"What the Sahara is to desert, the Himalaya is to mountains. Both share the same contradictory attractions, appealing and appalling, tempting and terrifying in equal, and ultimately irresistible, measure." - page 1
Disclaimer: I do read authors other than Palin - promise!
Over a printed spread of merely 293 pages, Himalaya follows Palin's 125 day journey through numerous countries, cultures and landforms, all situated within the South Asian mountainous range, the Himalayas. The underlying theme central to the novel resonates strongly with that of another of Palin's travel publications, Sahara (see here for my review) - the coexistence of ancient and unique cultures amidst the tantalizingly powerful forces of nature. Palin's narrative voice and knowledgeable insight combine to produce a depiction respectful of both the locals and their traditions, as well as enlightening as to the existence of different values and ways of life away from the cries of Western globalisation, neon lights and fast-food restaurants.
An interview with my 12 year old self:
Presents 12ME with a book titled 'Himalaya' and a cover suggestive of a guy travelling around some large mountains on a red train
12ME: How BORING. A book about a mountain, which, other than being large and world-renowned, offers nothing much of interest or relevance to me. What's the point? Who in their right mind wants to read about some guy and his altitude sickness, freezing nights and encounters with random people on the other side of the world, of which I'm never going to experience and who I'm never going to meet? Why read this when I could be reading a fictitious romance story?
Side note #1: I've nothing against fictitious romance stories; many of them rank amongst my favourite novels. Their inclusion merely adds to the allusion of highlighting such travel books as Himalaya as unappealing.
Himalaya has added strength to my opinion that non-fiction books of such nature are not only of great relevance, but in our day and age of high accessibility and globalisation, of great importance. I understand that at face value these books appear utterly boring - I've had many sardonic smiles and comments whilst walking around reading such books from my fellow teens; "ooh, why are you reading THAT? Eugh!" (Elderly people are my saving light - "how intellectual!") - but when you take the time to sit down, ignore the internet and actually read them, the world opens up to you.
I'll narrow my two-page-long notes on the book into three points:
- Nature
- People
- Culture
1. Nature:
"I wonder if we aren't all in danger of falling into the romantic delusion that by staring at these great massifs of rock and ice we achieve some form of communication with them, as if something so forbiddingly colossal must be somehow friendly. The mountains are far more likely to be enemies than friends. We take them on at our peril and, despite all nature's warnings, long to go higher. And the higher we go the more the mountains tighten their grip, squeezing the life out of most people, gently in some cases, more severely in others. The locals who see the mountains as gods to be appeased are only translating pragmatic experience. Human beings are not meant to live at these heights and they should expect trouble if they do." - page 129
About a month ago, I went on a trek through a gorge in South Western France, where we were staying in an old cottage high in the Pyrenees mountains; I'd obviously encountered such landforms before in my GCSE and AS Geography, as distant things illustrated in textbooks and slideshows, and requiring arduous memorisation for my exams. Hence I approached our day-trip to the gorge with a feeling of Geographical superiority, for I knew all about this landform and its history.
Nature handed me a slap in the face with its beauty and power.
Walking through the features of the river, namely the gorge and waterfalls, I was genuinely taken by just how amazing it was, especially since such raw beauty was the manifestation of the Earth, with no 'help' from humans. The result was a realisation of my incomparable size against that of the Earth.
 |
| A picture from said gorge trip in France; August 2014. If you ever get the opportunity to walk through a gorge, do it. |
Back to the main point; Palin's Himalaya reinforced the reality of nature vs. humans for me. I think that in this day and age of human dominance and rapid developments, it's easy to regard nature as something to be controlled, possessed and governed. In reality, as the quote referenced above suggests, the roles are in reversion. This point could easily develop into arguments about Global Warming, Pollution, etc. but basically: nature is not something to own, it is something to co-exist with, to co-exist amongst. I loved Palin's depiction of his absolute bewilderment at the beauty and ability of the nature he encountered through the Himalayan mountain ranges, moreover revelled in his narration of the frequently harmonious relationship between the people who inhabit the ranges and their surroundings; the relationship between said people and nature is a stark contrast to where I live where it's all people, people, people, and an enticing reminder of the many natural wonders that exist in the wider world outside of my concrete one. Pages 181, 183 and 260 have great illustrations too, if you do happen to read this book.
2. People:
"In the last words of this last shot, I say that, despite all the wonders I have seen, the majestic scenery of a half-dozen countries, the power and majesty of the highest mountain range on earth, it is the people I've met that will stick in my mind. The enjoyment of the world is immeasurably enhanced not just by meeting people who think, look, talk and dress differently from yourself, but by having to depend on them." - page 293
Given that such is Palin's summative comment, I couldn't not talk about people despite my aforementioned mini-rant about not dominating people over nature. [Side note #2: this is turning into a really long post for a short 300 page book - sorry!]. One of the most exciting things about Geography is, for me, the encountering of different peoples around the world, rather than focusing on a little bubble of wherever you may live. I find the diversity that exists within the world, within continents, even within countries themselves, absolutely fascinating - isn't it amazing how every individual naturally develops their own handwriting? And how much more so amazing how despite being of the same species and living on the same planet, so many different cultures, traditions, and lifestyles have developed? Can you tell how excited I am by this? Ah!
If nature ceases to excite your interest, then read Palin's travel series for the range of people he meets; no two peoples are the same. It's an engrossing thing to be able to travel the world through his words and meet people incomparable to those you encounter in day-to-day life, and experience existences juxtaposing to your own. If you yearn more information on why such differences exist, or prefer a more scientific approach, read Diamond's work too. A fun snippet to ignite interest (or attempt to do so in any case): in Pakistan, Palin visits a dentist practice where you'll be charged £1-3 for an extraction, 50p for a filling and a full set of acrylic dentures from £15! - page 13.
I think I'll interpose the third point here, since the second is swiftly drifting into it...
3. Culture:
"'The Buddhist version of poverty is a situation where you have nothing to contribute.' He feels that in Bhutan there is still a strong sense of, as he puts it, 'unison with the earth.' 'In San Francisco I felt lost. Everywhere you go you have billboards telling you that you need to buy this or that, or the latest Cherokee four-wheel drive, but here we have different kind of billboards. [...] We have prayer flags, we have the temples. These are our markers, you know, reminding you, in the Buddhist way, that you are not here for ever.'" - page 254
"'We're not romantic or idealistic enough to think that things will always be the way they are now, but we'd like to slow the development process up to a degree that we can handle when it comes.'" - page 255
"Of course, there are telephones and cars and satellite dishes and laptop computers, but they are inside traditional buildings and used by people wearing traditional dress. Bhutan sees no contradiction between its past and its present. Its history is not to be found on display in tourist-friendly heritage parks, but on the street and on the countryside, as a part of everyday life." - page 245
Side note #3: apologies for the heavy overload of quotes!
Culture is defined as the ideas, customs and behaviour of a particular people or society. What particularly challenged me in Palin's book were the ideas expressed by people living in Bhutan (see above quotes), and their ideas surrounding the stigma of globalisation/development away from tradition. In much of the West, we are able to travel where we please (or have the access transport wise to do so) and live much the same lifestyle in destinations as we do at home, with the only difference being the environment. So much so that with our 'technological generation', individual tradition and unique culture has been blindly sacrificed. I don't aim to romanticise less developed or globalised areas and cultures - globalisation has been beneficial in innumerable ways - but merely seek to underline the unfortunate side-effect of a loss of individualism.
To what extent should development be fully implemented and controlled by an aiding country, or be the provision of tools and facilities to allow the individual country to develop at a rate suitable to its own requirements and traditions?
I also loved the importance placed by the people Palin encountered upon religion and holding to their traditions - in the 'world' I inhabit, technology/the internet has arguably grown into its own religion. How sustainable is that? What will be the result of this for future generations - I wouldn't like to inhabit a world in which 90% of the places are synonymous with the neighbouring areas (doppelgangers) and where the thing heralded as most important is technology. We weren't born with technology, hence surely it isn't fundamental to our existence. Of course it helps and has been invaluable to improving our quality of life and standard of living, but when it becomes a dominant force over such constitutional things as religion and nature, perhaps our view of it/lifestyle in association with it (dependence) needs re-evaluation?
Just a thought - of course, I wouldn't be writing this without technology. I don't wish to glorify a backward lifestyle with no technology and rant about the few detriments to a widely positive thing, only to address our attitude. By this I refer to our resulting attitude of neglect or ignorance of things like physical interaction, nature and exercise, to name a few examples.
ANYWAY. Himalaya is another engaging and thought-provoking read amongst Palin's other travel works.
C
No comments:
Post a Comment