More than halfway through 2020. I ended up reading about a dozen books, Losing track of time. It hardly made me realise it’s been five months, I haven’t travelled anywhere at all. Not even Mumbai which is the closest Metro city from my hometown Nashik.
This also made me question am I liking it to be in one place, without moving at all.
Well, To be honest. It’s a first for me and while I couldn’t travel physically anywhere. Not even to a restaurant or cafe.
I have been having the best of food cuisines right from Thai, Chinese, and Italian pizzas to freshly baked desserts and cakes at home. This doesn’t mean I don’t miss going out.
I Sure do because, when we go out, We go for the experience of going somewhere, Trying something new, different or sometimes just for the ambience and service of being served, rather than helping ourselves. You also go for the occasional noise that’s part of the environment. People chit-chatting having conversations, to you finding the solution and clearing your doubts from not knowing what to order, to going with the suggestion by the waiter serving you to missing out a menu option, that the order table guest has just ordered.
As far as travelling goes as a tourist- The Books have been helping me by taking me to America by going on a history tour by having a well-researched guide (Bill Bryson) To telling me about Indian history by making me meet Historians such as William Dalrymple. Reading makes me feel sometimes “Lost in Japan” by either overhearing a mysterious case “Under The Midnight Sun” or giving it a realism-magical sense of the place by letting me know about “Kafka on The Shores” To making me Revisit Turkey But this time also making me experiencing the “Snow” by a local Orhan Pamuk and taking me to a lesser-known city in the country Kars.
Reading made me understand a doctor’s life by sharing the concept of “Being Mortal” to making me meet some interesting personalities, Michelle Obama & Robert Iger.
All these experiences while sipping coffee and hopping around the different corners of my home, enjoying the weather and trying to do my best while sitting at home.
But, Yes Travelling physically cannot be replaced by reading books. But, reading can comfort you in planning out your next travel journey.
A K H I L N A N D A 