V12n3 2020 India and Travel Narratives

Postcolonial Queer Dimension of Travel in the Goopi-Bagha Trilogy of Films

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Koushik Mondal

Ph.D, Independent Researcher. ORCID: 0000-0002-9003-3433. Email: itsme.onlykoushik@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 3, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n3.41

 Abstract

European genre of travel writing is guided by an “ethnographic impulse” which constructed India as an exotic space. Neglecting the country’s vast complex and liberal culture, the European travel narratives about India focused on certain negative aspects like ignorance, women subordination, casteism, and religious conflict to construct India as a primitive and exotic space, an excuse for colonialism. In contrast to these the British presented themselves as civilised, rational, masculine and enterprising. Resisting these definitive absolutes, postcolonial travel writers challenge the construction of India in terms of exotic barbarity. Goopi-Bagha trilogy (Satyajit Ray’s Goopi Gyne Bagha Byne (Adventures of Goopi and Bagha, 1969), Hirak Rajar Deshe (The Kingdom of Diamond, 1980) and his son Sandip Ray’s Goopi Bagha Phire  Elo (The Return of Goopi and Bagha, 1992)), though primarily children’s fantasy films, uses the motif of travel to challenge the Orientalising gaze of the European travel narratives. The scholastic seriousness of the realistic genre is parodied in a carnivalesque spirit through the fantastic mode of children’s films. The films not only question the ‘ethnographic impulse’ of constructing India as irrational and uncivilised but also dismiss the tropes of exoticism exposing India’s complex and rich culture and focusing on its scenic beauty. While European travel narratives are the story of exploitation of nature, of discovery and conquest, in these films the two friends Goopi, Bagha travel only to enjoy and wonder at nature’s unconquerable spirit. Presenting two lower caste effeminate men in the guise of travellers, the films unsettle the masculine aura of adventure, associated with this imperial genre. Travel provides them not only the opportunity to enjoy nature and express a concern for the marginalised, but also the scope to move beyond the carceral gaze of heteronormativity and enjoy their homoeroticism. Thus travel becomes the means to unsettle the heteronormative paradigm of knowledge and relation which was consolidated by the British colonisers in India through mediums like travel literature. Using the destabilising effect of postcolonial queer theory, this paper explores how the films not only resist the Oriental construction of India as an ‘exotic other’, but also how the motif of travel is used to contest the ideas of colonial modernity, of power and marginality.

Keywords: Travel, Exoticism, Postcolonial, Masculine, Queer

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Theorizing the Experience of Travel in the Film North 24 Kaatham

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Anupama A. P1 &  Vinod Balakrishnan2

1Research Scholar, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. National Institute of Technology,Tiruchirappalli. Tamil Nadu. India. E-mail: anupriya2621@gmail.com

2Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli. Tamil Nadu. India. E-mail: winokrish@yahoo.co.uk

 Volume 12, Number 3, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n3.40

Abstract

There are two spaces in Anil Radhakrishnan’s travel narrative, North 24 Kaatham (2013), the topographical space outside and the psychological space inside. The film is read as a dialectical tension that plays out in the character of Harikrishnan who suffers from an obsessive compulsive disorder. The fateful journey of Harikrishnan on a day of harthal (general strike) is, to all appearance, topographical though it is, in equal measure, a psychological one. The paper, through a formalist analysis of the film, draws a correspondence between the two journeys of Harikrishnan in the company of fellow passengers: Gopalan and Narayani (Nani), in order to demonstrate Hari’s transformation from a self-absorbed individual towards a sociable human being. The argument is structured by combining Walter Benjamin’s idea of “aura” and Gaston Bachelard’s dialectics of space to explain the protagonist’s psycho-spatial transformation.

Keywords: travel, outside/inside, topographical space, formalist analysis, spectator experience

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Anxious Encounters with the (Monstrous) Other: The Yakshi Tales of Medieval Kerala

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Meenu B.

Department of English, Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, Amrita ViswaVidyapeetham, Kochi Campus.ORCID: 0000-0002-9141-3921. Email: beingmeenu@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 3, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n3.39

 Abstract
Stories about monstrous encounters during travel are ubiquitous in every culture. Scholars see them as figurative representations of the cultural anxiety related to traversing the unknown and the encounter with the “Other”. For instance, the early Greek ‘monster-on-the-road’ tales are often read in the context of the expansion of trade among Greek city-states and the Greek colonization of far flung territories which necessitated going beyond the safety of familiar town boundaries. The Indian epics and folktales also abound with encounters of travellers with supernatural/monstrous beings. Whether it is episodes such as the “YakshaPrasna” in the Mahabharata, or the Bodhisatta’s encounter with the Naga and the Yaksha in Buddhist legends, or his encounter with Yakkhinis in the Jataka tales, travel often involved encountering the Dangerous “Other” who had to be defeated/satiated/converted. These early traveller’s tales can be read as records of the anxieties regarding expansion/establishment of the Kshatriya hero’s kingdom where the wild/primitive outside the bounds of civilization had to be conquered/appropriated. In the case of the religious hero, the monster represented a crisis of faith – either he/she was an embodiment of the allures of material pleasure the ascetic had to guard against or a staunch believer of another faith who had to be converted/conquered. All these “forgotten” traditions of travel come together in the Yakshi tales of medieval Kerala where a shape-shifting tree spirit haunting lonely pathways evokes memories of the ancient traveller’s encounter with the wilderness and its corresponding deities. This paper attempts to read these tales from medieval Kerala against earlier Indian traditions of travel as well as the literal and metaphorical crossings of caste and gender borders that travel entailed during the medieval period.

Keywords: monsters, travel, Indian epics, Jataka tales, medieval Kerala, Yakshi tales

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Journeying through the Indian Railways in Around India in 80 Trains (2012) by Monisha Rajesh and Chai, Chai: Travels in Places Where You Stop But Get Never Off (2009) by Bishwanath Ghosh

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Siddharth Dubey

Ph.D Research Scholar, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Delhi NCR. ORCID id: 0000-0002-9438-787X. Email id: siddharthd888@gmail.com.

 Volume 12, Number 3, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n3.38

Abstract

An Indian train is a space that exemplifies a true sense of transient cultural pattern as it travels through different states of India constantly assimilating people of diverse cultures. In this liminal space, a passenger travels from known to unknown in terms of geography, culture, language, cuisine, sartorial configuration and psychological makeup. Indian Railways offers an insightful analysis of cohabitation – the conflict and the coexistence of people amidst cultural differences.An Indian train is an exemplar of an accurate secular structure, blurring the lines of discrepancies based on religion, caste, gender, sex and sexuality. Prejudices that are evident in spaces relatively marked by certain spatial permanence dilute in a train. A provisional spatial arrangement of a train therefore questions the idea of tolerance and intolerance compared to that of permanent arrangement. As the Indian train incorporates people of all ages and territories, the train is a specimen of the concept of Bakhtinian polyphony, wherein the dialogues occurring between passengers represent varied consciousness. Thus, a train travelogue encompasses unmerged voices, each carrying a unique conscious design. The people travelling in an Indian train are separated on one single ground: economy. Therefore, economic factor becomes an overarching pattern of base to assign a certain culture in a superstructure to each class and each offers a unique perspective to the travelogue. This paper will analyze the trope of the train in two Indian travelogues based on culture, Marxist economic structure, Bakhtinian concept of polyphony, secularism and the idea of tolerance.

Keywords: Indian trains, travelogue, liminality, polyphony, secularism

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Travelogue for Children: Bhakti Mathur’s Amma, Take Me to The Golden Temple (2017)

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Raj Gaurav Verma

Assistant Professor of English, University of Lucknow. ORCID: 0000-0003-1819-3376. Email: ajgauravias@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 3, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n3.37

Abstract            

This paper argues that travel writing not only neglected women (at least in its initial stages) but also children in its critical idiom. One of the recent additions to travel writing can be seen in Bhakti Mathur’s Amma Take Me Series, which sets a landmark in adding the gendered and the childist perspective in travel writing. The ‘Amma Take Me’ Series: “Come Explore the Places Where We Worship” is published under Puffin Books by Penguin Random House India. This series introduces readers to the history of the major Indian faiths through their important places of worship like Shirdi, Golden Temple, Tirupati and the Dargah of Salim Chishti. So far there are four books in the series. They are written as travelogues of a mother and her two young children and are designed for children between eight to twelve years. Mathur uses mythology, tradition and history associated with these places to unfold their story as they travel. While children’s literature shows the pattern of ‘Home’ and ‘Away’; travel writing is marked by an outside trip or journey. Amma Take Me Series conforms to the pattern of both the genres in its treatment of “outsiderness.” This series is different as it allows the children (in the text and the child-reader) an access to the outside world, especially to places of worship, guided by their mother who is both the narrator and a source of information. This adds another aspect to travel writing which is about learning one’s own culture through spaces of historical and religious significance. The ‘outsiderness’ is connected to a ‘sense of identity’ and ‘extension of self’ to these places which results in “spatial-socialization” for children. This paper attempts to read Amma, Take Me to the Golden Temple (2017) in the context of gender and children’s literature theory and criticism and the way they develop this socio-spatial and historical-personal relationship through their narrative. The study asserts the “transcendental nature” of travel writing and the ability of pilgrim-narratives in particular, to offer solutions to the problems we face today.

Keywords: travel writing, pilgrimage, children’s literature

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Solon Karthak and Travelogues in Nepali Literature

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Norden Michael Lepcha

Former Assistant Professor of English, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan. Email: nordenmike@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 3, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n3.36

Abstract

Apart from Nepal and Bhutan, Nepali is the dominant language of the lower Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions of India. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, many important literary organizations from this region have been publishing books and journals in Nepali.  In 1992, Nepali was recognised as the 19th official Indian language and included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. It has been recognised as one of the modern languages of India by the Sahitya Akademi, or Academy of Letters, of the Indian government since 1975; and the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award has been bestowed on the best literary works of Indian Nepali writers along with other Indian languages every year. The 2019 award was given to Solon Karthak for his anthology of travel narratives Visva Eauta Pallo Gaon (2013). As an Indian national residing in Kalimpong, West Bengal, Karthak has been writing for a long time but since he writes in Nepali, many in India have no clue about him probably because of the language barrier. Indian Nepali literature is not often translated into English, and remains inaccessible to most people within India and outside it. Solon’s thirst to travel and passion for literature shaped him into an excellent travel writer, in fact one of the forerunners in this genre in Nepali literature. This article will give an overview of Solon Karthak’s travel writings which are not only descriptive but have an artistic touch in them. His contribution to develop and bring Niyatra (Subjective Travelogue) into mainstream Nepali literature shall always be remembered.

Keywords:  travelogues, Nepali, Salon Karthak, Sahitya Akademi Award

Flânerie in female solo travel: an analysis of blogposts from Shivya Nath’s the Shooting Star

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Sanchari Basu Chaudhuri

Research Scholar, Department of Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India. ORCID: 0000-0002-9414-9724. Email: sancharibasu84@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 3, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n3.35

Abstract

Contemporary travelogues have spilled over to social media through travel blogs. This paper explores the lens of flânerie to examine blogposts of the immensely popular The Shooting Star run by Shivya Nath, a proponent of Indian female solo travel. Concerns of risks associated with safety, sexual gaze and harassment often inhibit women from loitering. Such perceptible risks increase furthermore in the case of solo female travellers. The paper argues that travelogues of this blog construct travel experiences, motivations and obstacles through hybrid positions offered by flânerie. The study concludes that this construct is an important tool while negotiating public spaces which contributes towards narratives of subversive reading of gender writing in travelogues.

Keywords: flânerie, India, solo female traveller, travel blogs

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A Journey of Exploration and Reconstruction of the Feminine Self: Reading Shivya Nath’s The Shooting Star: A Girl, Her Backpack and the World (2018)

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Akshita Chotia

Research Scholar, Department of English and Modern European Languages, Banasthali University, Rajasthan. Email: akshitasharma0023@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 3, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n3.34

Abstract

The contemporary philosophical, intellectual and literary plentitudes aver the fact that travel literature deals with the discourse of identity. Travel records our temporal and spatial progress. It throws light on how one is defined and identified. Many critical texts on travel writing have explored the transcendental world of the journey of the human self. Further, there have been some critical theorists from India as well who have also examined the uncanny nature of journey and therefore the journey in the outside world is represented as a metaphor of the journey of the internal world. In addition, there have been some Indian women writers who have explored the complex terrain of journey that a woman undertakes and through the process they explore themselves. The present paper intends to explore the journey from an existential crisis to the growth of the woman self in the book The Shooting Star: A Girl, Her Backpack and the World (2018) by Shivya Nath. The vivid descriptions, moving encounters and the uplifting adventures of an Indian woman which are depicted in the book, map not only the world but also the human spirit. The study intends to apply the basic arguments of female bildungsroman and theory of self for understanding the process of growth and development as far as the life of the protagonist is concerned.

Keywords: identity crisis, exploration of the woman self, female bildungsroman, travel literature

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Travel Discourses: Narrative of Witnessing Human Rights in Samanth Subramanian’s This Divided Island (2014)

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R. Samuel Gnanaraj¹ & S. Azariah Kirubakaran²

¹PhD Research Scholar, Department of English, Bishop Heber College (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli (Affiliated to Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli). ORCID: 0000-0002-2837-1175.Email: rgsam93@gmail.com

²Assistant Professor, Department of English, Bishop Heber College (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli (Affiliated to Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli). Email: sak.bhc@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 3, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n3.33

 Abstract

Travel discourses very often reflect what the traveller encounters among the people, regarding their culture, tradition and space. The nuance of encountering the novelty is pivotal for a traveller. Samanth Subramanian in This Divided Island emancipates many restraints through identifying the solitude and unseen areas in the divided island (Sri Lanka). This paper aims to present the narrative of violation of human rights through embracing the interdisciplinary subject of travel across boundaries. Human rights and travel writing are vital to its subject. It establishes the narrative of witnesses of the internal war that happened in Sri Lanka between the Sinhalese and the Tamils for three decades. The narrative discourses in This Divided Island bear the truth of witnessing. This paper also comprises two component features. One, it establishes that travel writing witnesses the unseen realm of humanity during the wartime in Sri Lanka, and two, it witnesses the deep memories and rebuilds it. The sufferers of the war were neither majority nor minority. The important facets of the civilians who were affected internally and externally underwent a period of transition, where they became victims or they were restructured as militants. Subramanian’s This Divided Island brings strength and reveals unknown factors and transmits the violated rights through narrating the events.

Keywords: Travel, Witnessing, Human Rights, Memories, Rebuilding

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Representing Kolkata : A Study of ‘Gaze’ Construction in Amit Chaudhuri’s Calcutta: Two Years in the City and Bishwanath Ghosh’s Longing Belonging: An Outsider at Home in Calcutta

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Saurabh Sarmadhikari

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Gangarampur College, Dakshin Dinajpur, West Bengal. ORCID: 0000-0002-8577-4878. Email:  saurabhsarmadhikari@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 3, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n3.32

Abstract

Indian travel writings in English exclusively on Kolkata have been rare even though tourist guidebooks such as the Lonely Planet have dedicated sections on the city. In such a scenario, Amit Chaudhuri’s Calcutta: Two Years in the City (2016) and Bishwanath Ghosh’s Longing Belonging: An Outsider at Home in Calcutta (2014) stand out as exceptions. Both these narratives, written by probashi (expatriate) Bengalis, represent Kolkata though a bifocal lens. On the one hand, their travels are a journey towards rediscovering their Bengali roots and on the other, their representation/construction of the city of Kolkata is as hard-boiled as any seasoned traveller. The contention of this paper is that both Chaudhuri and Ghosh foreground certain selected/pre-determined signifiers that are common to Kolkata for the purpose of their representation which are instrumental in constructing the ‘gaze’ of their readers towards the city. This process of ‘gaze’ construction is studied by applying John Urry and Jonas Larsen’s conceptualization of the ‘tourist gaze’. Borrowing the Foucauldian concept of ‘gaze’, Urry and Larsen state that ‘gazing’ is a discursive practice that is both constituted by the filters of the gazer’s cultural moorings as well as the institutionalized mechanisms of the travel/tourism industry which rely significantly on the deployment of signs and signifiers to construct the ‘gaze’ of the travellers and the tourists towards a tourist destination. The present paper seeks to analyze how both Chaudhuri and Ghosh use ‘selective’ signifiers of the city of Kolkata to construct the ‘gaze’ of their readers towards the city in their representation.

Keywords: representation, gaze, construction, Kolkata, travel narratives

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