Looking for Muziris: A Tour Through the History of South India

Just when most people are thinking about getting up late and mowing the lawn the author s partner, James decided to reinvent himself as a travel agent in South India. Relinquishing ideas of a tranquil retirement, she went along for the ride, in spite of the many fears and anxieties which accompanied the idea of travel. Five lunatic years later she was no nearer to understanding India or its history. This book is a funny, but factual account of the quest to find clean bathrooms and of a search for the hidden history of South India, through the places where most tourists go. From the tranquil backwaters in the south of Kerala to the turbulent forests and plantations of the Western Ghats, this book pieces together the little-known history of the country and its people. There are traders and invaders from long ago and far away, stories of pirates and religious schisms, dealers in precious spices, explorers and adventurers, and elephants. Terrifying, complex and contradictory, defying logic and Western understanding, the ideas of India crystallised at last into one mythical place; Muziris, the Roman Port which may, or may not, have been found. She is still not sure that the search is over.