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Travelling In, Travelling Out : A Book of Unexpected Journeys by Namita Gokhale, Mishi Saran
soniek's review
4.0
This book is an anthology of 26 pieces, on travel, by different writers. Some are travel memoirs of self or someone else, some are write - ups about travel in the philosophical sense, some are memoirs about life in a particular place. Each piece adds a very novel insight about the concept of travel, an interesting information or trivia about certain places, their people, their cultures. Did you know that there is a Muslim Goddess for protection from tigers in the Sunderbans? Or that there is an Indian hospice in the heart of Jerusalem? Or that the Saranda forest, infamous for infested with Naxalites, is Asia's largest sal forest? Do you know how the tribals live inside this forest, barely subsisting on products derived from this forest? Do you know how the Indian map has evolved over the years, or the crucial role played by the British in mapping the country in details? Did you ever wonder how ancient Indians went on pilgrimages and yet there isn't a map charting all these holy places?
Then there are stories of different flavours: a hilarious anecdote of an old Indian king in his palace in Rajasthan, or when Bulbul Sharma slowly learns the ways of village life in Himachal; there are horror stories of all kinds: Ipsita Roy Chakraverti's visit to Bhangarh, Rahul Pandita's encounter with naxals in Bastar and Advaita Kala's trauma of being frisked in an American airport. And then there are pieces describing travel in a completely different manner: Devdutt Pattanaik's take on travelling mentally through thoughts, or Wendell Rodricks way of following the trail of the Konkani cuisine and language, Nisha Susan's writing about the journey of Gond Art from a tribal village to the highest echelons of art: Sotheby's, or Namita Gokhale's armchair travel done by reading a travelogue!
There are stories about places: Jerry Pinto and Aakar Patel's stories about Dharavi and Mumbai respectively, M. J. Akbar's writeup about Saranda and HM The Queen Mother's memories of her childhood in Bhutan. And finally, there are travellers who have been displaced and spend their lives as nomads, trying to return home: Jehangir Bejan Tata who lost his ancestral home in Shanghai and was forced to migrate to USA; and a Sikh octogenarian who witnessed the bloody massacre of the partition as a child and visits his childhood village and home in Pakistan for one last time.
It's difficult to review an anthology but this book has curated a diverse mix of stories and excerpts from notable writers. It presents multiple perceptions about travel, how there is more to this word than just packing up a suitcase and moving from point A to B. Travel is about moving through space and time, travel is about exploring a place by walking through it, but also by observing and experiencing the people, their food, language, cultures and thoughts. Travel can be done by self, or through someone else's experiences. But whichever way you look at travel, the traveller always reaches the end point a different person.
This book is recommended as mind expanding, thought provoking, informative and a pleasant read.
Then there are stories of different flavours: a hilarious anecdote of an old Indian king in his palace in Rajasthan, or when Bulbul Sharma slowly learns the ways of village life in Himachal; there are horror stories of all kinds: Ipsita Roy Chakraverti's visit to Bhangarh, Rahul Pandita's encounter with naxals in Bastar and Advaita Kala's trauma of being frisked in an American airport. And then there are pieces describing travel in a completely different manner: Devdutt Pattanaik's take on travelling mentally through thoughts, or Wendell Rodricks way of following the trail of the Konkani cuisine and language, Nisha Susan's writing about the journey of Gond Art from a tribal village to the highest echelons of art: Sotheby's, or Namita Gokhale's armchair travel done by reading a travelogue!
There are stories about places: Jerry Pinto and Aakar Patel's stories about Dharavi and Mumbai respectively, M. J. Akbar's writeup about Saranda and HM The Queen Mother's memories of her childhood in Bhutan. And finally, there are travellers who have been displaced and spend their lives as nomads, trying to return home: Jehangir Bejan Tata who lost his ancestral home in Shanghai and was forced to migrate to USA; and a Sikh octogenarian who witnessed the bloody massacre of the partition as a child and visits his childhood village and home in Pakistan for one last time.
It's difficult to review an anthology but this book has curated a diverse mix of stories and excerpts from notable writers. It presents multiple perceptions about travel, how there is more to this word than just packing up a suitcase and moving from point A to B. Travel is about moving through space and time, travel is about exploring a place by walking through it, but also by observing and experiencing the people, their food, language, cultures and thoughts. Travel can be done by self, or through someone else's experiences. But whichever way you look at travel, the traveller always reaches the end point a different person.
This book is recommended as mind expanding, thought provoking, informative and a pleasant read.
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