All Around the World with the Most Travelled Indian
By NITIN GAIROLA
In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar we all know that Mark Anthony was one of the conspirators who backstabbed Caesar (literally). To justify the deed he apparently stated “It’s not that I loved Caesar less, but I loved Rome more”. In my case, the situation is nowhere as grim as what happened on the ides of March in 44 BC but let me pick this line from the great Shakespeare and say what I always wanted to say about two fascinating subjects – “It’s not that I love history less, but I love geography more”. Pretty ironic I mangled a classic quote from history to convey this. But keeping jest on one side, I believe there are no other subjects that define the reasons why most of us travel the world. It is to witness either the human world i.e. history, culture and traditions or the natural world of landscapes and wildlife.
So why do some people like me love geography a bit more than history? People say the natural world is less relevant to us keeping in mind a human being’s limited time on Earth. Why do you want to know evolution when you yourself will not evolve into another species in your lifetime? Why do you want to know how and when the mountains formed when you will not see any topographical change or continental shift in your lifetime? Or why do you care about deforestation or desertification when in your lifetime the forests and deserts won’t change much (this last one may not even be entirely correct).
My question back would be – Why must we always love things that are relevant? Why always talk about the economy, finance, geopolitics or all things linked to the human world when there is a far, far larger reality out there. We must know that the economy deals in things which are actually figments of human imagination. For example paper money doesn’t have real value. Its value is there because we have mutually agreed that a given paper note (of similar denomination, currency & with a seal) carries an equal value around the world. We also know that a corporate entity is actually just a bunch of signed legal documents but in today’s world we feel it almost has a life of its own.
So why not at times talk about less relevant things, which are actually very relevant if you really think about it. All things linked to objective reality (i.e. something that is actually there regardless of our conscious awareness) are crucial to life on Earth as we know it, such as a desert, a forest, a mountain or a river. All these tell such an incredible story of the Earth and of us and if not anything else, provide us so much peace. They bring us closer to the Earth and at the same time to the sky full of stars (hope I didn’t sound too preachy or ‘starry’, but I suppose I did).
In my life, geography has been the doorway to that larger reality and it shows in my world travel choices. Someone told me a desert is a desert and a forest is a forest. Why do you burn so much money on something that you can see anywhere? And if you have seen it once, why do you need to see it again and again. How do I explain that any desert or any forest or mountain has its own unique personality and character? And if not that, it definitely has its own unique beauty, its own touch, taste, sounds and its unique odour. Is its climate, soil and plants the same as any other? Is its evolutionary path or geographic place in the world same? Are its inhabitants the same? And do these wild inhabitants behave the same way every time you see them? The last one takes the cake and that’s why I am addicted to viewing wildlife in the wild and not in controlled environments. In the wild, it is wild and never the same as before.
It is another thing that I really enjoy macroeconomics now as it influences so much of the world. If I didn’t enjoy economics then I would be like some ‘idealist-naturalist’ (if those two different western philosophies can ever be put together). In any case I am certainly not an idealist or for that matter a naturalist. As I always say, I am just the average world traveller, but with a theme.
I remember that back in St. Francis College, Lucknow (my school) I was also a very average student who for some reason used to score 90+ in both History and Geography. Could it be because these were the only two text books that I had even bothered to open before my exams? Basically I had taken a keen interest in all things related to the world without even travelling back then (other than to Bhutan where I had lived for 3 years). I used to travel through my world encyclopedia, my books on animals & birds and my atlases. The way kids my age used to read Archie’s & Asterix, I read my Atlases. I also had my Tintin collection close at hand.
Is it any wonder then that history and geography are my favorite subjects? But even as I say this, I know which my favorite subject really is. Hamlet asked that famous question about life in Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ – ‘to be or not to be’, but never really got his answer. My question is a lot simpler (‘history or geography’) and I think I have got my answer, even if I didn’t fully get the purpose of my question. Regardless, I thought an article on these incredible subjects would be appropriate for Teacher’s Day that just went by on 5th Sep. I had some fantastic History and Geography teachers who could make the topics come alive and this feature is for all the fantastic teachers’ out there, one of whom is my aunt (mausi) too, in Doon . Where would we students be without you? That is the real question.
Nitin Gairola is from Dehradun and has travelled the natural world more than almost any Indian ever. He has set world travel records certified by India Book of Records, has written for Lonely Planet, and holds National Geographic conservation certifications. He is also a senior corporate executive in an MNC and in his early days, used to be a published poet as well. More than anything else, he loves his Himalayan home. Reach him at facebook.com/MostTravelledIndian and instagram.com/MostTravelled_Indian
