Well it’s been very long since I wrote here. Actually I love sports and hence like to write about it. Therefore I started this blog, but in due course of time shifted to a different location (www.icexvi.blogspot.com). Why I did that I don’t remember, but ever since I wanted to write something different on this blog. It was while in office recently when I realised that after sports the thing I enjoy the most is reading. So I thought to myself why not write book reviews. This is how the idea was born.
What I will write here is of course not a professional review (for the simple reason that however I may try I am not that good yet). Hence I’ll use this space to present my views on the books I liked and what was different about them. I will also try and bring out what was novel or missing in them by comparing them to similar books if possible.
I’ll start by penning down about the latest book that I’ve read – mainly because it is fresh in my memory. It is titled “A Walk In The Woods” authored by Bill Bryson. Now for all non Bryson fans reading this, he is an American author now settled in Britain who writes just about anything, though mostly restricting himself to memoirs and travelogues. The moot point is that his books always scratch one’s funny side. He has this uncanny ability to bring a humorous touch to even the most mundane and serious topics. Some of his more popular ones are Neither here nor there, A short history of nearly everything and Life and times of the thunderbolt kid.
This one is his travelogue of the Appalachian Trail. In one of his crazy ventures Bill is enamoured by the woods and decides to hike the trail in its entirety. Despite clear indications from his family in opposition to his eccentricity, Bill thinks it to be a very noble thought with a healthy side to it. His first jolt though is even before he can take a step into the wilderness. Buying supplies for his adventure, Bryson realises that hikes in the new age are meant for millionaires. Actually not just millionaires, they are meant for geek millionaires. And it does not stop there. Without the zillion super specialist (and not to mention exorbitantly priced) attachments, the basic equipment (like a bag) is quite incapable in itself for you to survive the ordeal. The retailer would happily sell you a piece of equipment without which he says you could not live in the woods, only moments later to declare it useless without the even more expensive add-on.
Having survived the shopping spree and lived through incredulous looks of his wife our reborn Crusoe plans out the route, only to realise how big a feat he is about to undertake. Reading about the trail’s (mis)adventures, he suddenly feels the need for a companion both for physical and mental support. Only that it is slightly tough to find a guy who is ready to walk 2000miles through dangerous and intimidating terrain for no particularly evident motive. So Bill is mighty pleased when his childhood friend Stephen Katz calls him to offer his services as his hiking partner. Bill even casually brushes aside his wife’s reminder of his past experience with the good pal in Europe (please read ‘Neither here nor there’ for further info in this regard). All his fears are reborn the instant he meets Katz at the airport. For starters Katz is a perennially hungry, and he pretty much thinks that they’re off for a stroll in a relatively dense park with abundant resources at their disposal. That however does not prevent him from buying a little bit of everything to eat from the superstore in preparation to the trip.
Finally the day arrives when the two trudge out into the woods. Well, actually they catch a flight and then hire a cab to take them till the door step of the trail. The cabby is not particularly excited on seeing yet another hiking enthusiast, most of whom he says give up less than a week into the hike. Not very encouraging then, but our duo is motivated and committed – atleast till they hit the trail for good. Less than half a day into it and Katz has thrown off almost his entire ration, an act not much appreciated by his hiking mate. What goes on ahead is a vivid description of the travails of the trail, the salient points of which I will bring out subsequently.
Bryson says you will meet some of the most interesting and bizarre people on the trail. One such person they met was Mary Ellen. She considered herself a hiker par excellence and the rest, the scum of the trail. With a derogatory suggestion at everything – even as mundane as making morning coffee – she was certainly a nuisance noted by everyone on the trial who happened to be unfortunate enough to run into her (or the other way around). Our protagonists manage to give her a miss at their first stop and after an initial pang of guilt, are mighty relieved to have got rid of the pestilent lady. They manage to survive many torturous phases of the trail hardly enjoying any of the landscapes galore. Bill even contemplates that the trail is an exercise in futility made even tougher by the belligerent Forest Service. But this may just be the learning point of the book. He brings out lucidly the thoughtless destruction man has caused about in the woods with the officials giving nary a thought to the forests until recently. He also elucidates the origin of the trail and how it has fought for survival for almost a century.
The most prominent thing about the trail though has to be the “Bear”. I have written just “Bear” as no one is sure which kind of a bear one may come across on the trial. But one thing is for sure, not many have come across one who would have been particularly jovial in nature. Almost all the descriptions spoke only of attacking, hungry, savage beasts ready to pounce upon any human in sight. And then there are the ambivalent suggestions to counter a bear attack. One book describes the best way is to stand steady and look directly at the bear, while at the very next line mentions sometimes this ploy may not be the best and on occasions fleeing maybe the better option if the bear is not much in a mood to give chase. Another classic case is where the book suggests making lot of noise while hiking, thereby driving off the bears with the racket. However the book duly backtracks a couple of paragraphs later imploring the fact that the noise may attract/irritate the bears enough to cause it to attack the source of the noise. However the best suggestion is saved for the last, where the book says there is no fool proof way to escape a bear – if it decides to attack there is nothing much that can be done, hence it is best to avoid interaction with the beast. Very helpful then, the answer is simple; if you want to escape a bear attack, do not venture on the trail.
Bryson describes two types of hikers – “Thru” and “Section”. The former are the more adventurous variety who hike the trail in its entirety in a single attempt. There have been extremes in the thru hikers category wherein people have raced through the trail or taken ages to complete it. Both cases however have left the people concerned, shattered but smarter than before. Among the section-hikers, though there is no such excitement, but the buzz word here is perseverance. People as old as 85 have kept on with their commitment to complete the trail in bits and pieces, no matter how many attempts they have to make. The trail though can be a dangerous place due to unnatural reasons too. The most powerful predator – read human being – has not only been after the trees, but also after people out in the woods in search of peace and tranquillity. There have been multiple cases of murder (one during the period the author was out on the trail) and multiple books have been written on the issue. Nothing however deters the average hiker from going out there among the nature.
Talking of which, not many people nowadays see the trail as a way of bonding with nature. Most of them come out on a weekend ”picnic” sort of a trip, with soiling their expensive gear the last thing on their mind. Consequently roads and highways have propped up right through the forests making life miserable for flora, fauna and the hard core hiker. Even with the strong willed hiker, the urge to abstain from the luxury of the modern world is pretty tough to practise. Austerity – the author says – is one thing the trails attempts to teach you, though not many people end up learning the lesson in its spirit. After days in the trail even the remotest motel with the barest facilities seems heavenly and the small pleasures of life an indulgence.
Among these pleasures and perils the narration continues in trademark Bryson tongue-in-cheek humour. Both Bill and Stephen never manage to complete the trail (they were not even close), but they learnt enough along the way (least of all to get along with eachother). They had their hairy encounters, narrow escapes and breathless moments all in the period of these months spent together on the trail. The book is not meant to be a guide to any hiker, let alone the Appalachian Trail hiker. It is more of an expression of thoughts and views on the trail and the salient matters concerned with it. It is not a heavy read, neither a page turner but in the end you finish it with a smile on your face and a thought in your mind. What the thought may be varies with one’s outlook – you may join greenpeace, or jump out into the nearest forest reserve, or even start appreciating that warm shower and clean towels – but you are certainly not disappointed with the effort. Having said that, it’s not Bryson’s best effort when compared to his more illustrious ones. I would give it three stars and recommend it to someone looking for a light fun read, maybe for some laugh and a casual look into the merits and perils of hiking.
No comments:
Post a Comment