For six years Octavio Paz served as Mexico's ambassador to India--an experience that forever changed his life. Now, in Paz's most personal work of prose to date, the Nobel Prize Laureate brings his poetic insight and voluminous knowledge to bear on a vast and extraordinary subject: the culture, land...

For six years Octavio Paz served as Mexico's ambassador to India--an experience that forever changed his life. Now, in Paz's most personal work of prose to date, the Nobel Prize Laureate brings his poetic insight and voluminous knowledge to bear on a vast and extraordinary subject: the culture, landscape, and essence of India.

"One of the most brilliant and original essayists in any language" (Washington Post Book World) reflects on the six years he spent in India as Mexican ambassador-and reveals how the people and culture of that extraordinary land changed his life. Translated by Eliot Weinberger.