During that time, West was off to Mumbai (known under the British as Bombay). His wife joined him there, and they saw some of “Bollywood,” the center of the Indian cinema industry, which every year makes as many films as does Hollywood. “Indian movies are generally extravagant musicals embracing drama, comedy, and tragedy, and they are long,” West says. “But I like them.”

Here the Wests had a reunion with a slew of nieces and nephews in their 20s, and here he got his first real picture of outsourcing. Many of his young relatives are among those enjoying the benefits of the boom in outsourcing. West also talked throughout his trip with workers, business people, and government officials about the transformation of the Indian economy, a theme that he also developed in lectures at Shivaji University and the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics.

“In economics, politics, and cultural issues, the transformation is tremendous,” he says. “When I first worked in India, there was no television in the rural areas and telephone numbers went to two digits. Now most everyone is walking around with cell phones and Internet access. Some people have called it the new ICE age: information, communication, entertainment. There remains great poverty in India, but a lot more mobility than when I was here before.

“You see this in South Korea, too: sophisticated young professionals, technically savvy and aggressive about claiming their future. It’s an ancient civilization,” he says, “but it’s also a modern, sophisticated, business-savvy society.”

South Korea was his next stop. It was optional, but he was glad he took it: “It’s another fascinating country in a lot of transition,” he describes it. He found the DMZ [demilitarized zone between the two Koreas] quite surreal, especially a modern train station designed for fast travel to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, from which the train never runs. He also explored the tunnels dug by North Korea to help it invade South Korea, which he thinks of as a metaphor for the deep divisions between the two countries.

Finally, it was time for his third goal.

“As a young man, I traveled across the United States by thumb,” West says. “At 22, I planned to go all the way around the world, but I ended up staying three years in India, where I got married and we had our first child.” Since then, he has made many international trips for research purposes. For his last sabbatical, he received a Fulbright Scholar’s grant to spend a semester teaching in Slovakia. But he had never gotten to Australia.

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