Maura Moynihan: 'Yoga Hotel'

Maura Moynihan's new book, Yoga Hotel, is a collection of short stories resonating with her lifelong passion for India. When she was 15, Moynihan's father, the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, was appointed ambassador to India. She stepped off the plane in New Delhi and felt instantly at home. Moynihan speaks fluent Hindi and Urdu as well as some Tibetan and Nepali.

Maura Moynihan's new book Yoga Hotel

Hear a sample from Moynihan's CD, also titled Yoga Hotel: "Purify Me" "Yoga Hotel"

The characters in Yoga Hotel are Westerners and Indians, each with their own pre-conceptions of the other's world. Their mutual encounters are depicted with wit and irony.

There's Leyton, the Princeton-educated U.N. High Commissioner for South Asia refugees who fails his own moral test when he turns his back on a Tibetan monk imprisoned and tortured by the Chinese.

"Asia will make you confront yourself," Moynihan says. "People like Leyton come wanting to help but become too frightened. The missionary complex says 'I'm going to save India's masses' -- but you can't. You can help individuals though."

In the story, "A Good Job In Delhi," Hari, an Indian servant, hopes that his employer will help him escape his narrow provincial world. At the moment when Hari must pack up and join his employer on his next World Bank assignment in Washington, D.C., he experiences an epiphany:

"But now that all that mattered was the scent of bread, charcoal, and jasmine in the evening air, the sound of temple bells, bicycle chimes, and birdcalls, the old cow wandering toward him the dark street. He had never been without these things, and he'd never realized he loved them. Tears streamed down his face."

Moynihan's India is a collage of ancient and modern, of Western and Eastern influences, of guru seekers, diplomats and ordinary Indians just getting by. The centerpiece of her richly drawn portraits is the novella, Masterji. It is about Western seekers on retreat with their dying guru, Masterji. Their interactions with the local Indians and with the charismatic guru lead to unforeseen events.

Moynihan based the character of Masterji on the Indian philosopher Krishnamurti, and the author admits there's a lot of herself in the character Sam, who can't find a place for herself in America and only wants to live in India.

What next for Moynihan? She's working on a big novel about, what else -- India.

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