Travel to learn, not impress
“But inner experience is only one source of human knowledge.”
—Allama Muhammad Iqbal
When travelling abroad is increasingly a source of false pride, it must be discussed. The whole world travels, to relax, enjoy and explore a new place. People travel with an open mind, and a spirit of adventure. To interact with people in a new part of the world and to better acknowledge their lifestyles and their exotic culture. To learn and let the mind make new connections and correspondences in a new environment. To try and find answers to problems back home. Generally, the West (whom we copy so blindly) travels to relax, yet explore. Unfortunately, for us travelling is more a bane than a boon. Like most values imported from the West, these too lose their exuberance on their way to Pakistan. By the time that cultural ethos reaches us, it is already battered, bruised and weather beaten. Hence, the outcome is we suffer from the import.
Most people travel to get a certificate they love to flaunt, confident they are fit for social mobility now. What kind of a rotten society is this? What decadent values are we contemplating? Our society has gone to the dogs. I recently heard a schoolgirl, under 10, attending some topnotch school– where usually the gentry goes– saying all her classmates were travelling to Paris this year. She ought to go because otherwise they would bully her. Seriously! Why are Pakistanis endlessly trying to copy the West, while forgetting the spirit of the endeavor. Why do people blindly follow one another? Why do we put people through so much, just to be able to be socially acceptable? We need to grow out of this status-consciousness and seek its true spirit.Yet despite the culture now, we can make travel meaningful.
Allah says in Al-Quran, “Travel the earth so you may know the fate of the many nations.” The most basic purpose of traveling lies in getting to understand the world, where one stands as an individual and where one’s country stands. The personal and social benefits of travel are manifold; the Iqbal quote above is applicable to travel, to exploration of the world beyond ourselves.
One needs to go out into the world and make meaningful correspondences, learn and apply to one’s own country. Only if we remember these values, can we make the most of the resources spent on this endeavor or else, we are simply adding fuel to the fire of endless lust which is making people uncomfortable financially. Let us be comfortable in our skins, and stand our ground while those around us spin. Let us grow up a little, travel for a purpose, not just because we need to spend more and reach a level higher than our social circle’s.
Traveling certainly adds a new dimension to one’s thinking. It gives exposure that adds to one’s confidence. By traveling, one witnesses peoples from diverse backgrounds interact with one another and intermingle at ease. This direct contact opens one’s eyes to several truths likely overlooked in one’s domestic existence. It makes one more accommodating of the belief systems of different people and tolerant of their concerns over certain issues. It also stresses the need to focus on one’s own identity and how one can stand out amongst the litany of different races and ethnicities.
Traveling is usually fraught with new experiences and interactions with people one has never been with before. It opens our minds to the many perspectives that exist in the world, making a lucid impression of the beauty in diversity.
Traveling helps us judge whether or not we adjust well with the people, whether we blend in or act independently. This is reminiscent of the Charles Caleb Colton quote: “Those who visit foreign nations but associate only with their countrymen change their climate but not their customs. They see new meridians but the same men, and with heads as empty as their pockets return home with travelled bodies but untravelled minds.”
The extent to which we embrace the elements of surprise and adventure inherent in travel tells us whether we can handle unexpected situations. Secondly, it teaches us to form personalized opinions about certain issues and observe them through a neutral lens. Reading about places, people, their habits, and lifestyles does not do this. The author tells what he or she perceives and not necessarily the truth. Thus, to relish the true essence of any culture, one has to go there.
Traveling breaks some of the barriers subconsciously in our minds. It is an exposure to the historical wealth of the visited region as well as a chance to develop one’s communication skills with the people indigenous to a particular area. Several of us Pakistanis criticize the Baloch; however, only some ever bothered visiting Balochistan. We buy what is presented to us without questioning.
Several of the beliefs I held so close were instantly overturned during experiences abroad. I believed Hindus and Muslims could live quite peacefully together. However, I was only truly convinced of the opposite when I visited a Hindu temple in Singapore. I was convinced that cohabitation was not all that simple. The media hype led by “Aman ki Asha” and the like was at once shrugged off. What these movements suggest is that the two peoples, Pakistanis and Indians, are the same and Partition was a mistake; hence, all borders are meaningless. However, the religious and cultural mores forming the cornerstone of each side’s psyche are distinct and almost incompatible. Therefore, I realized such claims of false unity that falsify historical evidence and refuse to learn therefrom, have little grounding in facts and reality.
On the other hand, some people might propose the inevitable advantages of reading. Reading cannot be underrated; however, the significance of traveling is also not to be ignored. People refuse to acknowledge that physical exposure adds in many ways to individual learning. They belong to a group whose thinking seems farfetched in today’s world. Nevertheless, traveling and interacting with different races might stir prejudice, clashes of opinion, bias, or even flames of indignation.
Some people also support the idea that individuality and achievement are derived from the person rather than his or her breadth of experience. Jane Austen did not have any significant traveling experiences and was limited to her tight family circle. Despite this, her thoughts were deeply insightful. This supports those who would disparage the importance of foreign travel.
However, people like her are the exceptions. There is still a preponderance of writers, philosophers, ideologues and artists who learned palpably from travel The rule that traveling opens one’s eyes to a broader context and enriches one’s experience, for better or for worse, is still relevant. Nevertheless, while traveling broadens the mind, to say that without traveling, one cannot attain any intellectual heights, is presumptuous.
One needs to go out into the world and make meaningful correspondences, learn and apply to one’s own country. Only if we remember these values, can we make the most of the resources spent on this endeavor or else, we are simply adding fuel to the fire of endless lust which is making people uncomfortable financially. Let us be comfortable in our skins, and stand our ground while those around us spin. Let us grow up a little, travel for a purpose, not just because we need to spend more and reach a level higher than our social circle’s.
