Manju Arya’s insights have provided much entertainment and education. Mahiraj Mehra’s doctoral work on Ranikhet was a rich source of information, as were conversations with S. Ramesh and Akshay Shah. I have benefited from Janet Morgan’s Edwina Mountbatten: A Life of Her Own, Martin Booth’s Carpet Sahib, D. C. Kala’s Jim Corbett of Kumaon, and P. N. Dhar’s Indira Gandhi, the Emergency and Indian Democracy. Another delight was The Social Economy of the Himalayans, by S. D. Pant, which arrived out of the blue from MacLehose Press. The book is an example of the many overwhelming kindnesses of Christopher, Koukla, and Miska MacLehose, who break every cliché there is about the cruel impersonality of modern publishing. As do many others at MacLehose Press and Quercus, especially Katharina Bielenberg and Nicci Praca.
Ivan Hutnik and Thomas Abraham’s involvement in this book are fortuitous culminations of old friendships. Nasreen Kabir, Radhika Prakash, and Manishita Das will as always shelter me through its publication. To each of them I am ever grateful.