Man, woman and their travels

    As you watch travel vlogs on YouTube, you will often see a man and a woman touring fascinating and unexplored places in the world. There are also solo travelers, but I find "couples" to be the more interesting kind- a man and a woman. Just two people, braving against all odds. The kind of life these couples have chosen to live reminds me of the lives that early men had- living amongst nature, gathering food from the wild, and never settling in one place. The circumstances of these vlogger couples are quite similar but with the addition of technology to record their adventures and allow viewers to enjoy the journeys, albeit vicariously, through their films. During the 2020 lockdown, such travel videos were a delight to watch when all we could do was stay indoors for days.

    Man, as a living entity, is designed to thrive in the company of others and yearns to be a part of a community. Even if there isn't a community, the company of another person is enough to sail through life. Perhaps this is why, in these vlogs, you'll witness merely a guy and a woman doing everything on their own, most times without a group of people helping them. They enjoy traveling together, documenting their experiences, shooting their own photographs, and recording their strolls through the forest, only to return and retrieve the camera from the ground. In addition, life on these travels needs a plethora of knowledge on how to survive with minimal access to facilities. By nature, men and women are designed to possess different attributes which help them perform different tasks in life. While a woman, usually, is meticulous and disciplined, a man is seen to be good at decision-making and taking risks. These qualities work together to form a perfect alliance that enables them to face any challenge that life presents. Making them a complementary deal.

    Now, am I trying to advocate here that the combination of a man and a woman is the ideal scenario for traveling together? No, absolutely not. I'm talking about this pair of combinations as they fascinate me. My mind wonders how the basic instincts of a human drive him or her even after centuries of evolution. The desire to see new and different places has become one of the prime driving factors of modern life. Every soul has the desire to travel; some maybe be scared by the idea of it, find it exhausting to plan for one, or lack the initial funds to start a journey. But, if money were no obstacle, I'm sure a lot of people would pack their bags and leave for a trip this very instant. In fact, one of the prime reasons for hustling every day in the 9-5 jobs is to gather enough money to travel to that dream destination. Our hearts and minds yearn to visit places we've never seen before with our own eyes. And with these dreams in our unclosed eyes, we carry on with our daily work.

P.S. The birth of these thoughts took place while I was watching Ronnie & Barty's vlogs on YouTube. Absolutely mesmerizing, with brilliant voice-over, and captivating background music in each video. These guys know how to make a cinematic vlog which reminds me of the travel shows that I used to watch on Discovery and Travel & Living channels during my childhood.

A picturesque view from Meghalaya resembling a scene from The Shire from The Lord of the Rings

P.S. This piece was written a year back in June 2022. I'm publishing it in August 2023 as I saw it in my drafts and wanted it on my blog.

Holding on

 

Why I love reading books by William Dalrymple

    “Kohinoor” was the first novel that I read written by William Dalrymple. This book about a gem is indeed a gem of a book. The facts have been well researched as the book talks in meticulous detail about the origin and the travels of the diamond that we know today and how it came to be a part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. I first read about this diamond in a history class in school, and I've been captivated by it ever since. The book brings to light various scenes from Indian history and the passage of the ‘Mountain of Light’ (Koh-i-Noor) through multiple hands and finally being presented as a gift to Queen Victoria by the Boy-King Duleep Singh. I recommend this to anyone who is curious about the story of the stone. A remarkably interesting read indeed.

    The next book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading was William Dalrymple’s account of various places and communities of India in “The Age of Kali”. The work has been a culmination of first-hand information about incidents, events, customs, and norms from people who have lived through it all.

    It serves as a travelogue of the experiences that Dalrymple has gathered in his ten years of travel across the terrains of the Indian subcontinent. Picking up stories from the north to the south; from the land of Pakistan to what lies beyond the Indian Ocean. The book’s title refers to the fourth age of time, the Kali Yug, which India is believed to be at present. It is evident from the writing that the writer is overwhelmed as well as in awe of the beauty of the stories the country has to offer.

    I was particularly enthralled to learn how modernization came into being in Bangalore and the opposition that came with it from the localities who desperately tried to hold on to the charm of the old Bangalore city. Each of the true stories depicted in the book talks of something unheard of before. For anyone interested in discovering new tales about India, I assure you this book will feed your curiosity and keep you wanting more.

    Another interesting book I read from Mr. Dalrymple was “Nine Lives”. This was also the book that I got signed by the author at the "Times Literature Festival" held in Bangalore in February 2020. It was after attending many literature events that I finally got to meet him for an autograph and hear live from the author. 

    “Nine Lives” depicts the stories of nine different individuals, each following a different religious path. While journeying across India in quest of modernity and ancient traditions, Dalrymple met these nine people and learned about their holy beliefs. The narrative is structured in such a way that the characters in each story speak for themselves. Here's a thought-provoking line, from a story titled “The Maker of Idols”, that reads- “It’s the faith of devotees that turns it (the idol) into a god.”

    I recall another intriguing story titled- “The Lady Twilight”. It recounts the life of Manisha Ma Bhairavi, who came to Tarapith in search of Ma Tara, and continued to stay there as she felt deep protection from the goddess. Tarapith in Bengal, noted for its Tantric temple and the adjoining cremation grounds, has witnessed the survival of some of the oldest forms of Tantric rites in India. While Sadhus and Tantrics live there amidst skulls and corpses, scavengers in the cremation ground, and confronting their fear of death, for Manisha Ma, it is her home, one “where even the most damaged and marginal can find intimacy and community”. One of the many practices and beliefs they follow there is the practice of drinking from a skull. They believe the skulls give them power- Shakti of Ma Tara. Each of these stories will make you wonder, "What is meant by religious belief?" and "Is it the same as spirituality?"

    The fourth book that I was reading from William Dalrymple’s list was “The Anarchy”. I completed a few pages of it before I left for the US. The book tells the story of how the British ruled India for decades through the establishment of the East India Company. I hope to complete it someday.

    

    Each of Dalrymple’s books tells us a distinct story.  It is an achievement of the author to be able to recount tales of history in such vivid detail and draw up images of the times that we can only imagine now. I have a great appreciation for the author who went scouring for these stories and preserved them for the reader's delight. A true historian of the modern day.

Images are from Times Literature Festival held in Bangalore in February 2020. That is where I met him and got a book signed. 

 

Gift from a lover

A poem for the day celebrating love.

Valentine's day, 2023.