INDIA: The Land of Dreams and Romance

Mark Twain (1835-1910), pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, is one of America’s best and most beloved writers. It was in 1896-97, that Twain travelled to India, at the height of the British Raj, and wrote about what he saw here. One hundred twenty-five years have followed since Mark Twain undertook the tour of India. Yet, it remains historically significant, courtesy of its unfiltered, firsthand experience-based account of the country.

To commemorate 125 years of Twain’s travel to India, the present book has specifically excerpted his reminiscences of India from his work Following the Equator. Though, it becomes almost immediately apparent how dated the language is and how some observations may be totally inappropriate in today’s times, but no attempt (barring some minor editing including providing chapter-headings) has been made here to alter Twain’s words in any way, believing that it is important not to alter a written document that provides the interested reader with a fascinating account of those times. Twain doesn’t always looks kindly on the country that fascinated him but also intrigued him so much and some scholars have questioned his objectivity. Some of the tales of his encounter with India and Hinduism are surely exaggerated and cynical. Yet, being an exceptionally gifted writer (with a keen eye for the non-obvious and a subtle if at times acerbic sense of humour), he makes India come alive in a way that few writers have done. He is also skilled at revealing the ordinary in the midst of all the gala and pageantry. Reading Twain one gets a deeper feeling for all the multi-layered contradictions of human life. In any case, the reader is surely in for a treat, even if he or she may not agree with all of Twain’s descriptions and insights. As he admitted honestly that India – as unique and marvellous as she was – was a country that was simply “hard to understand”.