Hindustan Times
The evil travel writer
Do travel writers play a role in aiding the desecration of a destination by writing about it and praising it pristine beauty? By telling people just how to get there and where to stay and the highlights to enjoy, do we encourage the hordes to head there and speed along the destruction of all that is quaint and pretty and ‘untouched’?
Koothrappali and GD raised this point in the comments to my post last week. You asked if travel writers were culprits. We could be. But then so would everybody else who ever told a friend, relative, or acquaintance: “You know, last week/ weekend/ month/ holiday/ summer/ winter I went on a holiday to xyz place and had a fantastic time. You MUST go there!” And there isn’t a single one of us there who hasn’t done that.
When I was a kid, I had a favourite hidey hole in the branches of a mango tree that kept me hidden from the sun and from my mom’s eyes, was breezy and smelt great, and had a bird’s eye view. I never told anyone about it, even my best buddies at the time, because I didn’t want to spoil it by sharing it with everyone.
So is that how we should all act when we find a new place to go to that we enjoy very much? Keep it a big, hush secret to protect it from the world? You could try; but I doubt it would work. Especially in today’s world when people are tweeting during the journey, putting up Facebook updates as they enjoy the destination, posting photos on Flickr after they return, helpfully adding a little map. The world is flat, baby.
Far better then to educate and change. To encourage people to think of each new place as their own. Like their own house where they would not dump trash in any, which corner. I want to encourage people to get into the sea, so that they enjoy the water. Then the next time they’re on a boat or a ferry, they won’t toss a wrapper over the side. Cause it’ll be their own. And they won’t want to go diving and peer at that shiny thing only to discover that it’s a wrapper, not a pretty fish (happened to me) or find themselves bringing up plastic bags, tucked away in their BCDs (also happened to me).
We have to stop thinking of ourselves as tourists, and be travellers, as Vishrant pointed out. The two are completely different breeds. Travellers enjoy the journey as much as the destination (another point made by GD; though when it comes to this particular trip, I rather not think about the journey: it was agonising). Travellers enjoy the local food instead of hunting for the nearest Mc Donalds. They engage with the place and its people, instead of keeping their distance. And once you’ve done that, once you’ve seen and experienced, how can you possibly do anything to harm or endanger it? For it is no longer something unknown or distant or other. It is our own, and we take care of our own.
Don’t we?
(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...Posted by Neha Dara on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Filed under Travel · Tagged tourists, travel writers, travellers
“The world is flat, baby.”
Eeeks!! I demand an official retraction.
[Reply]
neha Reply:
November 20th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
hmph. of which part? I stand by the ‘baby!’
n
[Reply]
Where’s the tissue box? * sniff sniff *
On a serious note I couldn’t agree more - It is our own, and we take care of our own - well ideally we should.
[Reply]
neha Reply:
November 20th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
yea, i did get all activist about it. But it’s all true!
[Reply]
I’m a selfish person. If I find a place worth preserving, I will not tell anyone about it - except the ones who I know will respect the place. You’ve experienced this first-hand sometimes. You’re right about encouraging people to treat things as their own, but I’m sorry, you’re in the wrong country if you’re trying to make these citizens treat this country as their own. Think of all the 16th Augusts and 27th Januarys (Januaries?) you’ve experienced. The one thing most Indians want is out of this country, to places where they HAVE to keep as clean as their own home, else they WILL get caught and prosecuted for littering.
I can also take a holier-than-thou attitude because I’m not a member of any social media networking site.
Maybe you should try inserting a photograph of rubbish like the wrapper and plastic bags in every one of your posts, since images seem to have great impact on readers. Then tell them not to litter, because this is what the result will be.
At the end of the day, though, enjoy it while you can. Chalta hai, madam.
[Reply]