The Heat and Dust Project

The Heat and Dust Project: The broke couple’s guide to Bharat

Devapriya Roy & Saurav Jha

HarperCollins Publishers: 2015

Book and its pluses

The first time I read of the book it came like a breath of fresh air with its stress on a lower budget (and as a corollary – in most cases – lower carbon foot-print). Especially when, all around, one comes across avenues to spend more. The second time I read of the book I got a picture of the book being about a couple’s trip. Which it is; but it is also about much more. It acquaints us with the past and present of authors and the places, it tells us of people in these places, bonds developed during travel and excitement – challenges – perks of travelling on a budget and more.

G K Chesterton wrote: Traveler sees what he sees and a tourist sees what he goes to see. This is, by all means, a lovely travel narrative. Authors walk the streets, move in buses, climb hills, have meals and conversations with locals eat at simple and popular joints, discuss how they negotiate over (cost of) meals to be taken. They converse with people at these places, people they are unfamiliar with prior to the conversations. These conversations add spice (masala) to the journey in more ways than one. They usually take place unplanned in more inclusive (read public) modes of transport.

In other words, those who loiter around Indore or Hyderabad for local food, vis a vis, say, those who look up google for restaurants serving Italian meals, when visiting these places may relate more to the book. At one point was reminded of Alia Bhatt’s character in Highway (movie) when she asks her parents during a trip ‘if we are to sit in an air-conditioned room, have same food, watch television we could have gone to a hotel in our city – why come so far?’ Ours, as a friend says, is a nation (culture) of story-telling and this is a book that shares stories – of the places and author’s experiences. A friend I shared of the book over phone remarked ‘unpredictability brings in excitement and is fun; it is not easy – but then easy is seldom fun’.

Enjoyed the multiple narratives – authors and the editor have to be complimented for gelling these. Also preaching and patronizing are absent.  Acknowledgements end with a ‘thank you for reading and now go buy a rucksack’. Hope the book encourages some (and not few – we are a nation of too many) to see and feel places, to enjoy the journey rather than await perfect time at the destination. I look forward to putting in few lazy winter mornings in Jodhpur and visit places mentioned.

Somewhere, amidst the pace, I was reminded of the plunge I took some time back. Of those around giving gyan and asking me to worry about my old age and future (and not live the moment) and in turn getting more worried about my sanity if I replied to their questions. One also identifies with the finance related conflict – stress in a lifestyle where money becomes secondary - and finds the steps taken by the couple praiseworthy. Conflict also in day to day decisions one makes; of people talking about sustainability and simplicity on one hand and moving from air-conditioned homes and offices, to air-conditioned cars and gymnasiums on the other. As the line goes – if you want to do something the time is now – you will never do it tomorrow.

Quotes

Each chapter begins with an interesting quote. My favourite is

‘Sair kar duniya ki gaafil zindagani phir kahan?

Zindgani gar kuch rahi, to naujavani phir kahan?’

Wander the world, ay drifter, where will you get this life again? 

And even if life remained, where will you find this youth again

Immortal lines by Ismail Merathi quoted by Rahul Sanskrityayan in his famous essay Athato Ghumakad Jigyasa

Interesting lines

Some lines from an interestingly titled chapter ‘How to write in Indian’. Writing in Indian is surely difficult when aping west is the way of life! Why not many writings tell us of India – as it is – of our majority. The other days a close friend had remarked – with no small regret - most of our movies too have lost that Indianness and are bent on going the Hollywood way. That the authors are well versed with their craft is brought out succinctly by lines like these. They talk about identity crisis, duality and hypocrisy many of us face and some of us recognize. The lines now

‘The culture guys call us the children of globalization. But really, we were lip service givers to global warming. Globalization meant global warming but we could not do without our globalization…. We could spend our lives pursuing happiness since the American constitution had asked us to.’

‘Too much cleverness, and you become a cynic; too little, and no one would retweet you ever. We were so glorious and so connected; it never really felt that in a nation of over a billion we were so very few. And so we forgot that if practiced in appropriate amounts for too long, cleverness could take the place of life.’

Minuses

At times the history (background) of places hinders the flow. Even the history buff in me skipped some pages.

Was somewhat irritated when the time of travel was unclear till I had flipped many pages.

Look forward to the next book in the series!