Sharjah – World-renowned travel writer Pico Iyer says, traveling to different places is to touch the soul and understand the ways of life. Nowadays we enjoy seeing the world through social media and the like. We evaluate each place by looking at its main features. But he said the travel experience on the street was different. Pico Iyer was interacting with students at the 41st Sharjah International Book Festival about his four-and-a-half decades of travel experiences and writing. Travel should not be just sightseeing. We should be able to get to know and interact with the people we meet in each land. A traveler should reach beyond the enchanting sights to the social realities.
The new generation needs to think away from the habit of huddled inside buildings obsessed with social media. It’s not always a busy habit to keep up. At least half an hour a day should be able to interact with the environment with a calm mind. We all generally think about getting physically strong. But along with physical strength, mental health is also important. He said that everyone should be able to learn and think about the environment. I will write down what I see on each trip. Later, the topics that come up in each thought will be written down. Sometimes new information comes to mind while sleeping. Pico Iyer also said about his style of writing that the things he writes down each day are later turned into books. He started writing at the age of seventeen during his university studies. Just write down what comes to your mind every day. The beauty of a trip is understanding the sentiments of the local people. Human realities must be observed. In response to the student’s question, Pico Iyer answered that countries like Cuba are very attractive and there is no racism in Arab countries. Siddharth Pico Raghavan Iyer, popularly known as Pico Iyer, is a British-born writer and novelist. He is the author of several books on culture, including Video Night in Kathmandu, The Lady and the Monk, and The Global Soul. Their parents are Indian. Philosopher and political theorist Raghavan N. Iyer was his father. Mother is religious scholar Nandini Nanak Mehta. He is the grandson of Indian Gujarati writer Mahipatram Neelakant. His parents gave him the name Pico Iyer, combining the names of Buddha’s name Siddhartha and Italian Renaissance philosopher Pico Della Mirandola, who studied in America and England and graduated in English Literature in 1978. Further, he studied at Harvard and Oxbridge Universities. Since then, he traveled from North Korea to Easter Island and from Paraguay to Ethiopia. Later traveled the whole world. He is a frequent speaker at literary festivals and universities around the world. Now living in Japan.
