Indian Takeway Facts

As India Dark, a tale of intrigue and mystery set in the Indian subcontinent, is part of today's Kindle Daily Deal, we thought we'd wet your appetite with some surprising facts about Indian takeaways!

• In London there is a greater number of Indian Restaurants than there are in Mumbai and Delhi combined! 
• Britain’s first curry restaurant was opened in 1809. 
• Two thirds of all meals out in the UK are Indian Food.
• Record Breaking - Poppadom Tower 5’8” in 2012 – 1280 poppadoms!

• Chilli is the most popular spice in the world - it can help combat heart attacks and strokes and extends blood coagulation times preventing harmful blood clots.
• The biggest curry (10.3 tonnes!) was made in the UK, of course, by Abdul Salam of the Eastern Eye Restaurant in Lichfield, in 2005. 

• Largest onion Bhaji. As part of the Curry Capital of Britain Awards in 2011, a team of cookery students from Bradford College and Prashad Restaurant created a 102.2kg onion bhaji. Despite the abnormal size, the team made sure the many layers were cooked so that it would be edible. In the end the length of the bhaji was 40.94 inches, the width 29.62 inches and the height was 12.20 inches. 

Click here to get your kindle copy for 99p

Where are they now?

India Dark follows the lives of Tilly Sweetrick and Poesy Swift as they sing and dance across hundreds of stages in India as members of a troupe of Australian child performers. This got us thinking about child stars in the media, and where they are now... here are some our favourites:

Britney Spears

1993 - Mickey Mouse Club

2012 - X Factor Judge

Jodie Foster

1973 - One Little India

2012- At the Cannes Film Festival

Lindsay Lohan

1998 - Parent Trap

On the red carpet - 2012

Macaulay Culkin

1990 - Home Alone

February 2012

Dani Harmer

2007 - Tracy Beaker

2012 - Strictly Come Dancing

Dakota Fanning

2005 - War of the Worlds premier

2009 - Twilight Saga's New Moon

Where do you think Tilly and Poesy would be now?

India Dark is 99p today in Amazon's daily deal: http://amzn.to/UwcoBn 

A Writer's Passage to India

Author Kirsty Murray talks about her inspiration for writing India Dark

I’m in Shimla at the moment, in the Lower Himalayas, once the summer capital of British India. It’s sixty-five years since India won its independence but you can still sense the ghosts of the Raj here in the Himalayan foothills. Shimla doesn’t feature in my novel India Dark because Pollard’s Lilliputian Opera Company, the real theatre troupe who inspired the story, didn’t venture up here in 1909. The town was under snow by the time the children reached northwest India.

Pollard's Lilliputian Opera company

  In 2007, I retraced the route the Pollard children followed, travelling by train in a wide arc around the subcontinent. I trekked through the heat and dust of modern Indian cities searching for remnant shadows of the Empire theatre circuit. British and Australian singers, dancers, music hall performers and magicians regularly toured every outpost of Empire. Child theatre troupes – or ‘Lilliputians’ as they were commonly known - were popular fare. But the events of the Pollard’s disastrous 1909-10 tour signalled the end of an era. Once the scandal broke in newspapers around the world and the truth about the backstage lives of the child stars was revealed, the Lilliputian’s reputations were destroyed forever.

India Dark is part of today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal and so is 99p! http://amzn.to/UwcoBn

Follow Kirsty's Indian adventure on her blog: http://magiccasements.blogspot.co.uk/

India Dark Blog Tour 9th - 17th January 2012

January is a very exciting month for teen fiction at Templar and we're so excited about the fascinating and moving story of India Dark that we are taking author Kirsty Murray off on an unmissable blog tour, exploring the outer reaches of the UK blogosphere.

India Dark
Kirsty Murray

MADRAS, 1910: two girls are caught up in a scandal that will change their lives forever. Singing and dancing across a hundred stages in a troupe of child performers, they travel by steam train into the heart of India. But as one disaster follows another, money runs short and tempers fray. What must the girls do to protect themselves, and how many lives will be ruined if they try to break free?





India Dark is such a beautiful tale from a beautiful culture, we wanted to share it with everyone so don't miss any of the blog tour stops! Here's what you can expect.

9th January

First up, find out where the story for India Dark came from over at District YA and if that tempts you, you can enter the first giveaway of the tour to win a copy of India Dark.

10th January

Next, Kirsty Murray will be stopping by All About Me for a fascinating interview whilst giving away another copy of India Dark. I know, we're spoiling you!

11th January

Hear all about Kirsty's writing process over at Ink Scratchers, and maybe pick up some tips if you're a writer. And guess what - another giveaway!

12th January

Turn The Page will be hosting Kirsty's next stop with an interview - head here for some tasty insights!

13th January

Kirsty will be dropping off her next guest post over at Readaraptor, talking about all the fabulous locations in India Dark. Definitely not to be missed!

14th January

Time for another Q&A, and this one will be over at Bookhi. Drop by for some exclusive insights and another chance to win a copy of India Dark in a giveaway.

15th January

We're on to characters next over at The Book Adicted Girl. Kirsty will be talking all about how she comes up with characters and the challenges of writing an emotionally charged tale.

16th January

The last Q&A of the tour will be held at Bookbabblers and this stop will be your last chance on the tour to win a copy of India Dark.

17th January

And last but certainly not least, Kirsty will be at Read In Between The Lines with a guest post all about her life and how writing fits into it. Enjoy!

~

Kirsty Murray is an Australian author of books for children and teenagers though her readership includes many adventurous adult readers. She writes for young people because she believes they are the universal audience: "not everyone lives to a ripe old age but everyone was once a child and the child inside us never really disappears".

India Dark is Kirsty's most recent novel. Based on a gripping true story and set in Australia, Southeast Asia and India in 1910, it is the fruit of many years of writing and research.