Wanderings In India And Other Sketches Of Life In Hindostan

Lang was a friend and student of India its cultures and people at a time when this was hardly a fashionable stance among white colonial gentlemen. - The Spectator Written by writer journalist and Indophile John Lang Wanderings in India is one of the best and most engaging personal accounts of India in the nineteenth century. Spanning the years during and after the 1857 Sepoy Rebellion and taken from Langs contributions to the weekly magazine Household Words it includes a series of sketches of life in Hindostan as encountered by Lang during his travels. Included in this book are stories like The Ranee of Jhansi an account of Langs personal meeting with Rani Lakshmibai regarding the infamous Doctrine of Lapse; The Mahommedan Mother a powerful portrayal of the predicament of Indian women who had relationships with European men; and The Himalayas an account of Langs adventures in the hills camping and shooting kakur bear pheasant ghooral and the like. From wonderfully evocative descriptions of the Himalayas to insightful narratives of his encounters with historical figures Langs remarkable book transcends genres and moves effortlessly from memoir to travelogue to fiction but never fails to delight and enlighten the reader.