Book: Journeys Beyond and Within… Author: Priyanka Gupta

URMI CHAKRAVORTY

Book Review

Genre: Self-published Travel Memoir

Length: 342 pages

At the outset, I wish to thank the author for gifting me a copy of her debut book, but my review remains completely independent and unbiased.  

As I browsed through the pages of Priyanka Gupta’s Journeys Beyond and Within…, I was reminded of what the great Ibn Battuta had enunciated centuries ago:

Travelling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.

Journeys was my first brush with a travel memoir, and as I read its closing lines, I had to reluctantly drag myself out from Priyanka’s joyous world of slow travel and transformative experiences, narrated with the ease of a natural storyteller.

How it all began

Journeys is the story of a young girl, born and bred in a small laidback town of Uttar Pradesh, who nurses big dreams, and challenges the unwritten but set-in-stone patriarchal diktats of her milieu. Having lived in a couple of similar towns of Uttar Pradesh as an armed forces wife, the situations described here struck a chord with me.

I hadn’t done anything except turn thirteen.

Why couldn’t I be the little Priyanka anymore?

Poignant questions like these, raised in childhood and left unanswered, went on to shape her sensibilities and priorities as an adult.

The book abounds in personal anecdotes about her small-town beginnings. They are neither romanticised, nor glorified, but presented with a disarming candour and raw honesty — the austere dressing imposed on her as a teenager, the neighbourly exchange of farm-grown gourds, the grazing of cattle, their humble neighbourhood with its “cacophony of bleats and honks” and so many more.

Imagery and more

Priyanka’s effort in world-building is commendable. The graphic details about her UP home, the terrace, the changing seasons, their delectable food, the flora and fauna, and her life therein, are a sensory delight for the reader to savour. Similar trains of imagery add flavour, colour and vibrancy to all her travel experiences, be it in Paris, London, Chile, Peru, Bali, or closer home in the Himalayas or the various Indian states.

The author chooses her words with care – simple, free-flowing, but immensely evocative. As a reader, I marvelled at her photographic memory, eye for detail, and engaging narrative skills. Another interesting feature of the vocabulary here is the use of unfamiliar (read self-coined) words like umbrellaed, coconutty and out-of-placeness — words that infuse the narrative with a pleasing local flavour and add authenticity to the experiences.

Walking the less travelled path

The spirit of rebellion and the imperative urge to be unapologetically herself had found roots in the author quite early on. While the society-ordained ‘to-do list for young girls’ kept lengthening, Priyanka excelled in academics and secured admission to IIT Delhi, the mecca of engineering studies. And that set in motion her long journey towards emancipation, both physical and cerebral, far away from her parents “wearing their UP-tinted glasses.”

The author’s first trekking experience in the Himalayas is a delight to read as she takes us through ancient deodar forests, bubbling streams, the glittering Milky Way, and the frozen mountain terrain. But more than the physical ascent, it is the peaking of her confidence, wisdom and self-esteem that grab our attention all through this expedition. I found the following statements particularly appealing:

We all have to ascend our mountains – the ones we are born on and the ones we choose – and only when we have made the climb are we free.

I consider myself as the chosen one who was chained and who pulled through, dragging the stakes and shackles along with her.

Every chapter ends with similar nuggets of mindfulness and maturity.

An unexpected lay-off from a reputed organisation in India proved providential for Priyanka as it kickstarted her solo backpacking sojourn, its highlight being her six-month-long stint in Chile as a programme volunteer, tutoring government school students in the English language. What started as an impulsive move, soon turned out to be a life-changing experience for her — learning, absorbing, falling, rising, accepting her shortcomings, and patting herself on her wins. She grabbed every new opportunity that came her way with the curiosity of a child and the perseverance of an adult.

Forging new connections

Journeys traces the ascending curve of a young Indian woman who ran far away from the perennial expectations of securing a good job, a good husband and a few good kids, and gloriously came into her own on far-flung foreign shores which soon started feeling like home. Adapting deftly to her new lifestyle and surroundings, she forged some enduring friendships. Lisa, Alison, Laura, Francisco, Ceci, Al and Javier are not just Chilean proper nouns – along with the author, they become our best buddies too, as we grin, chuckle, sniffle or swear at their shared shenanigans. Priyanka wraps up her precious Chilean memories in a few succinct words:

Could life be so beautiful? What more would one need to be happy? Is it the same world which burdened me every day with its expectations of me?

The author is a strong advocate of the benefits of slow, sensorial travel – an oddity I follow myself, as opposed to touch-and-go visits. She shares with us some valuable life lessons and insights that are the biggest gain of extensive (and often, impulsive) travel. The black-and-white photographs, interspersed liberally within the narrative, add a visual dimension to the text.

An unbiased look

However, honouring the principles of a memoir, Journeys doesn’t see the world entirely through rose-tinted lenses where all things look gilded and easy. Priyanka doesn’t shy away from lamenting the culture shock she faced in Chile, along with recurrent bouts of loneliness, social rejection and her language struggles. On one hand, she rues the intrusive, archaic mentality of pesky relatives and the recurrent reminders by her parents to embrace holy matrimony, cold-shouldering her cherished aspirations. On the other, she is equally honest in admitting her occasional yearning for India, its people, and its gastronomic pleasures. However, most of them seem to have been offset by the warmth and appreciation she garnered from her Chilean cohort, the unlimited freedom she enjoyed there, and the never-give-up attitude she imbibed from Ceci.

Priyanka’s Peruvian experiences are no less fascinating. Her visits to Lake Titicaca, Puno and Uros Island are bound to stir wanderlust even in the most passive heart. Hiking up the Andes, getting chased by wild dogs, canoeing in a deep lake amidst a raging storm, witnessing the exotic local customs, Priyanka lived and breathed ‘freedom’ in its purest sense. Her resilience and courage led her to tour Bali, soaking in its oriental essence all alone, with a badly injured knee.

Rediscovery and revival in India

Much later, when the author returns to India, she continues to travel and explore, but this time she does so with a tourist’s eye and an empath’s heart. Older, wiser and mellower, she observes keenly, rediscovers the soul of India, and understands people and their perspectives better. Her new vocation as a full-time writer allows her the flexibility she needs. Travel did a kintsugi to her previously broken heart and she is ready to give love a second chance. Now, whenever situations permit, she gets to travel with her equally enterprising and supportive partner.

A change for the better

Priyanka Gupta’s memoir is not a vociferous attempt to impress or bombard us with information and achievements. Rather, it is a subtle interior dialogue that touches the emotional core of the reader. Each chapter is like a gentle nudge to accompany her on her path to self-discovery.

Being a solo travel aficionado myself, I can largely relate to the author’s sense of wonder and quiet victory as she navigates uncharted territory and often chances upon serendipity. Cruising through her emotional ups and downs, bouts of defiance and desolation, calm and chaos, and a mountain of self-doubt and soul searching, Priyanka emerges as this self-assured, intrepid, adventurous woman who lives life on her own terms, and is ready to take on the world with her indefatigable spirit. With every change in her geographical location, the landscape of her soul, too, gets re-designed. The following lines aptly sum up all that this book seeks to convey:

If you have seen and truly felt the beauty of this world and its people, you are never lonely again. Take what you are getting with open arms and let it go then.

Carpe diem just found a new address in Priyanka Gupta’s Journeys Beyond and Within… pick up the book and let the adventure begin!!

(Email: urmichakravorty@gmail.com)