When it was decided that VOGUE would do a special issue on India, I was assigned to do the photography, while Patrick Poivre-d'Arvor, a journalist who has since become a star of French television, was to write the text. Our itinerary was drawn by Indian officials, and we were made to understand that we had to present Indira Gandhi as a great lady and her country as a happy and prosperous nation.

Our journey turned out to be a luxurious nightmare. After spending the night in some posh hotel of wherever we had landed the previous morning, we would have to wake before daybrake and to be flown to the next place. There we were met by a caravan of limousines loaded with local officials, who delivered speeches, offered refreshments, and took us to visit factories or tourist attractions. Most of my efforts were spent in talking my way out of this, getting a car and a driver and trying to find something worth photographing - but by the time I had found it, the sun would be already too high for good colour photography. In the course of two frustrating weeks, I saw more cities and landscapes than I had during my first eighteen months in India - but I didn't get the time to photograph as I wanted.