Mehta, Gita (1943-2023), was an Indian novelist and essayist. Her essays were written from the perspective of an Indian who lived abroad for most of her adult life. They have been praised for their wit and deceptive ease of storytelling. Her most famous book is her first, Karma Cola: Marketing the Mystic East (1979). It is a collection of anecdotes and ruminations on the West’s “discovery” of Indian tradition and religion in the 1960’s. She wrote that, seeking a land of spirituality, gullible Westerners misunderstand India and Indian culture. Westerners may also fall victim to Indian charlatans, who have no qualms about exploiting Westerners’ ignorance for their own gain.
Mehta’s first novel, Raj (1989), is an epic historical narrative. It follows its Rajput princess heroine through several eras in India’s history, from a girlhood in a princely state at the turn of the century up until India’s independence in 1947. A River Sutra (1993) is a set of stories within the main story of a bureaucrat who has retired to the banks of the Narmada River, one of India’s holiest rivers. A series of pilgrims, travelers, and others tell him tales of their spiritual journeys. These tales reflect several of India’s different religious traditions.
Mehta’s second nonfiction work, Snakes and Ladders (1997), is a collection of impressionistic pieces on modern India, discussing politics as well as India’s changing culture. Mehta mixes memoir, anecdote, myth, and history in an attempt to present a snapshot of the country’s contradictory situation to both Indian and non-Indian audiences alike.
Gita Patnaik was born in Delhi. Her father, Biju Patnaik, served for a time as chief minister of Orissa (now Odisha). She was educated at the University of Bombay (now the University of Mumbai) and at Cambridge University, where she met her husband, the publisher Ajai Singh “Sonny” Mehta. She divided her time between India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. She died on Sept. 16, 2023.
