A journey through a region of Asia, The Way of the World is also a journey towards the self. “You think you are making a trip,” says Bouvier, “but soon it is making you – or unmaking you.”

The Way of the World was written in French by Swiss born author Nicolas Bouvier (1929 – 1998) and originally published in 1963. Nicolas Bouvier has been qualified as Switzerland answer to Jack Kerouac. In 1953, twenty-four-year old Nicolas Bouvier and his artist friend Thierry Vernet set out to make their way overland from their native Geneva to the Khyber Pass. The book relates their journey through a region of Asia that has since fallen prey to violence.

Pascal Dibie is Professor of Ethnology at University Paris Diderot and author of several books. A former close friend of Nicolas Bouvier, he is now heading the jury of the literary Prize Nicolas Bouvier – Etonnants voyageurs that awards every year a work inspired by travels and encounters with the world. Mr Dibie, sponsored by the French Embassy, will talk about Nicolas Bouvier, this intrepid traveller, writer, icon painter and photographer.

This event is brought to you by The Other Thought – French-Indian Encounters on Creativity and Innovation, powered by the Institut Français Inde.