Every Mile a Memory

Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma

I have read Lucknow Diaries and Love Side by side authored by Sh Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma who has an elegant style of writing, so engrossing are the storyline that one can’t, but read them at one go. During this pandemic, taking all possible precautions, when I am just travelling only from home to office and back, ‘Every Mile a Memory’ by the same author came to rescue the avid traveller in me.

The chord strikes when the author in the travelogue (Pg 159) says “Travelling is not about monuments. It is not about crafts. It is much more than beautiful landscapes. It is all of these and something more. Travelling is about the stories that make the land, the people and their creations, their lives, memories and dreams, and what the traveller makes out of these- transforming them with his own perception and in turn transforming himself”.

At many places in the book, the author calls himself as “Vagabond Traveller”, which is so true about the voyagers taking intended as well as random trips across the globe. My family is testimony to it, when we travelled across Europe making detours from the thought out destinations, they came out more exciting. We often just hit the road and drive across random urban and rural areas in the country to explore the unseen and probably to explore ourselves. My memories were refreshed and I was literally transported back to Europe, when the author spoke about Jet d'Eau at Geneva, Montreux, Jungfrau, Interlaken, Lucerne, Graz, Salzburg, Vienna, Prague and the rail journey across European cities. Alike the Author, we were also surprised while travelling by Euro Rail to find few Indian Meals in the Menu to suite Indian palate.

The description of stay and travel through England is quite vivid. The Author did not forget to mention about the legends borne in the places he visited and their contributions to the World like Galileo, Kepler, et al. He takes pride in mentioning Gandhiji, Tagore, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Veer Savarkar, Madan lal Dhingra and many more Indians who had some connection with England / Europe and influencing Indian History.  He talks about many poets like Wordsworth, Keats, and Shelley in the book but the noteworthy mention at many places is about Robert Burn, National Poet of Scotland and his immortal ‘Auld Lang Syne’.

The description of travel to Morocco is fabulous and description of Imperial city of Fez brings out similarities to walking down the lanes of Old Delhi. I was enthralled by the stupendous description he has made in the book about Hagia Sophia the holy Grand Mosque and formerly the Church in Istanbul and I wish I could visit Turkey some day. The writings about the journeys taken through road, rail, air and even by hovercraft along with a vivid description of nature through his eyes are beholding.

In the last part of the amazing book, the author talks about few trips he undertook within India, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The kayaking experience with PAC jawans from Dalmau to Kalakankar and tale of Svetlana, Stalin’s daughter, is quite interesting.

The travelogue ‘Every Mile a Memory’ is just not about places or monuments, but the author has deftly interwoven the splendour, artistry, tales, festivities, culture, cuisines, history, geography along with his personal experiences during the trips in such a way that it creates a virtual journey that the reader seems to be undertaking himself. ‘Every Mile a Memory’ is a worthwhile reading as it rekindles the traveller inside