William Dalrymple and Charles Glass shared that for an interesting story one must face troubles while travelling. By Karan Bhardwaj
When well-known travel writers like Paul Theroux, Charles Glass, Samanth Subramanian, Sam Miller, Brigid Keenan and William Dalrymple share the stage to discuss the ‘Wanderlust and the art of travel writing’, you definitely expect an exciting session. But however shocking it may sound, the writers failed to enthuse their audience as they simply used the platform to read passages from their respective books. Author William Dalrymple, also co-director of Jaipur literature Festival, find travel writing more about going “beneath the skin” today.
“You cannot simply state what it is. You have to mingle it with culture, history and bring it in a historical perspective to engage readers. look at the ancient texts, how exciting they are. The world’s oldest texts including Mahabharata describe the wanderings of various kings and queens. However, it had evolved in last few centuries variably from colonialism to anti-colonialism to modern world.
Today, there is less quality in travel writing,” he said. The successful travelogue must shock and excite readers in equal measure. Glass doesn’t find luxury as a benchmark of travel experiences. “You take a flight, stay in a hotel, meet new people and come back…that’s not travel. I think unless and until you come out of your comfort zone, get into trouble and face unprecedented experiences, you won’t be able to sell a good story. Imagine you go to a country and get kidnapped and then prisoned, how exciting would it be to share that experience,” he said.