BALI RAI (UN)ARRANGED MARRIAGE

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 INHABITANTS. THERE IS A UNIVERSITY AND AN IMPORTANT ENGINEERING INDUSTRY. LEICESTER HAS A LARGE ETHNIC MINORITY POPULATION, MAINLY FROM INDIA ( about 29%). THE CITY IS FAMOUS FOR ITS RESTAURANTS OF REAL INDIAN FOOD. THERE ARE ALSO MANY PEOPLE OF AFRO-CARIBBEAN DESCENT (Jamaica, Antigua&Barbuda)

PUNJAB IS A REGION IN THE NORTHWEST OF INDIA. IT WAS CREATED IN IT IS DIVIDED IN TWO PARTS. THE MUSLIM PART BELONGS TO PAKISTAN AND THE SIKH PART, OF HINDU RELIGION, CONSTITUTES THE INDIAN STATE OF PUNJAB.

The capital: CHANDIGARH Other cities: Amritsar Lushiama Lahore P P

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 HIS FAMILY TO GO TO UNIVERSITY AfTER GRADUATING IN POLITICS, HE FOUND A JOB AS A NIGHT CLUB MANAGER, BUT HE ONLY DREAMED OF BECOMING A WRITER WHEN HE WAS THIRTY, HE PUBLISHED HIS 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)

LEICESTERLEICESTER IMAGESIMAGES FROM

OTHER NOVELS BY BALI RAI : Soccer squad The crew Dream on Rani & Sukh Revenge of the number two Are you kidding?

THE PLOT On the morning of his marriage, which also happens 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 girl he 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 from school. His family gets very upset. They take him to India with them. What he sees there, in the land of his parents, make him decide 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?