Synopsis In a golden period in his reporting days in Delhi, S. Nihal Singh was assigned the task of finding and interviewing a person, usually a visitor from elsewhere in India or abroad, to give a sketch of his or her interests and aspirations in life.  These people ranged from such celebrities as the actor James Stewart to writers such as Mulk Raj Anand, poets like Edmund Blunden, filmmakers of the caliber of Roberto Rossellini as well as more humble folk who had set out from home on their own quests.

Some of these sketches are of historical interest because of the revelations the author was privileged to interpret, particularly in the case of the great many who have passed on. There was poetry in the lives of some of the lesser mortals as well, of a young man, for instance, dividing his time between selling spring lambs and helicopters; of the lady who sought the solace of the desert to find inspiration for the books she wrote; of the Japanese poetess who tutored the interviewer in the unique Heikai (also known as Haiku) tradition of writing Japanese poetry.

The “Places” in the second section of the book are essentially first impressions of a city or country.  First impressions have a niche of their own, and often a city strikes one in a special way even though one had visited it before.