Can enlightenment come in a glass of lassi? Whether discussing the intricacies of etiquette in a Japanese love hotel while high on hallucinogens, expunging unholy thoughts in a monastic retreat in Thailand, or contemplating life, death and heartache in the murky lanes of Varanasi, ten years of sex, drugs and spiritual misfires bring artist and journalist Dave Besseling no closer to finding the eternal truth – whatever that may be. Then, a moment of clarity presents itself while sipping lassi in India’s holiest city. In a series of essays that define the travails of those who prefer life on the road, The Liquid Refuses to Ignite sees Dave and his possible alter-ego Dr. Heagney theorize upon, ruminate over and scoff at everything from Kurt Cobain to Kundalini. Hitting out at the modern traveller – the backpack-wearing self-professed outcasts who scour the world for meaning – Dave stumbles upon the epiphany he’s been searching for: behind the robes and the rituals of wise men everywhere, they’re selling the same thing – the answer to emptiness and need. And they’ve been selling it to him all along.