Beyond the realms of travel

The phrase ‘looking but not seeing’ is apt for what The Lime Diaries, a live community travel series held recently at Bandra, wants to change. “Travelling and touring have been linked synonymously. You cannot call yourself well-travelled if you haven't explored and imbibed the cultures of a foreign place,” said author and activist Sushel Seth.

Redefining storytellingExplaining a little about The Lime Diaries, the host informed us that 'liming' means to relax and explore, hence the name. The event was organised by Byond Travel, a travel portal that believes in restoring the art of storytelling and adding a whole new meaning to travelling. At the event were a number of renowned people like Mahesh Murthy, Kunal Vijayakar, James Crabtree and lastly, Sushel Seth who opined on different aspects of travelling.

To start off, Mahesh Murthy, tech investor, brand advisor and amateur traveller shared his story of the trip he made to no man's land—Antarctica. It takes four days to reach there. “I'm always looking for ways to live luxuriously, at a minimum cost. My primary aim was to reach places comfortably,” said Murthy.

Always interested in visiting the unusual places, Murthy explained about his trip to Antarctica by conducting extensive research on ways to get there. However, what he really stressed on was what you learn when you get to a place. Interestingly, he pointed out that the continent did not belong to any nation. Full of steel and concrete domes where scientists work, the rest of Antarctica is filled with housing structures, which belong to different nations. “So, if you wish to have breakfast in the American area, your passport gets a US visa stamp and you literally visit different nations on one continent,” Murthy told interested onlookers. The beauty of the continent was not bound by visas and boundaries.

Prepare for the unexpected
On the contrary, well-known television personality and director of Foodie, Kunal Vijayakar threw a different light on the subject of travelling. Agreeing with the idea that although travel is not for everyone, he did encourage us to travel by giving us insights from his trip to Srinagar and his stay on the Line Of Control with Indian jawaans.

The point he brought out through the discussion was how to look at the brighter side of travelling even to the most challenging places. “We were expecting some hot and delicious food in Srinagar, but we didn’t get what we really wanted. Later, we were taken to a Marathi zone, where all the authentic food was available,” said Vijayakar.

Quite often, Indians who travel abroad are rarely interested in trying the cuisines of foreign places. “We are so tuned to searching for Indian food overseas. We seldom want to taste other cuisines, and this precisely destroys the purpose of travel,” said Seth, “We need to distinguish between travelling and touring and we need to bring a whole new meaning to the idiom of travel.”