The book narrates the story of a journey starting from the search for family roots that led to a discovery of India and its traditional culture that leads the author to an inner conviction of being able to do something for her land of origin.
Following faint traces found in some forgotten letters, holding an old photograph of a colonial house in her hand, Emanuela travels through the West Bengal countryside looking for relatives left behind in India at the beginning of the 20th century.
In an exilerating and moving style she gives us her family story, the years moving between Italy and India, the touching discovery of her roots and of extraordinary places and people which led to the decision of undertaking the Pyari Project and building a house for the street girls of Calcutta.
Andrea Micheli's photographs take the reader into an India that often passes unnoticed by tourists, an India off the beaten tracks. They show the reality of a violent environment quite different from ours but at the same time allowing us to retrace the steps that have lead to the consciousness of a social emergency and the wish to come to grips with it.
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