An Indian Odyssey

The Ramayana – the Journey of Rama – is India’s best-loved book, an inspiration to school-children, monks and moviemakers, yet it is virtually unknown in the Western world. The story of Rama, an exiled prince searching savage jungles for his kidnapped wife, it combines aspects of Heart of Darkness with The Odyssey but it has become a flashpoint for Indian politics, and disputes surrounding its locations have claimed an estimated 13,000 lives since 1992. When Martin Buckley first encountered the Ramayana twenty-five-years ago, it became a guide to the complexities of Indian life and in An Indian Odyssey he fulfils a dream – to retrace the route of Rama from his birthplace in north India to the climax of his confrontation with Evil in Sri Lanka. The journey, by motorbike, microlight, bus and train, was sometimes perilous but the resulting book is a remarkable travel diary and a thought-provoking account of the story of India.About Author: Martin Buckley has lived in France, Italy, Turkey and India and has worked as a journalist and broadcaster in over forty countries. For ten years he was a producer with Radio 4 and is still a regular contributor to From Our Own Correspondent (Radio 4). He has presented TV travel documentaries for Discovery Channel and has been a columnist in the Daily Telegraph and the Observer. He is the author of two highly praised travel books, both published by Hutchinson/Vintage. He is married with one young son and currently divides his time between London and Corsica. Travelling by land, sea and small plane from north-east India to Sri Lanka and back, Martin Buckley recreates one of the great journeys in world literature - the Ramayana.