahed, and fatwahed almost everywhere . Some assembly of facts and intelligence required. Batteries not included. Contents may settle during reading or as a result of heavy drinking. Use only as directed; misuse permitted only to critics who have made up their minds before reading this book . Do not read while operating a motor vehicle or a vibrator . Little Ayatollahs not yet proven to be blood relations of the original Ayatollah. This is a book that combines satire with truthful, passionate, sincere, and idealistic observations. It is a unique mix that has been a trademark of the author’s writing (though more so in some books than in others), and its intention is to oppose hypocrisy, racism, oppression of any kind, and all forms of injustice. The book must be read in that spirit, and in the context of ...

RICHARD CRASTA'S INTERVIEW WITH THE HINDU, a major Indian newspaper published from multiple Indian cities, 2010: Full Text and Clarifications. To fill in the gaps in sense and context that may have been caused by the abbreviated version that was published, here are the questions that I received and my written answers (some of the questions read like shorthand, but we writers have to work within these parameters). This interview is fixated on the novel's subversive title and its apparent (superficial) subject; there have been other interviews with a different focus, for example at http://expressbuzz.com/cities/bangalore/judging-not-by-the-cover/205741.html : 1)             ‘The Revised Kamasura’ and a subtitle saying ‘The Novel’, is it some clarification for people to not get confused? A: The first edition came with the subtitle: “A Novel of Colonialism and Desire with Arbitrary Footnotes & a Whimsical Glossary”. To any intelli...

Press Release: Bangalore, Sept 4, 2010. Former Indian Supreme Court Justice and present Lokayukta Justice Santhosh Hegde, famous and well-loved for being a fearless crusader for integrity and against corruption in Indian public life, will be releasing the new HarperCollins edition of Richard Crasta’s novel “The Revised Kama Sutra” in Bangalore at Reliance Timeout, Cunningham Road, on June 9 at 6:30 pm. Richard Crasta's five other titles, which are almost impossible to find in Indian bookstores, will also be on sale at this Reliance Timeout branch. (The following is partly from the HarperCollins press release) The Revised Kama Sutra created waves when it was first published seventeen years ago, in December 1993, becoming a Viking Penguin bestseller, praised by reviewers as courageous, honest, fresh, and fascinating. Now hailed as a classic, Richard Crasta’s gloriously comic and poignant insight into naive Third World dreamers of the American Dream is a veritable guide to the Indi...