FOREWORD

It was not without some hesitation that 1 approached the
present work for, writing books is not strictly within the cadre
of the profession of a cameraman and producer of short films.
Off and on I contributed to some journals of India, and the
reception given to my articles by the Editors greatly encouraged
me. While wandering in search of filmic material, at the back
of my mind I cherished the idea of writing a book of my
impressions and experiences. The vicissitudinous career of a
short film Director and the nomadic life of a newsreeler denied
me tHe time to sit down to write a book.

Scarcity of raw-stock material in the recent years and the
difficulties in the way of film production greatly retarded my
activities. I employed hours of this enforced leisure in looking
into my photographs/ travel notes, and scrap-book, and writing
afresh .of much that I had experienced—the result is this little
volume.

Some cities and places in which my sojourn was too brief to
justify my writing about them, I have deliberately omitted; others
of which I have records, I have refrained from including as I am
averse' to a lengthy publication by one, like me/ who is a
debutant in the world of writers. '•

The sixteen chapters embodied in this volume can be aptly
termed as gleanings from my travel diary • The photograph^
can claim to be illustrative of much that is interesting in India.
I present them for what they are worth—thoughts and impre"
sions, if nothing else, of a cameraman in search of documentary
material.

Wras, 1946 P. Y. PATH?