halome came to India from Syria in 1792. He was an astute businessman, and once he started his business in India, his work took him to many parts of the country. He wrote all about it in his diary. Now, some 240 years later, his descendant Jael Silliman weaves a great-fun story based on this diary, where Shalome’s adventures are narrated by his little monkey friend, Chanchal.
And what a colourful story it is, of royal elephants, silks, diamonds, and lots and lots of mouthwatering delicacies! Chanchal describes how she meets Shalome in Gujarat and then accompanies him to Calcutta, a city that was surrounded by jungles at the time. They spend a year in the nawab’s palace in Lucknow and meet the royal elephants there, and visit Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Punjab to see the Kohinoor!
Funny, heartfelt, and filled with insights into Jewish life, Shalome Rides a Royal Elephant is not just the story of Shalome and Chanchal, but also about the great melting pot that is India where different communities and religions have lived in harmony over the ages.
About the Author
Jael Silliman was a tenured Associate Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Iowa, USA. She was also a Program Officer at the Ford Foundation, New York. She is the author of several books, scholarly papers and popular articles for newspapers and magazines on gender, development, race, social justice, women’s rights issues, and writes about her community— the Baghdadi Jews of Calcutta. Her books relating to Kolkata’s cultural history include Jewish Portraits, Indian Frames: Women’s Narratives from a Diaspora of Hope, two novels, The Man with Many Hats and The Teak Almirah. Her most recent co-authored publications are Where Gods Reside: Kolkata’s Scared Places and has also published Adda! The College Street Coffee House and India in Celebration. She has created a digital archive on the Calcutta Jewish community
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