Pen [ultimate]: I recommend these books
08 December 2015
School Atlas. As a child, the atlas was my favourite schoolbook. The maps with their different colours to depict varying terrains captivated me: yellow and orange for deserts, purple for snowy mountains and green for forested areas. My first journeys were on these coloured sheets. To this day the fetish for maps remains.
The Histories of Herodotus has played an immensely important role in my education and in making me a travel writer. This 5th century BCE writer talks history as though narrating a romantic tale. His writing is vivid; it shows you his world. He engrosses and enthrals. That is the way history should always be written.
Read more »Labels: Books, Classics, Reading
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Inspired by True Greatness
25 November 2013
Most of us, when we set out on a course that is somewhat removed from the usual and mundane way of life, are motivated by some very strong external stimulus. I was very fortunate to find just the right incentive – almost by accident. After struggling through seven years of a very colourful but hardly glorifying military career, I joined a multi-national firm in Karachi. Here I was supposed to be an administrative officer looking after the smooth functioning of the office, but, as I used to say, I was no more than a glorified clerk.
My escape from the drudgery of a stultifying, unrewarding life was weekend flights to the wilderness just north of Karachi. It started in February 1979 with the first outing to Khadeji Falls, some 30 km out on Super Highway. Though the fall could have been pretty in a rather modest sort of way, the crowd of Lalu Khet picnickers, the noise, the garbage strewn all around and the loud music from cheap ghetto-blasters was a total put off.
Read more »Labels: About, Classics, Explorers, Travelers
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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