MAN, it may be said with some emphasis, is a peripatetic animal. Till the other day, because of constraints of home and hearth, women in general were a little less so. These days, however, both men and women can be found travelling in vast numbers all across the land. Indeed, it sometimes seems that the entire population of a billion plus of our country is on the move.

Occasions such as marriages, festivals, and other ceremonies, have always occasioned travel, down the ages. Pilgrimages, too, were accepted reasons to undertake travel. Gradually, as people’s work became more complex, the concept of business travel also gained ground, parallel to the Governmental “tours” that bureaucrats have always undertaken. In all these, though, the pleasure of travel per se was a subsidiary thing, secondary to the primary aim of putting in one’s attendance at the ceremony, or the place of work, or worship. It is only now that travel for travel’s sake is a concept that is gaining in popularity. Indeed, it even has a special name – leisure travel. Holidaymakers, whose only aim in travelling to their various destinations is to enjoy themselves, are a relatively new breed on the travel map.

It can be seen that when it comes to actual travel, that is, the actual phase of moving from one place to another, by whatever means, people behave in very different ways. Certainly, this is an intriguing field of study in itself. Observing one’s fellow passengers during the journey is a pastime that is highly interesting in its own right. Indeed, “timepass” is something that spawns many modes of behaviour, each of them suitable to the person who is indulging in it. Indeed, the very word “timepass” has been immortalised in the vendor’s chant, “Moongphali, moongphali, timepass, timepass” that greets train passengers on journeys. The elaborate process of shelling the roasted peanuts, being careful not to lose them on the floor, popping them one by one into one’s mouth, then giving in to the craving to eat some more, is truly a labour intensive thing, and one that is, therefore, a “timepass” of the most efficient kind.

Ours being such a vast country, as well as a relatively poor one, train travel, in all the various “classes” on offer, is often the best and most convenient way to travel vast distances. While travelling from Guwahati to Bangalore , for instance, one needs to transform one’s allotted berth into a personal space and a temporary home during the three days that it takes for the train to chug to its destination. People do this in a variety of ways. Students, and other young people lose themselves in a world of music, tuning out their immediate surroundings with their earplugs, connected at the other end to their iPods, Diskmans, MP3 players and music lists on their cellphones. There are others who come armed with huge amounts of reading material, either magazines or books, which they actually manage to finish before they reach their destinations. Indeed, this category is also very diligent about buying the day’s papers at the major stations that the train halts at, and sharing the news with their co- passengers.

And, of course, train journeys have always been notorious for bringing out the latent “foodie” in all travellers. There are those who do not budge from home without huge stainless steel tiffin carriers full of longlasting goodies, which they share generously with their neighbours. Others are always on high alert for station food, such as fresh fried puris or, in the South, freshly steamed idlis with coconut chutneys wrapped in banana leaves. Indeed, frequent train travellers of the foodie kind are veritable almanacs about the best such and such that each major halt has to offer. They leap off the train when it is still moving, to grab their places in the queue in front of a particular dosa maker, without whose offerings their journey would be incomplete.

Since train compartments have mobile charging electric sockets, people think nothing of conducting long conversations with near and dear ones. One can learn a great deal from these conversations, one sided though they may be, about the traveller. And yes, there is that last but perhaps the wisest kind of train traveller, the one who uses the soporific rocking of the train to lull himself to sleep. His is the supine form that lies, recumbent on the top berth, emerging only infrequently to nibble at some train food that the pantry-car-boy brings for him. He uses the journey to work his sleep deficit into a surplus, to emerge, fresh as newly squeezed lemonade, at his destination, ready to take on all the meetings that may be lined up for him.

There are those that do not understand that the journey is also a part of the destination. It is sad to see, for instance, couples squabbling among themselves about whether they switched off the gas before leaving home, and whose job it was to do so. They do not usually bicker like this at the holiday destination itself, but only on the journey, which they mistakenly take to be part of the lives they have left behind, though temporarily.

In contrast to all this, a plane journey is usually much more boring. Each passenger is a hermetically sealed entity. The seats are so designed that one cannot even catch a glimpse of one’s co-passengers sitting directly behind or before one. After takeoff, there is a limit to the number of clouds one can count as the plane whizzes past them. The only entertainment is provided by those who break the rule about keeping one’s cellphone and laptop switched off, and are sternly reprimanded by the cabin crew. These days, even late night flights do not seem to have drunks on board, something that was a guaranteed entertainer in the Indian Airlines days of old.

Of course, some airlines seek to lighten the atmosphere by conducting raffles and auctions on board, but even then, one doesn’t get to see too much of one’s fellow passengers, except the ones sitting in the same line. Still, there are those entertaining moments when the mobile is allowed to be switched on again, and all around, people start talking loudly and simultaneously, informing somebody or the other that they have reached safely, and are about to disembark.

Travel by ship and boat have been with us for aeons altogether. Still, for people in landlocked regions, it is only the once-in-a-lifetime cruise that provides travel time on water for any appreciable length of time. But travelling on a river ferry, for instance, or just a small river trip on a canoe, is also a beautiful way to arrive at one’s destination. The fresh sea or river breezes, the gradual silence that falls all around as one leaves the noisy ghats, are indeed worth the excursion. Still, these short trips do not allow passengers much time to observe each other.

All Things Considered, though, moving by road is, definitely, one of the best ways to travel. One can watch the passing scenery, and, if one is travelling by car rather than bus, become a part of it whenever one so wishes. Even bus journeys are good, combining the best of train travel with that of air. One can sample the local cuisine as one passes dhabas and little tea stalls. When travelling by car, one can stop at will, and start as late or as early as one wishes. One can chat for as long as one likes with locals, without worrying about the train chugging off, leaving one stranded at the station. And one can talk to one’s travel companions just as one pleases, nodding off if one is sleepy, or chattering on if one is in a talkative mood.

The only condition is that – the road should be good! For potholes and puddles are the conversation stoppers of the worst kind, are they not?

MITRA PHUKAN