BOOK REVIEW: AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS........

Around the World in 80 days
Author: Jules Verne

THINK FRNDS THINK...........AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
M LOVIN IT..........


Can you travel around the world in eighty days?
Ofcourse why not!
But if you were challenged to travel, all the distance only on steamers and trains, would you go in for such a bet?
Well, what about the delay due to various reasons, including those due to bad weather and accidents?
Difficult isn’t it, to put your money. But the main character of Jules Verne’s “Around the world in 80 days”, Phileas Fogg, is said to have done that, way back in 1872.
"Around the world in 80 days” is all about the journey of Phileas Fogg, across the world. Through this "journey", the author tries to capture the landscapes, the people and the culture, across vast parts of the world, through the eyes of an English traveler. This notional journey around the world also depicts the challenges and rewards of the greater journey of life.
The book reflects the attitudes of the Englishman, mostly of the nineteenth century, towards the world. The remarks made about India and the Indians in this book are a mixture of racist bias and superiority complex, which has been often called as the "White mas's burden". This review attempts to point out these baises, without making injustice to the literary part of this work.

The main character, as you know, is Phileas Fogg, an Englishman and a Londoner. He is a thorough “gentlemen” and his manners are “English” enough for every Englishman to be proud of. He was a member of the "Reform club", where he used to spend most of his time. It was during an evening at the Reform, where in a casual colloquy about a bank robbery, that Mr Fogg got into a bet of traveling across the world in just 80 days. His friends at the Reform believed that his estimation was just mathematical, and that eighty days were just not enough. An amount of twenty thousand pounds was put at stake from both sides.

Phileas Fogg got off to a start that very night, with his French servant named Passepartout and with a huge amount of cash with him. Two more people were to join him later in his journey, serendipitously at different places. The first of them was a detective named Fix. He follows Mr Fogg, throughout his journey, in an attempt to arrest him, mistaking him for the person who had swindled off the money from the Bank of England. Fix is behind Phileas Fogg, from the time the steamer, in which the two were traveling, reaches Suez. The detective tries in vain to stop or delay them there, so that he can get the warrant issued from London. But he is determined to arrest Fogg who he believes is escaping to a safe haven. Later, on reaching Bombay too, he tries to put hurdles to delay their journey, but does’nt quite succeed in that.

The journey across the landscapes of India, where Mr Fogg and his servant travel from Bombay to Calcutta by a train is described truly in an English perspective. Although, greenery of the plains has found considerable admiration from the author, the culture and the customs have been seen from the glasses of a Westerner. The India that they knew and that they saw is all about "Elephant riders"," snake charmers", "the cold blooded thugees"," the fanatic fakirs" and the "wretched people". The author seems to be carrying that 'White man's burden' on his shoulder, of 'uplifting' the 'uncivilized' and 'wretched' people of this land.

The train journey from Bombay to Calcutta has a break of a few hundred miles near Allahabad, where the train line is yet under construction. This is the most significant part of their journey, which they travel on an elephant. During this, they courageously rescue a Parsi woman named Aouda, who is being readied for Sutte. She is beautiful and although Indian, she is “civilized” with English manners because of her English education. They take her along with them, so that she could go to a relative of hers at Hong Kong. But at Hong Kong, they don’t find the relative, and hence she proceeds with Mr Fogg on the journey.

Meanwhile, Fix tries to put all kinds of obstacles both legally and by trickery, to their journey. He does not want them to cross the English territory, for after that, arresting the 'culprit' would be a more complicated process, involving extradition. But all these challenges and others caused by nature too, are handled by Fogg, with a great amount of shrewdness. In the face of the greatest challenges too, he does not loose his composure. He puts in, enough money to deal with each of these problems. And to the frustration of the detective, the trio, led by Fogg, cross over to the American continent. Fix, changes his approach and now tries to help Fogg in his journey, so that he could be arrested back on the English soil.

Americans too, are seen with an air of English superiority, as reckless and violent. Then there are the “Indians and the beasts” that mercilessly attack innocent travelers on the trains. There is also the tyrannical fanatic cult, the Mormonists.

The end though of this journey is more thrilling than the last ball of Lagan. Fogg tries hard, but reaches five minutes late, only to realize that he gained a day by traveling to the east, across the world. After the journey though, he has almost spent, as much as he wins in the bet. So he has gained nothing at all from the journey across the world, but for Aouda, who later marries him. The author asks “ Truly, would you not for less than that, make the tour around the world?”.


COURTESY : NIHAR ANNA..............