SONGSOPTOK: Do you travel often? Is
it for work or for pleasure? Do you like travelling? Why?
MARK LEKAN LALUDE: I don't travel often. I do like traveling for the thrill and the
excitement that the open road offers.
SONGSOPTOK: How would you rather spend your vacations – travelling to a far
off place or staying at home doing things you normally don’t have time to do?
Why?
MARK LEKAN LALUDE: I would like to travel to
faraway places, do things I have never done before, like skydiving.
SONGSOPTOK:: What do you like best about travelling? What do you hate most?
Or is travelling a real pleasure for you from beginning to end? Can you tell us
why?
MARK LEKAN LALUDE: I like the excitement it
offers, and the intrigues of the journey, however, journeys can be
inconvenient, and this dampens the joy.
SONGSOPTOK: Do you like travelling to historical places and sites that
transport us to a different epoch altogether? Have you ever experienced this
type of sensation? Can you please share your memories and emotions with us?
MARK LEKAN LALUDE: I would love to visit
places like Venice in Italy, the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy. Unfortunately,
I haven't experienced the excitement yet.
SONGSOPTOK: What, according to you, are the negative experiences of
travelling, if any? Have you faced any major problems while travelling, either
in your own country or elsewhere? What kind of problems did you face and why?
Are they avoidable or are they an integral part of travelling?
MARK LEKAN LALUDE:: Getting lost or getting stranded are negative experiences of
traveling. I haven't faced any.
SONGSOPTOK: “The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has
come to see” said G.K.Chesterton. Do you agree with him? Are you a tourist or a
traveler? Why?
MARK LEKAN LALUDE: I agree with him. I am a
traveler, because I would like to see the places I visit the way they are,
stripping myself of all prejudices.
SONGSOPTOK: Traveling often allows
us to discover totally new horizons and interact with people we do not meet in
our everyday lives. Sometimes we have very positive experiences of such
interactions, and some people we meet can even become close friends. Have you
ever experienced this? Did you feel that such encounters are special? Can you
give us some examples?
MARK LEKAN LALUDE: I have experienced this
in my travels to the Deep South of Nigeria, meeting strangers and striking
progressive acquaintances with them.
SONGSOPTOK: As we know, not all journeys are fruitful and not all travels
are perfect. We are often disconcerted and even shocked by certain things we
see and experience outside our comfort zones. Have you had this kind of
experience? Are they frequent or rare? Could you share some of your negative
experiences with us?
MARK LEKAN LALUDE: I have traveled in the
past with expectations of the journey, onlynfor such expectations to fail me.
SONGSOPTOK: Travelling to a different country often gives us the
opportunity of meeting people from different historical, cultural, economic and
religious backgrounds and understanding them. Sometimes we discover the hard
realities in terms of poverty, oppression, discrimination and other factors
that are not reflected in the picture postcards or descriptions in travel
guides. Have you ever experienced this? Have such experiences had a definite
influence on your own world view and inspired you to take specific actions?
Would you please share your experience with us?
MARK LEKAN LALUDE: I have been to the
eastern part of Nigeria, before now, my conceptions of that place had been
riddled with prejudices. My stay there spanning one year was enlightening.
SONGSOPTOK: According to Lin Yutang, ‘no one realizes how
beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old,
familiar pillow.’ What is your opinion about this? Do you agree or disagree?
Why?
MARK LEKAN LALUDE: No matter how thrilling
the journey, home would always be home.
MARK LEKAN LALUDE: IS A NIGERIAN WRITER, A POSTGRADUATE STUDENT
OF LAW AND A THINKER.
Aparajita Sen
(Editor: Songsoptok)
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