Whilst traveling I wanted the crib
notes about each country. Not just to ascertain key landmarks (a quick search
on wikitravel can do that) I wanted to sit in the shoes of someone - be
fictional or nonfictional - and experience the country through before landing it’s
doorstep.
In fact nearly everyone on the truck
felt the same. Most of these books went on high rotation, passed along to
whoever had dibbed it next.
Britain - Notes from a small island
India - The White Tiger,
Shantaram, Life of Pi and A Fine Balance
Nepal - The Climb and Into Thin Air
Tibet - Seven Years in Tibet
China - Wild Swans
Cambodia- First They Killed my Father
Thailand - The Beach
Australia - Down Under
After travelling through India I read
'A Fine Balance'. Even though I was in subzero temperatures in China, each time
I flicked open the book I was transported me back to the bustling streets of
Delhi. I could feel the hot slap of humidity on my skin and hear the story
unfold to a sensory symphony of sights, smells and sounds.
It was a wonderful reading
experience! Though I literally had to take breaks from the novel, as at times
it became a sensory overland. From the jarring symphony of high-pitched car
horns to the soft drag of handmade dry grass brooms on pavements. The angry spit
of hot oil from street stalls frying Samoa to the heady perfume of cooked
mustard seeds. The sickly sweet chai to the retched stench of faeces from open
sewers. The kaleidoscope of colourful saris from roadsides to harvesting in
fields. The crush of thousands of people passing under the stern gaze of
policemen barricaded by sandbag walls at train stations.
I became conscious of recording the true
essence of each country I visited. As I want each country in my novel to be a
thumping beast of a character. To leap off the page, to curse, groan, moan or
laugh, leap and pulsate with energy. Each country, city and region had its one
vibe, it's own personality. Bucharest was crumbling, Delhi bureaucratic, Singapore
a slick shoppers paradise, Berlin a bohemian playground and Jakarta a series of
sweeping, traffic laden boulevards.
I don't want my novel to be all about
me - that would the dullest book written. I didn't travel just to think about
myself. I set on the road to see, feel and grasp the globe. I want to ensure I capture the character of each place. I want the reader to feel like they were on the road with me.
