What do we do when we talk about, or think of, the West? Consciously or unconsciously, we envisage the West in terms of its binary opposite: the East. But what is the East; and where exactly is the East located?

The term ‘East’ has always been in vogue in the Eurocentric visions, usually conjuring ideas of mysticism and certain cultural and ideological differences between the East and the West. Lately it has also been loosely synonymous with a new age interest and invention of ‘eastern yoga’ and discovering the spiritual self through what is constructed as the East. But locating the spatial denomination of the term raises some curious problems. Which part of the world shall we unanimously agree is the East? East of what?