Che and More

Recently (actually a couple of months ago when I first drafted this post) I finished reading the book 'The Motorcycle Diaries' by Ernesto Che Guevara. At the outset, I must thank the Voices Team for having gifted me this wonderful book. Further, I am mighty grateful to my dear friend Suneel for having inspired me to go on and shed my inertia and finally start reading this book. The inertia of having started reading the book was as strong and one has to say, it is just simply too difficult to stop reading this book once you start it and even more so to stop thinking about it. It builds on you gradually, encroaching onto your senses, barging into your mind and soul, if I may say so; helping you to rejoice in the fluid narration of the author as also forcing you to think and ponder. This book, which blots the author's and his friend, Alberto Granado's trip across Latin America, is a pure delight as a reading experience across the pages, through the entire course of the journey.

Che easily succeeds to paint a world around you. This world is so real in description that you can't help thinking yourself to be a part of the journey. The words create images which you keep seeing through Che's eyes and narration. This, in spite of the fact that the civilization and the land that Che talks about are a complete stranger to your memory. The essence of the book is the human flavour that trickles through Che's description and which is essentially the common string between the hearts across oceans and ages. Some of Che's thoughts, as aptly noted by Suneel, strike you so hard, honest and real that you take a pause to ponder over them, even reading them again and again. I shall stop here about Che and his Motorcycle diaries and let the reader himself regale in the spirit of the book, if he may.

But I shall continue to muse on the various aspects of traveling that this book has so effectively accentuated as also convinced me more of my opinions about it. Traveling is all about learning and undoubtedly so. It is true, in fact, that your whole life is a learning process. But I see traveling as a glaring manifestation of this philosophy; a philosophy which is an eventuality anyway. It is a phase where the otherwise gradual learning path of life takes a sharp detour to the faster lanes of unforeseen, unexpected and novel experiences and realizations. Away from the dreary routine, it makes you shed your shell of comfort and familiarity. Your mind and senses become exceedingly receptive to the sudden inrush. Your instinct comes forth to help you adjust to various situations and challenges. In the process you learn a lot of things, some pleasant, some not so. I have always felt that the learning curve is steeper than the normal course and your interest seldom wanes, making things better and productive.

As I think more about this, it strikes me that traveling must be endemic to the human race, or is it? Within the realms of my limited knowledge about the rest of our mobile compatriots on this planet, I believe, none of them would bother traveling to distant habitats, even if similar and conducive, unless it comes as a rearguard action against a serious threat to their survival in the present environment. Migration of birds or seasonal movements of herds of animals would then qualify under this kind of survival measures. So, do the animals ever travel just because they would like to, as we do? I don't think so but I may be wrong. For an elephant in the forests of southern Western ghats, which doesn't understand our nomenclature of places, the forests of Bandipur, Mudumalai, Nagarhole and the likes would all be the same and may together be the entire world for it. Call it their frame of reference if you want to. Such an elephant might, one fine day, get bored of roaming around in the same subset of this entire stretch and therefore decide to travel around to explore more, say traveling from Mudumalai to Nagarhole just for the heck of it. So I seem to conclude that passing a statement as the first sentence of this paragraph could have the other animals scowling at me. It won't be fair for them and therefore I shall try to rephrase it. Let's just say, traveling is inherent to humans.

Or I might be wrong on the other point when I claim that humans travel just because they like to. They do so because they feel like they need to, I feel. Perhaps this behavioural pattern rampant amongst the humans has its seeds in their rather inquisitive mind; a mind which seeks answers, explanations, discoveries, revelations, experiences and some constant fodder for thought. Exploration of places is perhaps not just a hobby but much beyond that, having more forthcoming connotations and stronger roots than one's mind might garner. The rankling feeling of lacking in the knowledge of the various ways of nature and the urge to decode the underlying principles have always stimulated man's imagination and efforts. Since the earliest times, man has endeavoured to solve the equations of the universe and unravel the basis of his existence. While the mental endeavours have led to countless abstractions, deductions and theories, no efforts have been spared to usurp every part of the globe to scrutinize and understand more and more. Technology has now made knowledge gathering and sharing a trivial matter and we have long passed the age of expeditions for exploration as of the Columbuses and Marco Polos. However a virtual tour by the way of images, illustrations, descriptions and tales hardly gives a semblance of an experience and if at all it arouses even more curiosity to actually go visit the places and live the experience. And so, man travels and keeps doing so to constantly replenish his pot of experiences.

I am no explorer or a full-time traveler, but occasional opportunities always beckon. In whatever little I have traveled, I have always felt some contentment that is difficult to describe. As Che and Alberto have shown, traveling has a lot to offer to the traveler. It makes one realize the humbling vastness surrounding us in terms of space, time, people, creatures, cultures, problems, methods and the nature that nurtures all. To the beholder, it gives numerous gifts; gifts of ethereal moments, melting emotions, euphoric leaps of heart, sedate sanctity, peaceful passages, enlightening corridors of time and gratifying experiences which settle into our memory ever so pleasantly. On the other hand, traveling tests in various ways. One learns to adjust and accommodate as well as to struggle and fight against difficulties. It smothers our immature exuberance as also builds our will power. It teaches patience and strength through testing situations. It shows us and helps us appreciate the varied and myriad forms that life can take for different individuals. And it breeds a sense of tolerance towards the irregularities and inconsistencies that percolate through the various strata of life; be it an individual, or a society, or a civilization or an ecosystem. You rejoice and enjoy, but also think as you observe. In essence, you communicate and converse with your inner self, your soul and hence try to recognize yourself. The way you observe, feel and experience a place, its people and the other things helps you to know yourself as much as all these things. My friends, Onkar and Vishal, say this quote from the Talmud, 'We do not see the things as they are, we see the things as we are' and it is so correct!

Thus, embracing a place with its environment and to feel its textures, smell its soul and taste its essence is left to the ways of the traveler with no specified rules or ends. Besides, the lessons and the experiences are never forcibly peppered onto you. They just happen, like a flowing stream would gather silt. And you hardly realize the process due to its subtle ways and its fineness. What juts out pleasantly for us is the fine rejuvenation that results and leaves us with mellow memories that stay. For all the things that traveling gives us, it reserves the best for the last, I feel. It makes us realize what a heaven our own little home is for us and how much we love our own people and they love us!

- Vindy :)