This panorama, based on a first visit by the author to India and Pakistan from August to November 1947, tries to suggest just a little, both of the physical impact and of the manifold culture of the sub-continent. A glance is taken at some famous historical figures but no attempt is made to be comprehensive or ' definitive,' and it is assumed that the average educated Westerner making such a first visit can only discover India as it were-through translation. Hence the presence in the cast of the following characters: