HARRINGTON PARK, N.J., Jan. 21, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- About the most important things in life are love and marriage. Imagine India, the Land of Mystical Enlightenment, where the former is frowned upon and the latter feverishly encouraged. One normally hopes the first will lead to the second, but that is usually not the case. In the provocative new book They Don't Kiss in the Movies, author Gurdip Sidhu bravely points his finger at India's prevailing mysticism and irrationality that spill over to its entire way of life.
Set in the socially conservative India of the 1950s, They Don't Kiss in the Movies is a love story that explores the world of arranged marriage, the caste system, and the religious underpinnings of Indian society. Laced with irreverent humor, it challenges the "mystical wisdom" synonymous with India, and dares to show that when faced with rational alternatives, this wisdom is as naught. The stifling embrace of religion is exposed to the shining light of reason, tearing apart the pointless musings of countless mystics and opening a door to true enlightenment.
They Don't Kiss in the Movies presents India as it really is, and how it could be sans the mystical mumbo-jumbo that enshrouds every aspect of its culture. A major asset of the book is its sparkling humor and the willingness to explore where none have explored before. The story is presented with passion and a strong belief in the values of the main protagonists-that you are responsible for yourself, that your achievements are what count, and that happiness and success, given a rational attitude to life, are man's destiny.
About the Author
Gurdip Sidhu is a physician who moved to the United States from India in 1967. Considered a Renaissance man by his friends, his interests span far and wide-from photography, painting, philosophy, economics, singing, to studying wildflowers and trees. He has published in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and, quite extensively, in professional journals and books. In the field of medicine, he takes credit for suggesting to Robert Gallo, the discoverer of HIV, that, based on his electron microscopic observations, AIDS may be caused by a retrovirus. Reading and writing have long been major interests of Sidhu, the latter finally bearing fruit in They Don't Kiss in the Movies, his first work of fiction.
They Don't Kiss in the Movies -- By Gurdip Sidhu
Publication Date: January 4, 2005
Trade Paperback; $22.99; 385 pages; 1-4134-7379-2
Cloth Hardback; $32.99; 385 pages; 1-4134-7380-6
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