“Bombay is a city where gossip is treated as a commodity.”

“I was becoming addicted to Bombay. There was squalor and poverty, but I had begun to realise my good fortune and would never again forget it.”

“Calcutta's the only city I know where you are actively encouraged to stop strangers at random for a quick chat.”

“Where does one go in a tremendous city like Calcutta to find insider information? I recalled India's golden rule: do the opposite of what would be normal anywhere else.”

“Searching for a lost city is a particularly European obsession.”

“There are two ways to find a lost city. The first is to rely on luck alone, the second is to control all the information.”

“Only a man who has his health, a full stomach and wears clean clothes would ever entertain the notion of tracking down the greatest lost city on Earth.”