Between Heaven and Earth : Writings on The Indian Hills

Here, I feel that I have come to the place that I needed most in all the world,’ wrote Rabindranath Tagore when he reached the hills of Ramgarh, where, over some quiet weeks, his ‘wrestlings with the shadows’ would finally be over. Millions before and after Tagore have found peace in the hills and been healed, restored, recharged. Some of these experiences are collected in this splendid anthology comprising pieces written over two centuries, Travellers, poets, colonial officers, wandering sadhus, overworked professionals, seekers and dropouts write about green hillsides glowing in the sun; the scent of pine and mist; the wind soughing in the deodars; the song of the whistling thrush; a picnic, a party, an illicit affair. They show us, too, the complex histories of hill stations built for the British Raj and reshaped in free India; the hardship behind the beauty; the mixed blessings of progress.

Rich in deep experience and lyrical expression, and containing some beautiful images of the hills, Between Heaven and Earth is a glorious collection put together by two of India’s finest writers, both with a lifelong connection with the hills. Among the writers you will read here are Jim Corbett, Khushwant Singh, Emily Eden, Francis Younghusband, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rumer Godden, Bill Aitken, Shama Futehally, Keki Daruwalla, Dervla Murphy, and of course the two editors themselves. Together, they make this a book that you will keep returning to for years to come,