‘Suchitra’s account of her journeys across the undefinable and ever-shifting borders between India and its neighbours is gripping, frightening, faithful and beautiful. In Afghanistan, Kashmir, and India, from one dangerous conflict zone to another, she spoke with people, ate with them, and listened to their stories. As a bedouin who grew up listening to beautiful stories from beautiful storytellers around a fire, I was transported by her storytelling. This is a serious, often funny, and deeply revealing book.’ – Mohamedou Ould Salahi, author of Guantánamo Diary

‘What experiences and lives unfold in these pages. Heartbreaking and still, something we must all notice and understand.’ – Maaza Mengiste, author of The Shadow King

‘Unique and ambitious, Vijayan’s project gains urgency and significance from our moment of resurgent nationalisms, when borders are being aggressively reasserted, in India and across the globe.’ – Gaiutra Bahadur, author of Coolie Woman

‘An intervention like no other when it comes to thinking through not just the history of India but for reflections on borders, migration, the elusory nature of nations. With sharp political analyses, dense historical research and lyrical, image-rich prose, Vijayan’s journalism displays an inspiring ethic, one that is invested in the micro-histories of the “small man”, the one existing on the fringes of history and the one that most requires urgent representation.’ – Bhakti Shringarpure, author of Cold War Assemblages: Decolonization to Digital

Suchitra Vijayan was born and raised in Madras, India. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, GQ, The Boston Review, The Hindu and Foreign Policy.

A barrister by training, she previously worked for the United Nations war crimes tribunals in Yugoslavia and Rwanda before co-founding the Resettlement Legal Aid Project in Cairo, which gives legal aid to Iraqi refugees.

She is an award-winning photographer, the founder and executive director of the Polis Project, a hybrid research and journalism organisation. She lives in New York.