A Winter in India Light Impressions of its Cities, Peoples and Customs [Hardcover]

A charming travelogue set in the British Raj, A Winter in Indiapresents a fascinating journey across people, customs, languages, cities, monuments, and landscapes. Spens thrilling and amusing anecdotes and multifarious experiences  of the rugged Khyber Pass and its tribes, the military history and the Mutiny of 1857 at Kanpur and Lucknow, religion and rituals at Banaras, the grandeur of the pink city Jaipur, the seedy opium dens by night and the Towers of Silence by day in Mumbai, to a remembrance of things past in Agra and Delhi  map the changing contours of British Raj in India. It also depicts the British engagement with India, and offers insights into its emergence as a modern nation.

The new Introduction by Peter Robb locates Spens complex and wide-ranging explorations of the Orient in a historical context. It discusses the ambivalent outlook of the British towards the East at the turn of the century, illustrating Spens mix of prejudice and admiration that also typified British attitudes to India, and helps explain the character and influence of imperial rule.

This book will deeply interest readers of modern Indian history, travel literature, South Asian studies, cultural anthropology, ethnography, as well as the general reader.

IntroductionPeter Robb. List of Illustrations. Preface. Port Said and the Suez Canal. Toussoum. Red Sea.Aden.Umballa.Peshawar and Khyber Pass.Lahore. Amritsar. Simla. Patiala. Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Sikandra. Cawnpore. Lucknow. Benares. Delhi. Gwalior. Jaipur. Amber. Bombay.

Interesting and relevant & [A Winter in India] sum[s] up a typical British attitude to empire and to India in tl“I