This version of Around the World in 80 Days, the section you are holding in your hands, is a sequel to Around the World in 80 Days in Durban. I never thought that I needed to ever leave Durban to complete such a wager. It felt like an anti-climax to follow the Fogg itinerary away from the third most beautiful city in the world and Africa's most elegant mongrel. But thanks to the inimitable Solly Meer, I got the break of my life after he introduced me to his cousin.

I would like, therefore, to here upfront express my gratitude to the real Lady Aouda Fogg of 7 Savile Row London, yes the wonderful granddaughter of the very original Phileas and Aouda Fogg, whose journey Verne immortalised a century plus some change ago. (See Appendix One.) So excited she was about the idea, that she wagered mighty wagers to get me going and added Marcelle Diouff, her Senegalese housekeeper to be my Passepartout (See Appendix Two.).

The excitement of undertaking such a project was also compounded by a need to get my poetic career out of the morass it had reached in South Africa at once – out of favour and out of fashion. The prospect of whizzing around the world – even if it was for a measly 80 Days, even if I had to follow Verne's itinerary to its last minute detail – felt like liberation.

This India section of the voyage was made possible by a lot of Indians – poets, musical geniuses, performers, historians, sociologists, economists, crafters, trade unionists, politicos and students and quite a few hosts with immense patience and a lot of Kerala coffee, Sula wine and chai. Lesson number 1, leave the Lonely Planet Guide behind; you can't do the continent without reading its poets and listening intensely to the words of songs. There is nothing left undescribed or unsung in India.

A big thanks has to also go to Aditya Mukherjee and the staff at the Institute of Advanced Study at Jawaharlal Nehru University for the hospitality and lessons in history. To the Centre for the Study of Social Systems and the colleagues of the Global Studies Programme, Anand Kumar, Panini, Sujata and Harish and of course Tiplut and Susan for the tons of sociology, culture and nuance.