For centuries traders, religious seers, nomads, migrants, and conquerors have travelled the Grand Trunk Road - the axis of the Indian sub-continent's heavily populated and politically dominant north. This ancient road, the country's primary commercial route, is the channel by which changes have historically coursed through Indian society. Raghubir Singh's vibrant color photographs evoke the energies and contrasts of a modern journey along the road Singh terms "a living panorama of north India's people."

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An essay by Jean Deloche, of the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient, in Pondicherry, India, provides a compelling history of the Grand Trunk Road since its emergence as ancient India's first route for traders and invaders. The French historian and geographer interweaves literary references and excerpts from early travellers' accounts into his essay.

Singh's photographs and gripping firsthand account of his remarkable travels draw the reader into an unforgettable journey down the lifeline of northern India, where, as Singh writes, "the past and the present breathe side by side."