This collection of essays recalls the author's days in India, first as an attache in the Mexican Embassy, then 11 years later as Mexico's ambassador. He brings insight into India's landscape, culture and history in a series of discourses. The Antipodes of Coming and Going is a remembrance of the sights, sounds and smells of the subcontinent. Religions, Castes, Languages gives a survey of Indian history. A Project of Nationhood is an examination of modern Indian politics, comparing the respective Islamic, Hindu and Western civilizations through the course of history. The Full and the Empty is an exploration into what Paz calls the soul of India, its art, literature, music and philosophy, and an indictment of the self-centred materialism of Western society. Octavio Paz is the author of The Double Flame: Essays in Love and Eroticism.