“Anybody who has looked out of their window and wondered why there is a river in one place and not another, why rocks in one place look different from those elsewhere or why there is a hill or a forest or a mine in front of them,” is a person meant for this book.

Pranay Lal, the author of Indica, has worked very hard to make geography cool, and it looks as if he’s succeeded. Watch out kids, if your geography teachers get their hands on this one they might start wearing leather jackets like Indiana Jones.

But seriously, Lal does well to make his rhetoric accessible to all, so when he dives into theories about India’s lava formations and dinosaurs, the reader is not deterred by a lexicon that is foreign to them. This, we believe, is the book’s greatest strength, as it shows Lal is rather keen to inspire interest in the subjects he covers instead of only catering to the highbrow academic crowd which prefers their theories with a heavy dollop of scientific verbiage. This style of writing still exists in the book, but it is separated in the notes and references section, allowing for a clean read that can be scaffolded by more academic terms if the reader is so inclined.

Lal also invites a younger generation to enjoy his work by garnishing a few of his pages with colourful illustrations and images. Many authors whose work entails pontificating about the past shy away from visuals as they are a lot easier to prove as anatomically incorrect, which is exactly what Lal does to the Geological Survey of India’s commemorative centenary postage stamp of an elephant’s ancestor (Stegodon ganesa); however, Lal displays confidence in his use of images which must extend from the years of research and writing that went into his magnum opus.

This 400+ page book is a testament to Lal’s opening lines on insatiable curiosity, which is explored in depth through conversations with various scientists, archaeologists and geologists, as well as Lal’s own research. Lucky for us much of his interest surrounds Mumbai and the lava we live upon, providing readers with a bevy of facts that’ll make you look smart in the university classroom or the bar room.

Let us hope Lal’s style of writing carves out a steadfast place for itself in the halls of Indian academic writing, so we might see a few more youngsters, or even oldies, realise that the topics Lal explores are far more inviting and interesting than the drab and dusty alternatives.

You can grab your copy of the book here.