‘The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new
landscapes, but in having new eyes’, said Marcel Proust, while Augustine of
Hippo said ‘The world is a book, and those who don't travel only read one
page’. The Cambridge dictionary defines travel as ‘to make a journey, usually
over a long distance’. So travelling is essentially a journey, be it physical,
philosophical or even imaginary. So why do we usually associate the word
‘travel’ with roads and transport, going from one place to another, discovering
new places, reading a single line or a few pages the book that is our world?
Probably because traveling is totally innate to human nature and the
development of human civilization is closely associated with traveling. A quick
look at prehistory and history validates this notion. The Homo Erectus were the
very first travelers in those prehistoric times – anthropologists now believe
that they traveled from Africa over the landmasses of Europe, as did the Homo
Sapiens. Why they decided to travel is not evident. What is evident, though, is
that their traveling ensured that every major landmass in the world was
inhabited by the same species since almost 10,000 years ago.
Since that time, constant movement shaped the history of human
civilization. The early hunters and gatherers travelled long distances for
food. Later, following the Neolithic revolution and the discovery of
agriculture and animal husbandry, there was no need to travel long distances
for mere sustenance. Man settled down, in the rich fertile valleys
indispensable for agricultural societies – along the ‘Fertile Crescent’,
extending from Egypt up to Iraq, as well as in the Indus Valley. Liberated from
the need to merely survive, humans soon concentrated on things that would make
their lives easier and more pleasant. Different art forms – painting, music,
weaving, sculpting etc. started emerging to satisfy the creative energies.
While the dreamers dreamed and created, the doers were busy discovering new
techniques and technologies that would make their societies thrive. Living on
the shores of mighty rivers, man designed the first raft, the first canoe, the
first boat that would allow them to use the great waterways. Mesopotamians,
Egyptians and Sumerians sailed the rivers and seas for trade. Meanwhile, the
Indus Valley civilization, surrounded more by land than by sea, was working on
another means of locomotion which would change the course of history of human
civilization. About 5000 years ago, the wheel was presumably discovered there.
I think that it was from this time onwards that travel became
central to the development of human civilization. The ancient civilizations –
Greece, Carthage and later Rome – embarked on ambitious voyages by land and sea
to discover what lay beyond the boundaries of their own domains. Successive
Roman Emperors undertook the building of long distance roads on a massive scale
in a bid to unite the sprawling Empire – it was the time when ‘all roads (led)
to Rome.’ Over time, the Silk Route joined the Orient and the Occident. Wealth
flowed in but so did a host of other things more intangible, impacting the
different civilizations. As the quest for knowledge grew in different
societies, so did the urge to travel. When the fall of the Roman Empire made
travelling by land unsafe and difficult, man sailed the oceans and the seas,
spurred equally by the search for knowledge, wealth and then inevitably –
power. The thirst for economic, political and religious supremacy would drive
humans to discover new routes to new territories over centuries. Marco Polo
would spend 24 years in the court of Ghenghis Khan and write the first widely
read travelogue in history. The intrepid navigators would embark on long
perilous voyages commanded and financed by Royalty or Clergy and discover new
continents. The World had already started shrinking as distant places became
accessible. The voyages remained long and arduous, and would continue to be so
till the Industrial Revolution that started in Great Britain in the mid-18th
century. The discovery of steam power would then change the established world
order for ever – trains and steamships would make traveling much easier for the
common man. Great scientific voyages would be organized widening the realm of
human knowledge. An enormous emigration would take place over decades to the
new world and start a fresh chapter of human history. By the dawn of the 20th
century, railroads connected most of the major countries in Europe. The
colonies followed the same path. The rail was the preferred form of transport
for the masses. Travelling was no longer a luxury that only the wealth could
afford like in 17th and 18th century when every nobleman and aristocrat went on
‘The Grand Tour’ and wrote copiously about their experiences, starting a new
trend in literature – that of travelogues that would later give birth to a wide
range of ‘travel literature’.
Why do we travel? What makes us want to leave the comfort of
home and hearth and seek the unknown? Why do we visit places where millions
have been before, and there is hardly anything left to ‘discover’? Why do we
struggle in foreign lands where we don’t understand the language or the customs
or the way of life? Why do we scale mountains or dive deep into the oceans or
brave known and unknown dangers in jungles or deserts? Probably because nothing
ever compares with the feeling of seeing something for the first time – the
heights of Machu Pichu, the Taj Mahal on a moonlit light, the ancient temples
of Angkor Vat, the Grand Canyon, the pyramids in Egypt, the Iguassu falls… we
want to experience it ourselves. No one else would ever be able to describe
what we actually feel. When we go to a new country, we absorb it with all our
senses – the unfamiliar sights, smells and sounds, the people, the colors… even
the sky we look at and the air we breathe seem different and novel. Provided,
of course, we open our senses wide and want to embrace it all. ‘One’s
destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things’ said Henry
Miller, and to me, this is the essence of travelling.
However wonderful it is to travel, we cannot deny that not all
of it is pleasurable. Think of the historical sea voyages and the time it took
to actually embark on one. The innumerable dangers that waited at every corner,
vessels destroyed, lives lost, fortunes ruined. Modern travelers don’t face
those dangers anymore, at least not very often. But undertaking a journey still
has its pitfalls. Choosing a destination, buying the tickets, reserving a place
to stay, packing bags and then finally starting off are often stressful. Add to
that the modern day uncertainties related to a host of factors totally beyond
the control of the hapless traveler – inclement weather, strikes, terrorist
attacks to name but a few – and the traveler is stranded, in a railway station
or an airport or in a service station on the motorway. If you have ever
witnessed the total chaos in an airport or a big railway station when the
security personnel or the ground staff or the pilots or the railway men are on
strike – you’ll understand what I am trying to say. Finally arriving at the
destination, the traveler often finds that the accommodations he had so
carefully chosen are not quite up to the scratch. Leaking taps, broken windows,
creaking beds can often spoil an entire holiday, and often do. Even the most
seasoned traveler is not wholly prepared to face all the eventual problems,
especially in another country: the multiple barriers of language, customs,
currencies, food habits etc. cannot totally be apprehended and can lead to
stress and sometimes distress.
At this point, I would like to make a distinction between two
groups– the travelers and the tourists. Back in 1841, a man named Thomas Cook
hit upon a brilliant idea. He figured out that traveling would become a greater
pleasure if travelers don’t have to bother with making the necessary
arrangements – buying a ticket, reserving a place to stay in, worrying about
meals etc. He organized a first trip for the members of a society he belonged
to, which was a huge success, and never looked back. World’s first travel
agency was born on that day. And on that day ‘tourists’ were born as well,
those who would travel for pleasure, either guided by benevolent and genial
trip planners and managers, flitting from one place to another or armed with
voluminous travel guides or smart appliances plugged into the ears. They hardly
ever look up, other than to take pictures that would then be sent instantly to
friends and family. At the risk of sounding intolerant, I would say that they are
the bane to real travelers who are there to enjoy and savor. ‘The traveler sees
what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see’ said G.K.Chesterton,
and a truer sentence has not been uttered on this subject. In a mad rush to
‘see’ everything and ‘do’ the places that travel guides prescribe, they pay
scant attention to others. This is especially true for those who travel in
groups led by a guide. Often loud and uncaring, they can and often do spoil the
pleasure of others. Try enjoying the magnificent sunset on the Grand Canyon, or
watching the moon climb on a cloudless sky in Angkor Vat or sitting quietly on
the bank of Vltava as darkness descends or observing the rain clouds gather on
the slopes of the Himalayas in the presence of large chattering groups and
‘your serenity is doomed!’ Yet these are the things a real traveler wants to
experience and savor – the quiet moments – moments that would ‘flash upon that
inward eye’ or conjured up in an instant ‘in vacant or in pensive mood.’ The
true travelers prefer walking down quiet roads, exploring the alleyways in
ancient towns, interacting with people, eating in places not prescribed by the
guide books. They are conversant with the history, geography, economics and
politics of the places they visit. They are careful about the customs and
morals of the societies where they are only temporary visitors. By and large
they respect the norms and mores of the countries they visit and rarely offend
the local population. They take risks as well – wandering off the beaten
tracks, wanting to discover the underbelly of different places, they are not
always welcome in the place they are in, and can get into serious trouble. A
seasoned traveler can always walk the fine line of curiosity and caution.
“Wherever you go, go with all your heart” said Confucius and
that, I think, is the secret shared by all great travelers across ages. Add to
that an open mind, curiosity and the capacity to enjoy, and any place, however
common or mundane, can turn into a great experience. We need not travel
thousands of miles every time to find beauty or serenity, to be dazzled by the
unusual and the novel. But we need to travel if we want to experience
first-hand the wonders that the world has to offer us. To draw on the memories
and experiences that enriches us know end and help us deal with the ennui and
tediousness of our quotidian.
“Happy the man who, like Ulysses, has made a fine voyage, or has
won the Golden Fleece, and then returns, experienced and knowledgeable, to
spend the rest of his life among his family.” (Joachim du Bellay)
[APARAJITA SEN]
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