Also, I had not come across many examples of that unique genre from Indian authors: I thought that travel writing and tongue-in-cheek humor about outlandish customs etc was the forte of the itinerant Brits and the Americans.
I do know Amitav Ghosh and Pico Iyer have written some novels regarding their travels...but did not know of many others. Of course, VS Naipaul is a famed traveller and his accounts, esp. of his travels in India, have been peerless and brutally honest. But then he is hardly an Indian writer, right? Moreover, he has observed that Indians do not seem to observe their surroundings too well; they seem preoccupied with other things...
Thus it was a pleasant surprise that I came across three fine works by Indian authors that recount experiences of their travels.
The first book I read and highly recommend is "All the World's a Spitoon" by Samit Sawhney. This intrepid lad set out from London, after chucking his job in the financial sector, choosing to return to India by land!!! He mapped a route through Nordic lands, Russia, Mongolia, China and Tibet to finally return to India.
Wacky as this is, one is equally impressed by Samit's style: funny as hell, he is the neutral observer, with great facility for description and sense of geography. He conveys accurate descriptions of the natural scenes he encounters--great freshwater lakes, forbidding expanses of land, the taiga, boat rides etc--with skill, panache and a pictorial ease.
From his ordeal securing visas to all those countries with a "third-world country passport" to travels through stunning fjords, small Nordic fishing villages, meddling Russian security checks and the awe-inspiring expanses of Russian architecture, frequent brushes with officials over permits required, comical impersonations of the hero-worshipped Mithun Chakravarthy and his Disco Dancer number to save his skin in Russia, schmoozing with a wide ethnic variety aboard the Siberian Express, enjoying the overwhelming Mongolian hospitality which entails drinking a vile-smelling llama's milk and then finally stealing into Tibet---the novel is one hell of a rollercoaster. Great job, Samit!
The other novel I came across, again accidentally in a Delhi bookshop on Janpath, was Allan Sealy's "From Yukon to Yucatan." I vaguely remembered Allan being the author of The Trotternama and thus it was pleasantly surprising to find this bold travel book of his.
He charts a path from the northernmost point in North America to South America, hoping to trace the path of the first Americans and their travels down the continent.
Sealy is a accomplished writer and it becomes abundantly clear how much at ease he is with the English language. His descriptions of the landscapes is detailed, so much so that it becomes a little tedious to keep imagining it, so attractive and pristine it all seems at times. He also infuses his narration with straight-faced humor and that really lifts the spirit of the story and makes it go down well. A fine, fine read...
The third book I only casually flipped thru was Mishi Saran's Chasing the Monk's Shadow. Mishi pursued China studies at Wellesley College, Ma. She became fascinated by the monk Xuanzang (earlier spelt as Hiuen Tsang or Hsuan Tsang), him about whom we'd read in our history books and how he travelled to India through treacherous mountains and all to see the land of the Buddha.
Have not read enough of this to pass a judgement but I feel this is another great account and look forward to dive into it.
All in all, some very pleasant discoveries!!
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