Contents: Preface. 1. Men, women and old boots. 2. Diary one: April 1999—September 2000; Delhi—London—Odcombe. 3. Full sail on dry land. 4. Diary two: October 2000—June 2002: Odcombe—Mumbai—London. 5. Oasis in the desert. 6. Diary three: July 2002: London—Mumbai. 7. In search of an emperor. 8. Diary four: August 2002: Mumbai—Delhi—Aligarh. 9. A demon and two priests. 10. Diary five: September 2002: Agra—Mathura—Vrindavan. 11. Writing for Sir Thomas. 12. Diary six: September 2002: Agra—Pushkar—Ajmer. 13. Exile. 14. Diary seven: September 2002: Ajmer—Pushkar. 15. The roads of Torment. 16. Diary eight: October 2002: Haridwar—Rishikesh—Jwalamukhi. 17. The Strider’s surrender. 18. Diary nine: December 2002—February 2003: Varanasi—Allahabad—Mandu. 19. Road’s end. 20. Diary ten: March 2003: Surat.
"In the early seventeenth century, Thomas Coryate, an eccentric Englishman, a writer and a wanderer, decided to walk from his village of Odcombe in Somerset of the Indies—to the court of the Great Mogul, Jehangir, and onwards to Chin, the land from where the silks came. His search was for fame, not fortune: he wanted to be the first man to write about those distant lands. Above all, he wanted to prove himself—to his many sceptics in Prince Henry’s court, whom he amused for a living, and the lovely Lady Anne Harcourt, whom he loved deeply, only to be hurt.
The Long Strider tells the extraordinary story of Coryate’s 5000-mile journey on foot to India, across the forbidding Arabian Desert and the treacherous Hindukush mountains. To reach the court of Jehangir, Coryate survived penury, loneliness, ridicule and extreme hostility; but disillusionment awaited him at the end of this journey: despite her many wonders and charms, he was also shocked and repelled by India, and the emperor, possessor of fabulous wealth, made a mockery of his dream. Coryate died in the port city of Surat, and was buried there in an obscure grave.
Interwoven with the narrative about Coryate’s quest is an account of the authors’ own travels through the cities the Englishman visited nearly four hundred years ago. In Coryate’s footsteps, they go to Delhi, Ajmer, Agra, Aligarh and Surat, and discover that while much has changed, in some respects the India Coryate encountered is not very different from the India that exists today. Part biography, part travelogue, The Long Strider, written with elegance, wit and insight, is a compelling read."
