BALI RAI

(UN)ARRANGEDMARRIAGE

BALI RAI WAS BORN IN 1971 in LEICESTER

(ENGLAND east midlands). HE WAS RAISED IN A

TRADITIONAL PUNJABI FAMILY, IN A

PUNJABI NEIGHBOURHOOD.

BALI RAI

Biography

LEICESTER IS THE CAPITAL OF

LEICESTERSHIRE, A COUNTY IN THE MIDDLE OF ENGLAND.

IT HAS ABOUT 285.000 INHABITANTS.THERE IS A UNIVERSITY AND AN IMPORTANT ENGINEERING INDUSTRY.

LEICESTER HAS A LARGE ETHNIC MINORITY POPULATION, MAINLY FROMINDIA ( about 29%). THE CITY IS FAMOUS FOR ITS RESTAURANTS OF REALINDIAN FOOD.

THERE ARE ALSO MANY PEOPLE OF AFRO-CARIBBEAN DESCENT (Jamaica, Antigua&Barbuda)

PUNJAB IS A REGION IN THE NORTHWESTOF INDIA. IT WAS CREATED IN 1947.

IT IS DIVIDED IN TWO PARTS. THE MUSLIMPART BELONGS TO PAKISTAN AND THESIKH PART, OF HINDU RELIGION, CONSTITUTES THE INDIAN STATE OF PUNJAB.

The capital: CHANDIGARH

Other cities: Amritsar Lushiama Lahore

PP

THE PEOPLE FROM LEICESTER ARE KNOWN AS

“CHISITS”.

THIS IS DUE TO THE WAY THEY PRONOUNCE THE QUESTION

“HOW MUCH IS IT?”

IT SOUNDS LIKE:

“I’M A CHISIT”

FAMOUS LEICESTERIAN

John Deacon (Queen)

Lucie Silvas

Michael Robinson

King Richard III

Sue Townsend (writer)

Gary Lineker

HE BEGAN WRITING IMAGINATIVE STORIES AT THE AGE OF EIGHT

HE WAS THE FIRST MEMBER OF HISFAMILY TO GO TO UNIVERSITY

AfTER GRADUATING IN POLITICS,HE FOUND A JOB AS A NIGHT CLUBMANAGER, BUT HE ONLY DREAMEDOF BECOMING A WRITER

WHEN HE WAS THIRTY, HE PUBLISHEDHIS FIRST NOVEL, “(UN)ARRANGED MARRIAGE”, WHICH WAS A GREAT SUCCESS.

HE LOVES FOOTBALL (AMERICAN SOCCER),AND HE IS A SUPPORTER OF LIVERPOOL FC

H

HE’S A GREAT FAN OF REGGAE MUSIC,SPECIALLY BOB MARLEY.

HIS FAVOURITE WRITERS ARE

ROALD DAHL ( Charlie and the chocolate factory)

SUE TOWNSEND (The secret diary of Adrian Mole)

LEICESTER

IMAGES

FROM

OTHER NOVELS BY BALI RAI :

Soccer squad

The crew

Dream on

Rani & Sukh

Revenge of thenumber two

Are you kidding?

THE PLOT

On the morning of his marriage, which alsohappens to be the morning of his 17th birthday, Manny looks back on his rebellious teenage years.

From the age of 13 he has found that the values of the Leicester Punjabi community from which he comes have little relevance to him.

He has nothing in common with his brothers or parents. Manny's older brothers appear to him as ignorants while his father is a hypocritical, violent drunk. His mother is a remote figure who appears only to ask what he wants to eat or to cry hysterically at his disobedience.

When his father arranges his marriage to an Indian girlhe doesn’t even know, he determines to behave like a “bad boy”,smoking and drinking and hanging around with his black friend, Adri. But he goes too far, and he is expelled fromschool.

His family gets very upset. They take him to India with them.What he sees there, in the land of his parents, make himdecide what he will do with his future.

He doesn’t want to get married! He wants to be with his girlfriend,Lisa. He wants to go to University and become a writer.He doesn’t want to be like his family!

What do you think?

Will Manny get married at the end?