ABSTRACT
India is tremendous! I had two and a half months there in the best time of the year, mid-winter. The variety and vigor and complexity of Indian culture bowled me over. Its culture is so different from that of China, of which I had a little knowledge, that I simply soaked up impressions of Indian customs and manners, dance, music, architecture, sculpture, and other forms of religious expression. I arrived in Calcutta on December 12 and left Madras on February 26, having visited six major cities, talked with numerous influential Indians, many Americans, and some Europeans, traveled widely by car and train, visited some villages, and learned a great deal about Indian aspirations and shortcomings. Ford Foundation auspices were valuable in gaining me entree. I became fairly conversant with “public opinion” regarding China and wrote an article on “Mao’s ‘Paradise’ as Seen from India,” which was published in The Reporter (May 19, 1955). Discovering that remarkable country was one of the great experiences of my life.
