To become a Hindu scholar, a Sinologist, an Arabist, or a Hebraist is a lofty, all-consuming pursuit, leaving no space or time for anything else. Whereas I had the urge to submit to such seductions, I also remained attracted to what lay beyond the confines of their respective worlds — I was tempted by people still unmet, roads yet untraveled, skies yet unseen. The desire to cross the border, to look at what is beyond it, stirred in me still.