An Amiguous Journey to the City: The Village and Other Odd Ruins of the Self in the Indian Imagination

Divided into four sections, this book tells the story of India's ambivalent affair with the modern city through the myth of the journey between the village and the city, and the changes that myth has undergone. It loks at the vicissitudes of the metaphor of journey; profiles various heroes as they negotiate the transitions from the village to the city and back to the village; and focuses on the psychopathological journey from a poisoned village into a self-annihilating city.