Shailaza's Blog

Tag: travel

  • Have Camera, Will Travel

    Yuvraj’s life reminds one of a dialog by Ranbir Kapoor in the movie ‘Ye Jawani Hai Diwani’. He says ‘ Main udna chahta hoon, daudna chahta hoon, girna bhi chahta hoon. Bus rukna nahin chahta.’ (I want to fly, I want to run, I want to even fall but I don’t want to stop.) Yuvraj is living these lines! Most of us can just dream about them!

    ‘You’ve has travelled across the world, lived in different cities and experienced different people and cuisines.   So, do you have a favourite destination?’

    After a thoughtful pause Yuvraj says, ‘In 2017, I received a mail that I had to join a ship sailing to Havana and Bahamas. Bahamas wasn’t that exciting but I loved Havana. I love the book ‘Motorcycle Diaries’ by Che Guevara which is completely set in Havana. So, I was quite excited and wanted to take bike and travel all over the place.’

    Havana Diaries

    ‘When we docked in Havana, my boss gave me my passport and told me to take a day off and explore Havana. From that time on, every week, the ship used to dock for two nights in Havana and I used to get a 24-hour holiday to roam around in Havana. So, on my very first day, I walked about the streets. I found people painting their garages. It is almost like a movie scene. In every three homes, you will see at least one artist painting their garage or wall. You can easily chat with them and even ask them for coffee. They would then invite me inside their homes for coffee and we would talk about anything and everything. At the same time, there were people who were looking for materialistic things because Cuba and USA have never been on good terms when it comes to politics but Cubans love American stuff. At that time, cruise ships mostly sailed from USA. So, I used to take bicycle (we have bicycles in every cruise ship) to travel in Havana. I had my offline maps and google translator. I avoided touristy places and used to go to places where local people used to hang out. I used to stop and talk to random people. Sometimes, some people would try to sell me drugs (Havana is known as a sin city). I have met people who would come to Havana from Miami in the morning, have fun (drugs etc) and catch the evening flight back to Miami. You cannot even leave a bicycle parked anywhere there because that also can be stolen. So, even if I had to visit someone on the thirteenth floor, I had to take the cycle with me in the elevator or even if there are stairs.  The thing is Havana is a communist country, so though everyone has a house and job but still that was not enough for them. So, they try to make more from tourists and travellers. At the time (2017), they had two different currencies; one for the locals (cheaper) and one for the tourists (more expensive). At times, random people would approach me and tell me that they liked my purse or my goggles and ask me if I would like to sell them. I would refuse. Sometimes, they would even offer trade-offs. For example, one person wanted to trade his denim (jeans) with mine and another person wanted to trade his shoes with mine. I didn’t trade the denim but I traded the shoes since my shoes were old. But the barter wasn’t fruitful. The shoes I got in return weren’t good so I had to buy a new pair for myself.’

    Inside Outside

    ‘Once I wanted to see a Cuban house from the inside because from the outside, they are very colourful and look like palaces. Even the cars are quite colourful, even though they are usually old models and kind of vintage. When you walk inside most houses, they aren’t that colourful or well lit. Some houses are quite beautiful from the inside too. The thing about communism is that though they harp about equality, it was in Havana that I realised that inequalities exist even in a communist society. Some people have so much of money and the others have so little. No wonder they are so fond of materialistic things. I also realized that people don’t get good internet in Havana, they have one or two government television channels and don’t even have good phone plans. Even for internet, you had to go to a park, a common place where you would see a lot of people sitting with their phones and browsing the net. To my utter surprise, the people in Havana love Indian movies and the channels telecast Bollywood movies (with subtitles of course) at least once a week.’

    ‘As a part of my job, I also used to visit the art galleries in Havana. I had made good friends with this couple because the lady was working in the art gallery. I don’t remember what her husband did. They had a ten-year-old daughter at the time. Every time, I used to visit Havana, I always made it a point to stop at their place and chat with them. We became such great friends that they would place calls for me or get things or talk to the people for me and help them understand what I wanted. We take phones for granted in India, however in Havana, the phones are also very expensive. To place even a local call, you had to go via information exchange where you give them the number and they will connect it for you! Everything is monitored.’

    Retro Metro

    ‘After Havana, I went to New York. That was also a very different experience. It is so full of people, with coffee shops and tea shops everywhere. You will find fantastic food from all over the world. I don’t remember how many kinds of the foods I tried. The metro experience in New York was something else. I remember standing in a compartment when all of a sudden there was a group of people which walked in from the other compartment and started performing. They collect money from everyone. These guys were so talented, the way they bend their bodies or make music from buckets. It exactly sounds as if you are listening to music with your headphones on. Nothing like what we have in Indian trains!’

    Mafia stories

    ‘Have you ever encountered anyone from mafia during your sojourns’?

     ‘Once when I was in New Orleans, I ended up in a small art gallery in a mall and started talking to a very cool guy. We had a very interesting conversation where in he wanted to exhibit my photography works from Havana and some of my nude photography works in his art gallery and wanted to sell them. But his gallery wasn’t very big, it was for middle class people who were looking to decorate their homes. But it was interesting nevertheless. After a point, we started talking about the travel and visa processes because I needed someone to invite me to the States. He looked at me and said, ‘I am not the right guy because I was in jail for years.’ Though that partnership did not materialize, today he is running a successful art gallery and we are still friends!

    Did he experience any mugging? Luckily, I didn’t. I remember once I was standing on the Brooklyn Bridge and I could feel the vibe of the place. Lots of graffiti, low light, a very sad kind of an atmosphere. I simply got out of there.’

    Beating in the beach

    ‘Did you have any scary experiences during your travels? Yuvraj smiles and nods. ‘Ah, I remember this one experience which scared the living daylights out of me! Once, when I was in Arambol, Goa, I went out for a late-night dinner. After the dinner, I walked along the beach and saw a drama circle (a group of people performing). It is quite a common sight there. I saw a guy who was high on drugs. He was chasing people and hitting people. From a distance, it looked like fun. I suddenly realized that someone was chasing me. He managed to kick me and I fell down. I immediately got up and ran and sat in the middle of the circle. Everyone in that circle was scared but they couldn’t do anything since the guy was high on drugs. Once he started hitting everyone, we started running in different directions. Only I know how I escaped from there!’

    Travel bug infects

    ‘So, do your parents still tell you to get settled?’ ‘No,’ laughs Yuvraj. ‘Now they have also been bitten by the travel bug. Earlier their trips were just restricted to all the holy temples. Last year for the first time they travelled to Andaman Islands. I sponsored the trip. This time my brother and me are sponsoring their trip to Singapore and Malaysia! I am also going back to my old job as an art dealer. I will be flying to the States soon!’

    All photographs by Yuvraj Parasuraman

    Copyright reserved

    This article by Shailaza Singh recently appeared in Rashtradoot Newspaper’s Arbit Section.

  • The Wander Lust Story

    He is tall. He is dark. He is handsome. Your typical Mills and Boons brooding hero. Only that he isn’t looking for the happily ever after. In fact, he runs in the opposite direction if he meets someone loaded with the ‘happily ever after’. Meet Yuvraj Parasuraman who is a gypsy at heart. He looks at the world through the lens of his camera. He has been bitten hard by wanderlust and he isn’t complaining. He roams the world, clicking everything that he finds and he says he still has miles to go before he sleeps and I met him in Dharamsala, commonly known as His Holiness Dalai Lama’s abode.

    Yuvraj Parasuraman is a self-confessed travel addict. This photographer has roamed the world, seen places and yet he says  at 34 ‘his journey has  just begun’. I met Yuvraj for the first time in a charcoal drawing workshop in Dharamkot, a quiet suburb of Dharamsala. My daughter and I were sitting in the class of about 10 people when I noticed this tall, dark man working away on his drawing. There was something about him that caught my attention. Perhaps he was too focussed on creating the light in his drawing. When the instructor Rohit Kishan called for a break, he went out and stood gazing at the hilly forest of deodars. Though he was approachable and we were chit chatting in an instant, it took time for this introvert to open up. However, when he narrated his story, the conversation was as intriguing as the man himself.

    Creating light

    ‘Why would a photographer enrol in a charcoal sketching class?’ I asked him. ‘I wanted to learn more about light and charcoal sketching is the best way to understand light. The way you create an entire image with just charcoal and light is fascinating!’

    ‘When did you decide to become a photographer?’

    ‘I was 15 years old when I tuned into Fashion TV for the first time. My parents were busy elsewhere. I was watching the making of the Pirelli Calendar 2004 and had an eye on the door because I knew my mom could walk in anytime. I was mesmerized by not just the bevy of beautiful women in that frame but also the way they were playing with the light, colours and the movements. I think it was love at first sight! I was fascinated by the way photography could capture all of life’s interesting stories!’

    ‘So, when did the travel bug bite you?’

     ‘After studying visual communication in Madras Christian College, I started working in advertising where I would assist renowned photographers. Though the pay was good and the work was interesting, I felt restless because I wanted to travel.’

    ‘But aren’t there outdoor shoots in advertising?’

     ‘There are but those are few and far between. Besides you hardly get to see the places when you go for these shoots. You just focus on the shoots, stay in the hotel and then come back. That was not what I was looking for.’

    Travel Bug Bites

    ‘You say you love travelling. When did you first experience the magic of travel?’

    ‘When I was working in the field of advertising, I used to take these holidays and backpack to different places. The first place I went to was the Sun Festival in Goa. I was just eighteen years old at that time. One day in Goa, I was having my cup of tea on beach and watching the ocean. During that time, I realized that my life in the city is too boring and maybe I should do something else. I started going there every year and slowly Goa became my home.’

    ‘So, have you settled in Goa?’

     ‘No, I don’t settle anywhere. I keep travelling. Every year, I stay a month or two in Goa. I don’t really have a base anywhere.’ Not even his parent’s place in Chennai? ‘I visit Chennai off and on because my parents, brother and my friends live there. I don’t stay in Chennai for more than a month though my parents want me to stay in Chennai and take up a more settled kind of job. Since the last ten years, they have been trying to come up with a plan to get me married but I know for sure that it’s not happening. I keep telling them that I am not interested but when they really force me, I run away from Chennai too!’

    Run for life

    ‘So, do you not want to get married at all ever?’

    Yuvraj smiles. ‘No, it is not like that. I was contemplating the idea of marriage some years ago. I was in a relationship with a Chinese girl who was working on the same ship. Whenever, our ship used to dock in a country, we used to go out. Over a period of four months, I had developed a fondness for her and was even toying with the idea of marrying her and going to China. I got transferred to another ship but we used to keep meeting. Sometimes, we would go to lunch in Miami or just have a casual date. I used to call her from my ship. Once during the marriage planning phase, I happened to casually ask her if she would be okay if I was to go for a solo trip for a month once a year after marriage because I have to travel solo at least once a year. That is who I am! But she refused point blank. She told me that I couldn’t go on a solo trip because she would be with me all the time! That did it! I slowly distanced myself from her and perhaps she also understood!’

    Cruising the world

    For most of his professional life, Yuvraj has been working in cruise ships that travel all over the world and fuel his ‘banjarapan’. ‘I was an art dealer who used to work for a company called the Park West Gallery. This museum in Michigan was started by a former NASA scientist (mechanical engineer) Albert Scaglione in 1969. The idea was to collect works of all contemporary artists from across the world. He founded this company and started collecting art works from his friends. He collected all kinds of works of not just great artists but also the upcoming ones and masters. He started doing auctions on cruise ships for these works. Now, we have a museum in Michigan and three other galleries, in Hawaii, New York, Las Vegas.’

    Ship race

    ‘Interesting! From backpacking to cruise ships. How different is the experience?’

    ‘It is fantastic! I love roaming the world and I have a job where I wake up in a new city or country almost every day. Cruise life is completely different. It’s not like a backpacker’s life. It is more of a contract wherein you work in one or two or three cruise ships. Once I worked in three cruise ships in a period of just six months. My company can post me to any of their cruise lines. So, someday, I may be on a Carnival Cruise Line, the other day I would be on Royal Caribbean or any other such cruise lines. I have been all over the Caribbean but mostly I have spent just a few hours or a day in cities or countries. The ship docks in a city. We spend the day; we go out and have lunch or drinks and come back. We live on a cruise ship for about six to eight months. Once in Columbia, we went out with some guests and friends to have a good time since there weren’t any interesting restaurants near the place where we had docked. We found a place which was quite far off which was amazing. After some hours, I realized that we needed to get back to the ship else we may miss it!  Some of my friends were busy enjoying themselves and did not want to go. However, after a lot of cajoling and convincing (everyone was high on drinks), we got into a taxi. As luck would have it, the taxi driver did not speak English, he spoke Spanish. So, when we tried to tell him to speed up the car, he couldn’t understand. I used the Google translator to help him understand (I always use a google translator). We finally reached the port. On a ship, different protocols are followed for guests and crew members. While no one says anything to the guests, we (the crew members) were warned for being late.  The ship waits for no one, not even the guests. If the guests miss their ships and then they have to fly back to their home country.’

    To be continued

    All photographs by Yuvraj Parasuraman

    Copyright reserved

    This article by Shailaza Singh recently appeared in Rashtradoot Newspaper’s Arbit Section

  • THE PANDEMIC OF REVENGE TRAVEL

    Buses and cars queuing up on hill stations. People milling around the popular tourist places without a care in the world. The pandemic remains but it seems a different epidemic has infected the minds of some people who feel that vaccination is the ultimate passport to satisfying their wanderlust. Is that really the case or are we again courting danger? Shailaza Singh investigates.

    In the past year, I have gained tremendous knowledge and insight…into my house. I know every nook and corner of my house including the walls, the doors and windows. Infact, I have even made friends with the lizard and spiders in those dark corners. You will be glad to know that I have finally acquired enough knowledge to apply for a Ph.D. (if there exists one) in Home Knowledge. And this newly found insight has been a by-product of the pandemic and the lockdown where all one could do was to either wash clothes or cook food or like me stare at the walls and windows of the house (washing and cooking don’t take much time in today’s era). Moreover, I have been very inspired by the famous poem ‘Leisure’ which says ‘What is this life if full of care. We have no time to stand and stare.’ So, I did precisely that!


    STAND AND STARE
    However, this has not been an easy journey. After all, how long can one stare at a lizard that seems to be sleeping on the wall? Then, there is that matter about the spiders and their cobwebs. The design may be fascinating to look at but it doesn’t talk or travel anywhere. Staring at the sky in the day is a dangerous occupation, especially in places where sky scrapers exist because people feel as if you are staring at them and they start staring back which makes you wonder if they have been afflicted by a pandemic of another kind. Yet, all said and done, staring is an art which not many people would understand.


    STARING IN THE WILDERNESS
    One day, when I was on my usual round of staring, I got a call from a friend named Prashant Gupta. He works in Delhi and is not a starer like me. He told me that he has decided to travel to Manali. The moment he mentioned this, I warned him to stay away from the likes of Manali, Shimla and other such popular hill stations. He laughed and said, ‘No, I am not going to the crowded part of Manali. Rather, a couple of friends and me have decided to take a road trip to a cottage situated on the outskirts of Manali. It is a homestay located next to a flowing river and mountains. All I will do is just sit and stare at the scenery.’
    I must confess that I was taken aback when he said that he would just sit and stare! I had never thought that he would be a starer like me! Then why couldn’t he stay at home and stare at his walls? Prashant was candid. ‘I have to get out. I understand that there is COVID but I am vaccinated and so are my friends. Besides, we aren’t going to any crowded places. We will be spending the days in wilderness and as far as I know, the company of animals and birds is quite safe.’


    THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
    The conversation with Prashant got me thinking. Till now, I was wondering if the pandemic has literally killed the travel and tourism industry. To know the current scenario, I talked to Laveena Lalwani, a Jaipur based tour planner for ‘Make Our Holidays’, a company that deals in customized tour planning. “ Ever since some of the restrictions have been lifted, people have started craving for the mountains. Most of them have this notion that the air in the mountains is fine and the cases are lower. Now, people are looking for offbeat destinations like Bhimtal or Pangot rather than Mussoorie and Nainital. Himachal Pradesh is full of people taking ‘workcation’ where a group of four to six people hires a villa. They work from home and spend a month in the wilderness. North East is another destination of interest for people. Now, people are waiting for rains to stop so that they can travel to places like Meghalaya, Cherapunji, Shillong, Guwahati. In Rajasthan, there are places like Alsisar Haveli or Khem Pratap Garh near Churu that are unexplored and offer a holiday and staycation.’
    So, have there been any advance bookings? ‘There are advance bookings for the North East. However, earlier we used to take fifty percent of the amount for a booking in advance but these days since it is so uncertain, we prefer taking a smaller amount since we may have to return the money in case the lockdown is imposed again.’


    CHANGE THE TASTE
    Aditya Chaudhary and his wife Shivani Chaudhary live in Delhi and love travelling. They have travelled to many places in India and abroad. However, since the last two years they have been staying in their house. Don’t they feel the need to travel? ‘What is the point of travelling and endangering yourself?’ says Aditya. ‘People often say that they feel claustrophobic but I don’t see how you can be claustrophobic at your own home? Of course, if you are feeling stifled, you can always go for a walk or cycling. I bought my cycle in the first pandemic. Since the last two years, I have cycled and walked for my recreation and I am happy. So, what about people visiting the unexplored destinations? ‘The idea good looks in theory,’ says Aditya. ‘But the kind of population density India has, you are bound to meet people even in the rural areas or the most isolated of the places. So, the problem is still there.’
    MASS AMNESIA
    Sudhir Ghuse, a professional working in a multinational firm in Pune had recently visited Jaipur on an assignment with a colleague. ‘In the evening, the two of us decided to visit Amber fort. When we reached there, we found crowds milling around the fort. The only people who were wearing masks were the girls who had taken pains to match their masks with their outfits. The rest of the crowds were oblivious to anything except having a good time. I had worn my face shield and gloves but people were staring at me as if I was an alien. Looking at the crowd, we decided to go back to our hotel. I wonder why people don’t understand the danger or perhaps they have somehow forgotten the past!’


    THE CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVES
    Shivani Chaudhary feels that the problem is a lot more complex. ‘Its not as easy as it sounds. Every one cannot be judged from a single perspective. There are people who might be literally losing their sanity being bound in their homes. Alternatives have to be developed. I love travelling but then I decided to visit my parents and in-laws rather than go and mix with strangers in an unknown destination. But then, that is also not a feasible idea for the long term. So, to keep myself busy, I have enrolled into a new course online. At least, this will help me to upgrade my skills in the long run.’
    Shweta Singh, a home maker believes that instead of focussing on the restricted travel in the pandemic, one should focus on creating a happy home. ‘In these two years, I have learnt pottery and interior designing. I have applied all my learnings to create a beautiful home. My children have enjoyed this transition and are happy being at home.’
    Sudha Chandran, a psychologist feels that the focus needs to change. ‘It is true that man has been used to wandering and traveling. However, during these times, when travel literally means endangering your family and loved ones, one can think of different alternatives. A lot of people have learnt new languages, developed new hobbies and have upgraded their skills. As an investment, this is sure to pay them in the future.’


    THE REVENGE ON COVID
    When he was asked what really is revenge travel, well known media personality Vikram Chandra replied, ‘Revenge travel is when you take revenge on COVID by getting COVID! That’s by travelling in hordes without taking any precautions.’ The question is since when has travel become so important that it surpasses the need to survive the pandemic itself? Why cannot we use this time to better ourselves as professionals and people?

    This article was published in Rashtradoot Newspaper’s Arbit section on August 14, 2021