Tracing the Negotiations between Travel and Self-discovery: A Critical Reading of the Selected Poems of Amitabh Roy’s “Voyage to Santorini”
Abstract Travel is a way of self-discovery. It is through travelling, one can escape from the crude and quotidian lifestyle with which he or she does not like to live. When one travels, he or she discovers new cities and countries, new people and their culture, new tastes and smells. But first of all, he or she discovers himself or herself. In this fleeting world, one begins to understand who he or she is and why he or she is, what stereotypes and limitations live in their head. We do not get what we sincerely crave for; we are denied of the fate that we dream; we meet sudden curves which we consciously want to bypass. We are bound by shackles; be it norms, institutions, traditions or societal inhibitions. We may dream of a life in Tahiti, or beside Walden; but we cannot leave behind this concrete jungle for reasons innumerable. Modern human fate is nothing but a conspiracy to entangle us by luring with one after another luxury only to forget our coveted desire. A true adventurer in...