|
SHIVANAGOUDA PATIL PUB,
DHARWAD KARNATAK, INDIA, PRICE Rs 200, 2007
Francis Bacon thinks, “Travel, in the younger part is a part of education, in
the elder, a part of experience.”1 Mallikarjun Patil has followed Bacon’s
famous saying in his famous travelogue In Shakespeare’s England. He is a
novelist, short story writer, translator and critic. Dr Patil made a visit to
England in the middle of 2001 and his visit was inevitably a journey into the
literary as much as the ‘real’ landscape of that country. The foreword for the
book is by Malcolm McKinnon, the New Zealand writer. McKinnon says “Dr Patil’s
journey took him throughout England . He describes with great vividness Oxford
University , where he had the opportunity to engage in study but Oxford and
Cambridge are full of interesting information about the rich history of the
universities.”
|
|
Dr Patil narrates the objective of his travel to England : “My recent journey to
England was directed to this end. I went to Oxford on a fellowship, to do a
summer course in English literature. I stayed at the prestigious Oxford
University for a month but what knowledge I acquired there! Indeed, it merits a
special description.”
Patil’s travelogue has twenty-three chapters besides introduction and
conclusion. In introduction he focuses on the need of travel in a foreign world.
He writes, “Travel gives man tremendous knowledge of the places they visit and
the people they meet. Out of travelers’ experience and observation arises a rich
fragrance of life and personality of the past and the past-present encounter
extends the meaning of travelogues. Besides, some travelers like Hukluyet, Marco
Polo, Sir Thomas Hawkins, Ibna Batuta and Pietre de Valle earned immense fame
and their accounts are still read.” |
People make travels for
different reasons: some for trade and commerce, some for new geographical
habitats. Dr Patil has
tried to define travelogue: “A travelogue is an account of those who travel
abroad or in their own countries. It consists of traveler’s experiences,
observations and knowledge of the country and its people. A travel account
consists of cultural, civilization and geographical panorama of the traveled
land.” Travelogue is a subjective work and it can be called story in fragments.
It can be called a record of one’s experience, feelings, thoughts and
observations of a foreign land.
In the first chapter “Journey Planned: Journey Begun” Patil describes
that he started his journey on 27th June 2001 from the city of Gulbarga .
Gulbarga is a historical place which was once the seat of the great Bahamani
empire. Later due to internal wars, the empire crumbled into five principalities
of Bijapur, Berar, Golcond, Ahmednagar ad Gulbarga . The author, in his journey,
witnessed Sahyadri range which is known as Malenadu in Karnataka. Later he
describes the city of Mumbai and its history and population. Dr Patil describes
the city’s climate. He stayed with M. S. Patil, his friend in his house at Vasi.
Then he was to go to UK by Emirates Airlines.
As described in the second chapter “Over the Arabia and Atlantic,” the
author took the flight at Sahara International Airport . The trip produced new
experience for him: “The flight crossed the Mumbai border of India within half
of an hour. It started going over the Arabian Sea . What a wonderful bird the
aeroplane was! The author viewed the city of Dubai . Dubai is one of the seven
emirates which make up the United Arab Emirates . The author has described the
beauty of the city thus: “The city of Dubai has many skyscrapers. The beautiful
Burj Al Arab hotel in Jumera beach is the world’s only hotel with a seven star
rating and also it is the world’s tallest.” The author took next flight at 2.30
p.m. He enjoyed all the facilities. The flight took him towards Europe . This
time he had ‘the window seat,’ which all travelers like to have. The author took
entry into United Kingdom . He describes the beauty of the city of London : ‘It
is majestic. I saw it with an open-mouthed wonder. Its greenery looked as if the
lung of a human body.”
In the third chapter “The History of the British Isle,” Patil writes
about the history of the United Kingdom from the pre-historical period. He says,
“ Britain is a mistress of the sea. It is a picturesque, varied and pleasant
country. One gets an impression of serenity and modernism.” Patil has narrated
the chronological history of England from the Norman rule till the Edwardian
era: “In the years after the war life began afresh. Anew and youthful British
culture began flowering. Economic prosperity set on. In the realism of music and
style Britain was again the centre of the world. The 1960s were marked by
‘stagflation.’ Margaret Thatcher that ‘Iron Lady’ the first woman premier ruled
England for four terms, bringing prosperity to the island’s economy.”
The fourth chapter is “ Oxford : A City of Dreaming Spires.” Patil
reached Oxford at about eight in the morning. He says, “I was provided with a
nice flat in the college apartment. The flat had two rooms with an attached WC.
Everything carpeted and well maintained. Twenty-four hours electricity, cool and
hot water supply, heaters and enough furniture made my stay pleasant.” The
collage had nearly four hundred rooms of this type. Most of the college building
facing the Broad Street is hostel, and on the other side lay the college quad,
the office, classrooms, halls, library, rector’s house, Morris Room, chapel,
porter’s lodge, pigeon hole, dining hall and kitchen. Porter’s Lodge in Oxford
and Master’s Lodge in Cambridge are offices to look after the administration.
Patil describes Oxford ‘as a city famous for learning.’ Oxford shire
played an important role in the history of England : “The University of Oxford
is on the edge of the beautiful Cotswold where the river Thames rises like a
protean figure. Cotswold was once the centre of world’s wool trade.” Patil
describes Edward Gibbon, Dr Cardinal Newman, Matthew Arnold and others as Oxford
celebrities. He describes colleges, cathedrals, churches and museums.
in the fifth chapter “Education at Oxford ,” the visitor describes the
literary halls and education system at Oxford . The famous people connected with
the University of Oxford are Sir Christopher Wren, Thomas Brown, William Penn,
Edward Gibbon and others.
The sixth Chapter is “ Cambridge : A City of Colleges.” Here Patil narrates the
colleges of Cambridge in detail and it looks that we are traveling with him. In
the next four chapters he narrates Shakespeare’s Stratford , Birmingham , Edward
Spenser and William Wordsworth. In chapter XI and XII he describes the related
places of women novelists like Jane Austin and the Bronte sisters. He calls the
latter as ‘the maids of the moor.’ Not to speak of Patil is a Hardy scholar and
the climax of the book is the account of his trip to Dorset, the heart of Thomas
Hardy’s Wessex . He writes, “At the end of my trail, I walked on and on for
Hardy relics. Gradually the urban scene began unveiling. Dorchester is a clean
and elegant city.” In the next two chapters “ Bath and its ‘Aquae’s sulies’” and
“A Walk in Roman Ruins,” he describes Bath and South England . The Roman town of
Bath is world famous historical city today.”
In the next seven chapters Patil minutely describes his pilgrimage to the
natives of Christopher Marlow, Dr Johnson, Charles Dickens, John Keats, T. S.
Eliot and Virginia Woolf. In the twenty third chapter “ London : The Eye of
the Earth,” Patil describes the grand city of London , the capital of the
United Kingdom on the river Thames . Now the metropolis is known as Greater
London like Greater Bombay. The city consists of the city of London and
thirty-two boroughs covering an area of 1,580 sq kms with a population of 7,001,
900 as in 1995. Patil visited all the important places in London . In the
conclusion part Patil has raised the question on the importance of sex and
alcohol in British life. The author has praised the Englishmen, (as Niradh C.
Chaudhuri did before him) and with open heart: “As for Englishmen’s social
manners, they are very smooth and polite. To them speech is silver and silence
gold. They listen to others with interest and respect. They do not talk unless
they have to. They listen with care, speak with reserve and work with
responsibility.” This is an opt criticism of them!
The author stayed for two months in England and he visited all the important
places there. He has utilized his time fully and truly. Perhaps he has followed
Sir Francis Bacon’s advice. He has used such a simple language that we are able
to understand every part of the account. It looks that we too travel with him in
our reading. I would like to congratulate Patil for writing such a seminal
travelogue account with richness and diversity. This travelogue is a must
readable treatise for every reader and its price is so reasonable.
References: 1. Francis Bacon, Essays.
All the textual references are from Mallikarjun Patil’s In Shakespeare’s England
, Shivanagouda Patil Publication, Dharwad, 2007.
Contributed By:
Dr.
Ram Sharma, Lecturer in English,
Janta Vedic College MEERUT, U.P.
dr.ram_sharma@yahoo.co.in
Liked this Book Review? Share
your comments - info@writershideout.net
|
|
