A PASSAGE TO INDIA: With original illustrations – annotated

Adela Quested is sailing from England to British Raj India with Mrs. Moore, the mother of her intended bridegroom, Ronny Heaslop, Mrs. Moore’s son from her first marriage. Heaslop is the City magistrate in Chandrapore, and Adela intends to see if she can make a go of it. The ladies are disappointed to find that the British community is very much separated from the Indian population and culture with a growing Indian independence movement in the 1920s. They are encouraged when the local school superintendent, Richard Fielding, introduces them to the eccentric elderly Hindu Brahmin scholar Professor Narayan Godbole. Mrs. Moore meets by chance another Indian local, Dr Aziz Ahmed, a widower who is surprised by her kindness and lack of prejudice. Aziz offers to host an excursion to the local Marabar Caves. The initial exploration of the caves shows that the size of the party should be limited when Mrs. Moore suffers from claustrophobia and the noise from the large entourage echoes exponentially inside the caves. Mrs. Moore encourages Adela and Aziz to continue their exploration of the caves alone with just one guide. They reach the caves at a higher elevation some distance from the group and, before entering, Aziz steps away to smoke a cigarette. He returns to find Adela has disappeared. Shortly afterwards, he sees her running headlong down the hill, disheveled. She is picked up by the doctor’s wife, Mrs. Callendar, and taken to the Callendars’ home. Adela is bleeding and delirious. Dr. Callendar medicates Adela with a hypodermic syringe. —- ISBN: 9798327347465