It is one thing to travel; quite another to travel back in time. When you travel back in time, every decade that you retrace mentally is equivalent to covering ten kilometres physically. That’s the way I look at it.
During a physical journey, you just sit back and watch the topography and culture change from one place to another; there is no imagination involved. But the canvas is totally blank when you travel back in time. You have the freedom to paint your own picture of the past, but your imagination must collate with written history. Otherwise, imagination becomes fantasy.
To imagine history while keeping historical facts in mind can be quite a task, it makes travelling back in time, even while being stationary, as tedious as undertaking a physical journey.
Murali and I, ever since we visited George Town this morning, must have travelled a total of 450 km back in time. If this distance were to be counted on the map, we would have been in Bangalore by now, sharing a pitcher of beer over lunch.
9 comments:
hahahaa hard to stay away from beer and bangalore right ?:)
Btw, it happens to me.
Whenever I visit places that have a long history,instantly, I can see black & white and sepia images floating around. Wonder if that happens only to me :)
Time travel....happens with me all the time. And it's often places that take you back in time.
A very nice and crisp post :)
So...writing about history is 'travel writing' of a different sort...good one :)
The capital of the state I come from in Malaysia is called Georgetown! What a happy coincidence!!!
@hdaran and so is the capital of Guyana in West Indies :))))
Even if you travel physically, there is only so much that your eye can see. The rest, you can only see with your mind-if you choose to.
Only we can decide if the mind adds colour to what the eye can see.
I understand you went back in time, per ab to vapus aajao :) This is my first response since I recently ran into your blog and was impressed by some of the articles. You deserve to right more and you should do justice with your blog readers ;-)
Hey bishi where r you ? Busy with your book writing I suppose........ Missing you/ your writing......do find time to blog once in while please ......
Nice article, thanks for the information.
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