Scott flew to India in 1964 to see old friends, both Indian and Anglo-Indian, make new acquaintances in independent India, and refresh himself by confronting again the place that still obsessed him. Artistically he felt drained and a failure, feelings that were reinforced by financial straits and physical weakness. Since serving in India, Scott had been suffering from undiagnosed amoebic dysentery, which can seriously affect sufferers' mood as well as digestion, and had managed to handle it by consuming what his biographer, Hilary Spurling, describes as "alarming" quantities of alcohol. The condition was exacerbated by the visit to India, and on his return he had to undergo painful treatment, but afterwards felt better than he had for many years.