Told 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.

In 1973, poet, photographer, collage artist, and sculptor Charles Henri Ford convinced a young Nepalese waiter at his hotel in Kathmandu to come work as his all-purpose helper. Nineteen-year-old Indra Tamang, who spoke minimal English, was soon enjoying an education and a life he could not have imagined. He quickly graduated from cooking and running errands to attending social engagements with Charles, to accompanying the artist on his international travels, eventually becoming his collaborator, and more of a son than an employee.

Charles was a magnet for creative people, and during the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, Indra found himself at the center of seemingly every fantastic little universe in New York, Paris, Crete, and Kathmandu, often as a quiet observer taking photographs and making mental notes. There was Studio 54, Andy Warhol’s Factory, the teas that Charles would host at the Dakota, attended by regulars such as Tennessee Williams, Quentin Crisp, Patti Smith, and Henry Geldzahler; there were special dinners at the United Nations; visits to Mary McCarthy and Leonor Fini; and chats in the elevator with neighbors like John and Yoko and Lauren Bacall. Charles gave Indra a second upbringing, one that Indra absorbed with tremendous curiosity and enthusiasm. In turn, Indra brought Charles into his family’s village in Nepal, introducing him to a world that not many Westerners were privileged to see, especially then. Indra managed to shuttle between these two vastly different worlds, marrying and having children in Nepal, though not revealing this to Charles for quite some years.

In 2010, Indra Tamang became the object of global fascination after inheriting two apartments from Charles’s sister, the actress Ruth Ford. The story in the Wall Street Journal described a Nepalese “butler” who “grew up in a mud hut” and ended up owning property in one of New York’s most famous buildings. The attention that followed inspired Indra to write this richer 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, readers will discover that nothing about Indra’s “curious years” with Charles and his friends was ordinary or predictable in any way. 

"In 1972 Charles Ford, widely considered the father of American surrealism, hired 19-year-old Indra Tamang as a sort of all-purpose helper in Kathmandu, where he had rented a glorious old Rana-era house. Eventually Indra became Charles's artistic collaborator and almost a son. In 2010 Indra Tamang became the object of global fascination after inheriting two apartments in the Dakota from the actress Ruth Ford. He was her sole caregiver in her last years, as he was for her brother, Charles Henri Ford, in his. The initial story about his inheritance broke in the Wall Street Journal with the headline, "The Butler Did It-at the Dakota," and described a Nepalese butler who "grew up in a mud hut" and ended up owning two apartments in one of New York's most famous buildings. The attention that followed inspired Indra to want to write a more accurate account of his life, the real story of which is much more interesting, eccentric, and unusual than what any of the news outlets presented, beginning with the fact that he was never actually a butler. During the decades of the '70s, '80s and '90s, Indra found himself at the center of every fantastic little universe and scene, in New York, Paris, Crete, and Kathmandu, often as a quiet observer taking photographs and mental notes. There was Studio 54, Andy Warhol's Factory, the teas that Charles would host at the Dakota attended by regulars such as Tennessee Williams, Quentin Crisp, Patti Smith and Henry Geldzahler; there were special dinners at the United Nations, visits to Mary McCarthy and Leonor Fini, and chats in the elevator with neighbors such as John and Yoko and Lauren Bacall. Charles gave Indra a remarkable education, one that Indra absorbed with tremendous curiosity and enthusiasm. Nothing about Indra's life during his many years with Charles and Ruth, surrounded by their constellation of notable friends, was ever ordinary or predictable in any way. His memoir is at once delightful and surprising on many levels"--