Divided into four sections, this book tells the story of India's ambivalent affair with the modern city throug hthe 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.