Fifty years have passed since the independence and partition of India and Pakistan. Now Anthony Weller gives us Days and Nights on the Grand Trunk Road, a travel narrative that explores a timeless route spanning both countries. Through Weller's acute eye for landscape and personality, we also see the road's dramatic past and future - from Alexander the Great to corrupt border officials, from barefoot pilgrims to travelers like Mark Twain and Edward Lear, from the birthplace of the god Krishna to the gunshops of Pathan tribesmen, from the palaces of Mogul emperors to hundreds of struggling villages and legendary destinations like Benares, Agra, Lahore, and Peshawar. Most of all, Weller gives us unforgettable characters - holy men, con artists, wayfarers, soldiers, madmen, brides, New Agers, terrorists, and poets.