{"product_id":"my-curious-years-with-charles-indra-b-tamang-9781885983473","title":"My Curious Years with Charles Henri Ford: The Autobiography of Indra B. Tamang","description":"\u003cb\u003eTold as much through images as through words, a young Nepalese man's globe-spanning relationship with \"the father of American surrealism\" changes the course of his life and gives him a new set of roots.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1973, poet, photographer, collage artist, and sculptor\u003cbr\u003eCharles Henri Ford convinced a\u003cbr\u003eyoung Nepalese waiter at his hotel in Kathmandu to come work as his all-purpose\u003cbr\u003ehelper. Nineteen-year-old Indra Tamang, who spoke minimal English, was soon\u003cbr\u003eenjoying an education and a life he could not have imagined. He quickly\u003cbr\u003egraduated from cooking and running errands to attending social engagements with\u003cbr\u003eCharles, to accompanying the artist on his international travels, eventually\u003cbr\u003ebecoming his collaborator, and more of a son than an employee.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCharles was a magnet for creative people, and during the '70s, \u003cbr\u003e'80s, and '90s, Indra found himself at the center of seemingly every fantastic\u003cbr\u003elittle universe in New York, Paris, Crete, and Kathmandu, often as a quiet\u003cbr\u003eobserver taking photographs and making mental notes. There was Studio 54, Andy\u003cbr\u003eWarhol's Factory, the teas that Charles would host at the Dakota, attended by\u003cbr\u003eregulars such as Tennessee Williams, Quentin Crisp, Patti Smith, and Henry\u003cbr\u003eGeldzahler; there were special dinners at the United Nations; visits to Mary\u003cbr\u003eMcCarthy and Leonor Fini; and chats in the elevator with neighbors like John\u003cbr\u003eand Yoko and Lauren Bacall. Charles gave Indra a second upbringing, one that\u003cbr\u003eIndra absorbed with tremendous curiosity and enthusiasm. In turn, Indra brought\u003cbr\u003eCharles into his family's village in Nepal, introducing him to a world that not\u003cbr\u003emany Westerners were privileged to see, especially then. Indra managed to shuttle\u003cbr\u003ebetween these two vastly different worlds, marrying and having children in\u003cbr\u003eNepal, though not revealing this to Charles for quite some years.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 2010, Indra Tamang became the object of global\u003cbr\u003efascination after inheriting two apartments from Charles's sister, the actress\u003cbr\u003eRuth Ford. The story in the \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e described a Nepalese \"butler\"\u003cbr\u003ewho \"grew up in a mud hut\" and ended up owning property in one of New York's\u003cbr\u003emost famous buildings. The attention that followed inspired Indra to write this\u003cbr\u003ericher and more accurate account of his life. Illustrated with more than 100 photographs and ephemera from the private collections of Charles and Indra, some never before shown, and gathered together for the first time, \u003cbr\u003ereaders will discover that nothing about Indra's \"curious years\" with Charles\u003cbr\u003eand his friends was ordinary or predictable in any\u003cbr\u003eway.  \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Indra B. Tamang, Romy Ashby\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1885983476\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781885983473\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Turtle Point Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/24\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 264\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback","brand":"Indra B. Tamang","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":45897406185727,"sku":"9781885983473","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_6cbec680-ac74-4b41-920c-7e81302dc174.jpg?v=1721373865","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/my-curious-years-with-charles-indra-b-tamang-9781885983473","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}