Nostalgia

I am Rajiv, and here's my thought for the day.

Nostalgia.

Merriam-Webster defines nostalgia as a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition. And the question is, does our writing fall into the category of nostalgia? I would postulate and say, yes. The reason why I am talking about this now is because I posted three blog posts four blog posts actually about nostalgia or not. Well, let's see. I posted four blog posts, three of them detailing some of my old trips, which I had made when I was a student doing my MBA in Bangalore.

And then I wrote another post talking about travel, writing and asking the question, Why would you want to read my travel writing? What is it about

travel writing? Does have an element of nostalgia. It has an element of self indulgence. That's what I believe because

I am the one who made the journey. I'm the one who went either solo or I went with some friends. In general, I prefer solo travel, but I will not talk about that now. I will talk about that another time.

Is nostalgia bad? Is it bad to remember the past?

Do we remember the past in the same way that a camera records an image?

Do we remember the past in the same way that the Xerox machine makes a copy of an original? I don't think so.

Every time we go back to the past and talk about the past, to recall the past or remember the past, our memory changes. Our memory changes as we age. Our memory changes. as our life condition changes. Our memory changes

as our desire to remember something in a particular way changes.

Change is inevitable. Everything changes. You change. I. change. Cities change. The mountains change

Nothing is static. And nothing can remain static.

When the river flows to the sea, it carries debris with it. It changes the riverbed, it changes people around it. It changes its own path. over centuries

Civilizations have risen and fallen depending on the path of a river. We too change. There is nothing which says that we are the same.

There is nothing that says we are the same. We cannot be the same. We will change.

So when I write about an old trip to Benaras today,

I will write about it in a particular manner. I will focus on certain aspects of Benaras. I will post some images of Benaras that I've chosen.

If I repeat a blog post about Benaras without having gone back to Benaras. In the meanwhile, I will write about it differently. Maybe the political situation has undergone a radical Maybe the images that I have seen of Benares will influence the way that I write about Benaras in the future. So if I write about Banaras today, it will be different compared to how I write about Banaras. One year from now or two years from now.

If in the interim, I make another trip to Benaras. I will compare some of my first photographs with some of my later photographs. I may not even go to the same places the second time around. I might go to the same places the second time around. But if I do so, I might look at everything within with new eyes. I I might look at everything and say, you know what

screw the old. T is how I look at things now. The people on the street,

they haven't changed. 20 years ago, when I was in the street and I photographed people, I wanted to celebrate the poverty. Now, when I'm on the street, I want to celebrate the humanity. Maybe

one year from now or two years from now, I will go onto the street and say, Why in the hell can't people change? Why in the hell can't people progress?

And when I look back at the past, I'm going to say, Oh, hell, Benares was so clean when I went the first time. Why has it become dirty? Oh, Benares was so good. The food was so good. The food was pure, the food was and the people were vi. they did not have these commercial ceremonies, which they have now. And I would ask the question, why can't they go back?

Now, if I am going to allow these feelings to overcome me, then I will fall prey to deep nostalgic feelings and I will portray the past in some sort of idealistic manner which never existed.

We like to believe the past was perfect. The past was never perfect.

Sometimes nostalgia is good, but it has to be kept within bounds.

That's my thought for the day.